Diary of our XC trailbuilding at Living Springs (number of people in brackets)

2006
8 March 2006 - First scoping visit (2)
5 April 2006 - Second scoping visit (2)
6 May 2006 - Third scoping visit, began marking out some track (2)
13 May 2006 - Began benching Mississippi Trail (kanuka) (2)
10 June 2006 - Continued benching Mississippi Trail and built top switchback (5)
9 July 2006 - Continued benching Mississippi Trail, began building keyhole bend (8)
19 August 2006 - Continued benching Mississippi Trail (4)
16 September 2006 - Continued benching Mississippi Trail (9)
30 December 2006 - Marked line through The Pines, began clearing track (chainsawing) - pouring rain! (4)
2007
2 January 2007 - Continued clearing track in The Pines (4)
6 January 2007 - Continued clearing track and began benching in The Pines (7)
13 January 2007 - Trailbuilding advisory session with Nick Singleton (CCC trail GURU)
23 January 2007 - Continued benching in The Pines (5)
27 January 2007 - Continued benching in The Pines (4)
5 February 2007 - Built lower bridge for The Pines and culverts for Mississippi Trail (2)
6 February 2007 - Continued benching in The Pines and installed lower bridge (10)
21 February 2007 - Paul cut out a few kanuka stumps in The Pines (1)
3 March 07 - Benched The Pines from bottom gate to top of switchback, built another switchback, tidied up Onga Onga on Mississippi (7)
5 March 2007 - Rick installed the cattlestop at the OCC and has another one ready to install at exit of The Pines (1)
17 March 2007 - Trimmed trees below OCC, benched initial line of the track above The Pines cattlestop (4)
5 May 2007 - Continued clearing and benching in The Pines, confirmed location of remaining upper track in The Pines (4)
11 May 2007 - Built the main bridge for The Pines (1)
12 May 2007 - Installed the main bridge and continued clearing and benching in The Pines (4)
19 May 2007 - Built another bridge (2)
4 June 2007 - Continued clearing and benching in The Pines (5)
30 June 2007 - Scoping trip for yet another 5km of new track in the native bush on the upper slopes of Living Springs (2)
20 July 2007 - Rick installed cattlestop at the top of The Pines (1)
20 July 2007 - Cleared the felled trees all the way to the cattlestop at the top of The Pines! Drizzling. (5)
21 July 2007 - Made huge progress towards benching to the top of The Pines. Jimmy and Ben built a hut for the kids (13)
28 July 2007 - Continued to fine tune switchbacks and benching in The Pines and Rhymes with Orange (5)
18 August 2007 - Completed upper section of The Pines track, improved the Mississippi Trail and scoped out the lower sections of the new Zanes Track (7)
22 September 2007 - Built the initial 150m of Zanes, including a cool boulder bridge. Buried a stinky decomposing sheep. The four kids enjoyed playing in the stream (7)
10 October 2007 - Greg came over and helped us build up two more long bridges to install on Zanes at Labour Weekend (2)
20 October 2007 - Continued building more of Zanes, including installing 2 more bridges and dealing with a challenging wee rock squeeze. (7)
22 October 2007 - Continued building more of Zanes, including a huge boulder 'rollover'. Nice trail, this one! (6)
26 October 2007 - Zane and Craig scoped out the upper half of Zanes Track (2)
27 October 2007 - Greg and Craig built up the hinged bridge for Zanes (2)
9 November 2007 - Graham cleaned up areas in The Pines etc (1)
10 November 2007 - Installed the hinged bridge and anchored a challenging retaining wall on Zanes, built a switchback on Mississippi (8)
16 November 2007 - Scoped out a line for the next section of Zanes so as to stay in the native forest by the creek (1)
15 December 2007 - Built one of the two Mississippi switchbacks on the spur and fine tuned some of Zane's (8)
2008
20 January 08 - Built the remaining Mississippi spur switchback and fine tuned some other bits (10)
8 March 2008 - Continued extending Zanes over into the adjacent forested gully (5)
16 March 2008 - Paul and Anton went over and using a block and tackle system moved a massive boulder that a bunch of us guys failed to budge the last time we were there! (2)
21 March 2008 - Craig and Nigel built up the first of the three new cattlestops (2)
13 April 2008 - With a huge team we built a massive amount of new track on Zanes. Just needs three more bridges built and installed and a bit of berm fine tuning (15)
25 April 2008 - Nigel and Sean spent a long day with us building and installing three bridges on Zanes and doing a bit of trackwork (4)
17 May 2008 - Our biggest team yet! Built 180m of new track on Zanes and refined a lot of the track built in April, including the approaches to the new bridges. Fantastic progress! (19)
