I was at keppoch for the day. With the heat it was super dry… things are very very loose and roots are gettijt more and more exposed.
From what i could see the most visable trail work thats been done was on chicken cougar
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Keppoch needs major major upkeep it has for 2 years.
The money spent on the air strip , quite a lot from what I understand, still didn’t get good drainage, and likely would have gone further other ways.
Skyline, Cougar, switch and roller were all a dust bowl beat out washed out mess for a few years.
Up the shuttle cost and poley is nearly the same distance for most, I highly recommend it. If you wanna pedal up go to Wentworth, once Wentworth gets a lift it will be a nail in the coffin to Keppoch
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I fully agree. I cant speak from experience about poley as i havent been there… wentworth is in waaay better condition obviously because tiose new trails are less than a year old. But theyve also had i believe 5 trail maintenance days sinfe the fall fixing thinfs before they become full on issues.
Where keppoch is owned by several businessman hopefully they will open their pockets and atleast spend some money on a few tandom loads of dirt to resurface areas that are seriously rutted and have exposed roots.
Ive heard talk… just talk of a full enduro series for nova scotia similar to what new brunswick has… with current conditions at keppoch many riders wont risk the hazards there to race.
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I wouldn’t ride keppoch let alone race it. After the condition numerous trails were in last year if they aren’t repaired it’s down right dangerous, sure MTB is dangerous but trails that are left to be demolished aren’t fun, and aren’t safe.
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Good thing they didn’t hire back any of their trail builders/ trail maintainers and raised the shuttle passes by $20.Its sad.
Hey, we got a sweet disc golf course and freshly leaf blown hiking trails now. So thats tighttttttt.
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I honestly know I won’t be there this year. There is just too much other good stuff now
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That’s a shame to hear. It’s barely worth the drive as it is.
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MVP- super dry dusty and loose in the enduro zone
Poley- super dry dusty and loose. They closed the 99 and goatpath Sunday.
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Hey Gang, has anyone reached out to Keppoch with their comments/concerns? I don’t know their inner workings however I do know they’ve had a significant staffing and trail crew turnover for what ever reasons, and I’ve found the current staff-either in the office or on the trail easy to interact with and open to suggestions. It seems to me they’ve gone through the honeymoon phase of new trail building and now have to maintain what they’ve got. Perhaps since they don’t just cater to mtb’ers they’ve spread too thin and diluted the experience? I can only speculate. However they are a small community who presumably wants to put their best foot forward.
I only climb the trails when I’m there so I can’t comment on the shuttle experience, certainly that is a big price hike.
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Worth noting if you don’t want to spend $50 and/or don’t plan on shuttling all day, Keppoch now has a $5 per shuttle option, which seems pretty reasonable.
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Not recently, but before they got their new truck for shuttling I was trying to be put in touch with them to donate some free tires and wheels for the shuttle truck (because they kept having their day ruined by punctured tires) however I had to put in so much ridiculous effort just to find a way to donate them thousands of dollars in tires and rims…that I gave up.
Perhaps this is a reason as to why they are where they are.
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That does make sense especially where ite a 3500 series dodge those arent cheap trucks.
I do know however they chased barry out of there 2 yeara ago
he was the head trail builder who built many of the existing trails. It happened before he was even able to fix them up
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Barry builds wicked stuff on his own build. Can’t wait for them to have Robin Hood and the haunted truck ride when they realize nobody wants to ride there anymore.
With the trails getting thrashed there has to be some goverment funding or something to have staff even one
person.
I just think a lot of places aren’t great with follow up. Hell, I’ve reached out to MRWA in the past to donate a bunch of wood but that never went anywhere either. It was always one person, putting me in touch with another who puts me in touch with another, who then emails another person, way too many steps if I even get a reply at all.
Volunteer run, or volunteer dependent things kind of go that way it would seem.
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Not really sure what can be done about dusty and loose trails from a maintenance perspective besides maybe some raking.
Keppoch has always been rooty, a bit blown out and somewhat sketch, is what it is.
Shuttle fees are for sure aggressive, but I guess it is what it is. Nobody is at the climb trail head turning you away.
My understanding is that its all new ownership, leadership who are pretty open to suggestions.
Try providing some, be productive and supportive.
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I may be off base here as I don’t recall what it would cost to ride for a day, but being $50 now is…well wow. Normally in business such a short sighted steep increase is an attempt to increase revenue desperately needed. Which, if we look at that historically, tends to cost a place more as less people go due to the cost. Effectively shooting themselves in the foot.
Now, if they were to rally a crowd and put on a volunteer day to help do anything that needs doing, with a barbecue, some free shuttle runs here and there, or say put in a days work for a shuttle pass or something; I’d be down for that. But it would also require trust that all the work won’t be fruitless and will continue to be maintained.
Interested to see the possible new direction that may happen with new ownership.
Raking, Filling in craters, fixing breaking bumps, covering up roots that are far more pronounced after years of riding. It’s all basic stuff it’s unfortunate that it hasn’t been done.
Keppoch was my first bike park, it’s special but with so much new stuff on the come up, at 50 bucks a day a head split the difference go to poley.
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The price hike had to do with the crazy increase of fuel costs mostly… its a diesel 3500 series so it probably has a 140 litre tank… thats not cheap. My canyon is diesel has a 78 litre tank which at the worst point was just shy of 200 to fill
They did try to do a volunteer dig day 10 days ago but called it off due to the high temperatures…pretty sure they are rescheduling it but no date set.
Where its owned by businessman and one or a few doctored hopefully theyd have the sense to not just think about their wallets but make sure their not increasing the volume of people in the already overly populated emergency rooms
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You’re right. It’s frustrating but bitching as I have above solves nothing.
More riding places the better I hope things work out.
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Rode some of the new stuff at the gorge this evening just for a quick rip… super fun , with all the heat it was pretty loose in the corners
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