MTB Trailcare

Yes we do. You don't get new trail to replace old without having to close the old lines. Trailworx and MTBtrailcare have given Three Hills Singletrack a lift with lots of new trail. Including the bottom of Three Hills Singletrack, the total of old trail lines to be closed on Three Hills since Christmas is around 1.5km. We hope QPWS will assist with a machine to get some of this done.  

Until then, we see the old trail lines as a scar on the local environment and without doubt others will also be watching. Nerang National Park has a green, anti-MTB lobby that includes the sitting state member. Three Hills new lines are looking great after some hot and dry weather, but our focus lately is revegatating the old Three Hills line. Ash put over 30 hours into closing old trail since I last posted.  With Doug it's over 40. MTBtrailcare will completely close the old first hill line in the next week or so. That leaves the third hill and the very bottom. Neither of those lines crosses the new trail and therefore are more suited to machine closure.

Trail closure and rehabilitation is important work. Nerang has a history of throwing a few sticks on and walking away, something we have tried to change on Three Hills. Right now the weather is perfect with damp soil, vigorous growth of grasses and the chance of regular rain. We are already seeing early regrowth, which is great. The technique being used is different to previously, most notably avoiding lots of timber on the old trail line and leaving a more natural appearance. First the tread is chipped up and softened with a mattock, then the outslope edge is pulled up over the tread. To add more soil and live grasses, the inslope is chipped and spread, leaving the old trail naturally sloped to match the terrain. Finally, leaves, bark and other dry matter is raked over to make it all look like the surrounding area.

Pictures of trail closure are pretty boring I guess, but here's some of the work on Three Hills hill one

The following pics show some work from this weekend. It's much easier to see how things are done with before and after pics

Some more final result pics

and some more starting at the limit of our work this weekend to again show the difference

Riders on the new Three Hills Singletrack on hill one cannot see any of the old trail thanks to hard work by Ashley and Doug. There is still about 100m or so to close, but it is hidden from view. Hidden from view or not, this sort of thing is just not acceptable and has to be repaired

We hope QPWS will be very happy with our restoration work.