31 May 2008 - Craig, Nigel and Greg built up another two cattlestops. These, and the one built in March, will be installed during winter (3)
8 June 2008 - Craig scoped out a few different options for the top section of Zanes. Also (with Andrea's help) took over the two cattlestops (1)
15 June 2008 - Boy, we're getting some momentum now - 28 people! Fine tuned lots of the existing Zanes and built a whole heap more. It's a fair walk back to the car now. Andrea started installing netting on the bridges. And today we broke the 1000 volunteer hours mark! (28)
20 July 2008 - It was raining on Saturday so we headed over on Sunday and it was very muddy on the existing track. This was useful to identify where there are drainage issues. Where we were digging was okay and we built another 140m of track including most of the spade work for 3 switchbacks (19)
6 September 2008 - Simon and Graham helped us realign the main Pines bridge and do a heap of maintenance work in the Pines (4)
14 September 2008 - Finished the maintenance work in the Pines and Rhymes with Orange, installed Geogrid on 5 of the bridges and started building the Bamfords Rd entrance track (11)
15 September 2008 - Rebekah, Graham, Bridget, Shailer and Zane attended a Sustainable Trailbuilding workshop
18 September 2008 - Took the opportunity for Ric Balfour (ex IMBA Trail Care Crew) to check out some of what we have been building to give some advice on how we can make it better to ride and more sustainable. Rebekah, Zane, Graham, Richard and Denis all made time to take in what Ric said
27 October 2008 - As recommended by Ric Balfour, we fine tuned several sections of Zane's (widening, armouring, backsloping, improving drainage, providing alternative lines etc) (9)
9 Novemer 2008 - Continued improving Zane's (6) - 100th trackbuilder!
11 November 2008 - Paul spent the day spraying to clear the weeds on the trails (1)
14 November 2008 - Paul continued spraying the weeds on the trails. He is a legend. (1)
30 November 2008 - Spent a BIG day installing the three cattlestops we built up a few months back. While the approaches still need to be finished, they are rideable - no more gates to open!!! Greg, Sam and Andrea, you guys are great! (4 x 2)
13 December 2008 - Continued extending Zane's. We can see the open now which is encouraging, though there is still a lot of finishing work to be done, especially on the recently built sections.(8)
21 December 2008 - Craig and Rebekah spent about 3 hours looking at options for linking the three sections of track together(2)
28 December 2008 - Began building the extension to the bottom of Mississippi that will feed in to the top of Zane's (6)
2009
3 January 2009 - Continued to build the Mississippi extension, including the start of a kanuka log bridge (9)
10 January 2009 - Continued to build the Mississippi extension, finished the kanuka log bridge and scrub cut some grass sections (8)
12 January 209 - Living Springs staff fixed up some pugging damage and filled in the approaches to the cattlestops
15 January 2009 - Installed the first few signs and installed geogrid on another 3 bridges on Zanes (6)
22 January 2009 - Graham did some more work on the link track
26 January 2009 - Finished stapling the geogrid on the bridges and measured the loop to be used in the race (Pines, OCC, Mississippi, Zanes) - 4 km with 170m climbing
6 February 2009 - Finished benching the track from Mississippi to Zanes, worked on the top section of Zanes and sprayed all the onga onga on Zanes. Very productive day in the hot sun (16)
14 February 2009 - Built the missing section of Skoolz Out below the canyon and fine tuned many sections of Zanes (7)
19 February 2009 - Cut out trees in Mississippi and Zanes to widen the carriageway (to improve flow, visibility and safety), finished wiring back the vine tunnel on Zanes, installed Zanes entrance sign, finished 2nd to top big berm on Zanes (3)
21 February 2009 - Fine tuned lots of the upper switchback section of Zanes and scrub cut the unbenched section of RWO (1)
1 March 2009 - Began benching the section of RWO that goes from the OCC to the Mississipp (6)
4 March 2009 - Continued benching the section of RWO that goes from the OCC to the Mississipp (2)
7 March 2009 - Continued benching the section of RWO that goes from the OCC to the Mississippi, from the OCC cattlestop. We built about 30m of track - it was very rocky and difficult. About 50m remains to be done to link the two ends (7)
8 March 2009 - FINISHED(!) benching the section of RWO that goes from the OCC to the Mississippi. Craig and Michael rerouted the approach to the bridge in the Pines - it was hard work (15)
Note:Quite a few people are riding the tracks now. Zanes takes longer than The Pines and Mississippi to dry out after rain.
