Revelstoke trail plan to highlight popular biking and foot trails

The beauty of being a long-term resident in Revelstoke is knowing all the secrets spots in town to go. But do you want these trails to become common knowledge? That’s up to you.

The data has been collected and now it is being studied to discover Revelstoke’s most popular known and hidden gems for a new master trail plan for the city.

The plan will look at a variety pf trails, not just biking trails. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer file photo

The point is to figure out what trails are being used by the public and to identify those that need to be maintained, upgraded or need linking trails. These will be eventually collated into an easy-to-read map for residents and tourists to use.

During the process for the Parks, Recreation & Culture Master plan, trails emerged as a key area in which there is opportunity to improve the current system.

Parks department director Laurie Donato said the trails strategy will be used to inform future amendments to the Official Community Plan, the Parks, Recreation & Culture Master Plan, the Transportation Master Plan and act as a working document for critical decision making in future parks department works.

One of the tools being used to track where people walk, run, and ride is the ride tracking app Strava. Through the app, the city is tracking walks, runs, and rides in Revelstoke from 2015 to 2017, and will use the data for purposes such as determining popular routes and frequencies.

Planner Fraser Blyth of Selkirk Planning & Design said the plan is to improve the network and incorporate the ad hoc or renegade trails. “[The plan] is to identify the existing trails we have and to look at the strategy to either build new trails or enhance existing trails in the short, medium or long-term,” Selkirk Planning & Design planner Fraser Blyth said.

Blyth has been hired by the Revelstoke City to compile a report as part of the $25,000 action plan.

“I think we’ve seen with the Macpherson trails and the Boulder Mountain trails, that we’re starting to grow and have a reputation for mountain biking,” Blyth said. “And I think we can diversity that with different offerings for different user groups.”

There are plenty of informal trails around town, including some on public property. While this report may identify some of these popular ones, such as those on CP Hill or on Mount Mackenzie, if the community does not want those to be officially marked, they have a chance to make that known.

Part of planning process includes a public house and an online survey in January 2017, which Fraser encourages the community to get involved with.

“The more people that show up to that and provide comments, the better the plan is going to be,” he said.

This story first appeared in the October/November issue of the Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.