10 March 2009 - Craig did a few fix-ups on Zane's - modifying corners and cambers (1)
11 March 2009 - Paul cleared debris and cleaned up around the entire loop (1)
14 March 2009 - General widening, backsloping and fine tuning of the trails, particularly Zanes (11)
11 April 2009 - Built most of the section of Rhymes With Orange that skirts around below the Wedding Spur to join in with the top of Mississippi (6)
19 April 2009 - Craig spent a few hours scoping out all sorts of options in the forest on the upper slopes of Living Springs. Lots of trail potential and some beautiful forest up there with amazing rock features, but also a few challenges that would have to be faced so some big decisions need to be made before we begin digging (1)
12 May 2009 - Meeting to discuss future direction of tracks and group
16 May 2009 - Called in experts to remove the boulder protruding on to the track in Zane's and to alter a rock on the track that will become part of the Upper Loop - this took about 7 hours
6 June 2009 - Widened the track that we built on 11 April and improved flow on Rhymes with Orange. Tidied up a few of the soil discard piles. Applied temporary measures to a couple of drainage issues at the bottom of Zane's (4)
10 July 2009 - Installed the first lot of the signage down Old School (Summit Rd to OCC area) and scoped out more of the proposed top loop (2)
18 July 2009 - Worked on drainage on the lower section of Zanes and begun changing the alignment of the double bridge to make it safer (5)
25 July 2009 - After last weeks session there was one section we realised was going to be extremely difficult to drain so today Damon and Greg built a beautiful piece of boardwalk over the top. Oliver and Craig got the bridge we began moving last week fixed in place and Graham installed some box drains he had built. There is still a bit of tidying up and armouring to do. (6)
22 August 2009 - Continued to work on improving drainage on the lower section of Zanes, and finished off a few things further up Zanes. (2)
5 September 2009 - Finished off the improvements to the bottom of Zane's, lowered another bridge, and did some general tidying up. A very productive but very tiring day! (7)
12 September 2009 - Installed a noticeboard at the Bamford's Rd entrance, cleared all overhanging vegetation around the lower loop as well as identifying any further areas needing attention before next winter. (3)
21 September 2009 (approx) - Paul sprayed the ongaonga around the lower loop. (1)
17 October 2009 - Replaced the high bridge in the Pines with a wider, lower, shorter bridge, installed some drains and began building a new section of track uphill of the OCC (Goodie Gumdrop). (9)
13 November 2009 - Battled a southerley hail storm to continue building the open section of Goodie Gumdrop. (6)
26 November 2009 - Paul, our awesome spraying guru, dealt to the grass and thistles and did a general tidyup around the lower loop. (1) 28 November 2009 - Continued to build Goodie Gumdrop (a further 65m), this time under the shelter of the trees as it was raining the whole time! (6)
12 December 2009 - Had a awesome turnout and got through a heap more of the Goodie Gumdrop loop. Paul also trimmed all the grass in the open sections that he sprayed off a few weeks back. And we've hit 2000 total volunteer hours! (17)
15 December 2009 - Craig & Rebekah took advantage of the recent rain to compact the new berm on Goodie Gumdrop, then scoped out and cleared the new loop in the Pines to get ready for the Community Work crew and Huxster crew. (2)
16 December 2009 - Our first Community Work crew! Had a great bunch of guys who managed to almost finish the Goodie Gumdrop loop. Craig & Rebekah spent the day with them. Craig then sprayed the remaining grass on GG and cleared branches around OCC and up the lower fenceline track. (3+9CW)
20 December 2009 - Scoped out a line from the end of the random track built in the 80's, back to the Monorail Spur (2)
22 December 2009 - Graham spent some time addressing the drainage issues on Zanes (1)
29 December 2009 - Worked on a few areas that could flow a bit better in preparation for the MTB Cup race. Installed the 2nd bridge at the bottom of Zane's to make it twice as wide (14)
2010
10 February 2010 - Community Work visited but no work undertaken due to drizzle
13 February 2010 - Scoped a section above the OCC (2)
17 February 2010 - Community Work crew worked in the Pines and built the first bit of the extension (2+7CW)
24 February 2010 - Community Work crew worked in the Pines and built the end of the extension and cleared some rubble from the middle (2+7CW)
February 2010 - Greg built a plywood box for us to store the tools in on-site. Craig painted it
27 February 2010 - Finished chainsawing a way through the felled debris in The Pines in preparation for the Community Workers to complete the extension (2)
27 February 2010 - Continued scoping the line extending from the OCC upwards - spent two hours on a zig zag, ended up close to where we started, so spent another hour scoping a much shorter more direct line (2)
3 March 2010 - Community Work crew worked in the Pines and continued working on the extension (2+7CW)
10 March 2010 - Community Work crew worked in the Pines and continued working on the extension (3+7CW)
16 March 2010 - Community Work crew worked in the Pines and continued working on the extension (2+7CW)
20 March 2010 - Finished off the pines extension - built exit berm, built boardwalk and tidied up bits and pieces (8)
20 March 2010 - Scoped and cleared a new upper line in the Pines to make way for Huxster's DH track (3)
24 March 2010 - Began benching the new upper line in the Pines - got from the start to the edge of the native bush (2+7CW)
31 March 2010 - Continued benching the new upper line in the Pines - benched about 10m, but progress not very visible as there were a lot of stumps to dig out and fallen debris to clear and this kind of work is very time consuming. However, we cleared all the way back to the pines ready for benching next time (2+7CW)
24 April 2010 - Built one of the corners in the new upper line in the pines ready for the CW crew to bench either side, cleared a lot of debris and did some drainage work in upper Zanes (5)
30 April 2010 - Graham continued to improve the drainage and flow on Zanes (1)
5 May 2010 - Continued benching the new upper line in the Pines. Productive team today (1+7CW)
12 May 2010 - Continued benching the new upper line in the Pines and cleared a lot of vegetation. (1+7CW)
19 May 2010 - Rebekah scoped the top half of Bellbird Gully. It's going to be a beautiful track through there. (1)
22 May 2010 - Great team who did a big day finishing off the lower half of the new upper Pines section. It is now open to ride but a couple more modifications will be done next time we're over there. Also cleared the vegetation in the top half of the new line, ready for the PD crew to start benching (13)
2 June 2010 - A new supervisor from the Corrections Department. Continued working in the top section of the Pines (1+7CW)
9 June 2010 - There has been a lot of rain so the soil was saturated, but we continued working in the top section of the Pines (1+7CW)
2 July 2010 - Craig & Rebekah showed Denis (CEO of LS) around the proposed upper loop that we have spend several days over the last few months scoping out, to get approval to start digging. And stage 2 begins in earnest! (2)
10 July 2010 - Had a long productive day on the new line in the top of The Pines. Came very close to finishing this off (9)
20 July 2010 - Spent the day widening RWO and putting in some drains to get the water off the track surface. Also took the knob off the harsh bump on Goodie Gumdop (1+7CW)
24 July 2010 - Glenn continued improving the drainage on Goodie Gumdrop to try to deal with the issues associated with that extremely wet hillside (1)
24 July 2010 - Craig, Nigel, Greg and Warren built up a further 4 cattlestops ready to install as required on the new Bellbird Gully track etc (4)
28 July 2010 - Started on the new Bellbird Gully track. Hard work - rocky, lots of vines and a very steep hillside. (1+7CW)
29 July 2010 - Craig and Denis discussed carparking and access options to the XC tracks from the Farm Park and Craig did a bit of an inspection and tidy up of Zane's
1 August 2010 - Graham worked on drainage in the upper sections of Zane's (1)
7 August 2010 - Craig and Scott realigned and rebuilt the Skoolz Out bridge (2)
14 August 2010 - Cleared vegetation on the Bellbird Gully and Far Side tracks ready for benching (5)
11 September 2010 - Craig did a post earthquake check of the trails and spent the day clearing and creating drains, clearing slips etc (1)
18 September 2010 - Cleared a lot more vegetation in Bellbird Gully and cleared a slip and fallen trees in the Pines. This was Craig's 100th day volunteering at Living Springs (5)
2 October 2010 - Made good progress benching the Spruce tree section of Bellbird Gully. It is fantastic having an endless supply of rocks to use. Also investigated a massive slip on Zanes that has occured in last 48hrs and was still moving when we were there. Will take quite some effort to rebuild the track that has been wiped out (8+6 kids)
13 October 2010 - Continued working on Bellbird Gully - did the section from the Spruce Trees to almost the creek (1+8CW)
16 October 2010 - Got some on site advice from Nick Thurley on how the track should flow through Bellbird Gully's Four Corners section.
18 October 2010 - Cleared the trees around the earthquake slip on Zanes and began preparation to place boardwalk across it. Decided it is still too fluid so will wait a bit before nailing the boards on so that our work is not wasted. This was a Monday evening session (3)
20 October 2010 - Continued working on Bellbird Gully - did the section from above the Four Corners to above Bellbird Heights (2+8CW)
27 October 2010 - Continued benching in Bellbird Gully - widening and finishing work on the lower section (2+8CW)
1 November 2010 - Second Monday evening session working on the earthquake slip and surrounding area (4)
3 November 2010 - Continued benching the area below the Four Corners in Bellbird Gully (2+8CW)
6 November 2010 - A good team of 9 started building the Four Corners section in Bellbird Gully. In the rain! A lot of rock work (9)
10 November 2010 - Continued benching in Bellbird Gully - widening and finishing work on the lower section, cleared mud off boardwalk at the slip, scoped climbing line for Bellbird Gully, considered options for if slip takes out track (2+7CW)
15 November 2010 - scoped out and started clearing a new line on Zanes to avoid the slip area as it looks like we will not be able to repair the slip quickly with it continuing to move (2)
24 November 2010 - began benching slip bypass (2+7CW)
13 December 2010 - Year 9 boys and two teachers from Lincoln High School and Rebekah and Craig worked on the slip bypass for the morning, Rebekah and Craig then looked at the upper line in Bellbird Gully (7)
15 December 2010 - continued benching the slip bypass till we were rained out (1+7CW)
21 December 2010 - a good crew of mountainbikers benched through very difficult (rocky) terrain on the slip bypass. They made good progress (8)
2011
8 January 2011 - Finished off the slip bypass section of Zanes and opened it up for riding. Still needs a bit of tweaking though (6)
13 January 2011 - Worked on draining the new wet areas in the Pines (4)
19 January 2011 - Extended some boardwalk over a wet area in the Pines, built a berm to improve flow in to a bridge, widened a section of track to give a passing opportunity, opened up drainage ditch along Skoolz Out, smoothed Skoolz Out and improved the flow of the exit of the Slip Bypass (12)
23 January 2011 - Scott did some general maintenance on the course, trimming back foliage etc (1)
24 January 2011 - Craig & Bridget did some morework on Skoolz Out (2)
27 January 2011 - Opened up "The Canyon" for the Cup event, began 2nd kanuka bridge at bottom of MIssissippi, improved the landing for the "jump" at the bottom of Zane's, and Paul spent time cutting back grass etc (5)
30 January 2011 - Rebekah's 100th session! Scoped a climbing line in Bellbird Gully from the waterfall halfway back towards O'Farrells Track (2)
2 February 2011 - First PD day for 2011 - widened approach to Zanes and some sections in the Pines (1+7 CW)
--- No work was done for a while during Feb-Apr 2011 due to the devastating Feb earthquake ---
7 May 2011 - Glenn and Callum carried out maintenance (in the rain!) around lower Zanes and distributed a tailer load of drainage pipe around the trails ready to use (2)
4 June 2011 - Glenn and Colin carried out maintenence in the Pines and distributed more pipe (2)
3 July 2011 - Graham cleaned out numerous drains on Zanes and carried out general maintenance (1)
23 July 2011 - Craig and Glenn did a general tidy up, pruning, drain clearing, drain installing etc of the main loop and assessed what bigger jobs need to be done around the place, as well as investigating the impact the quake rockfall has had on the upper loop (2)
13 August 2011 - A team of six spent several hours building up 6 new cattlestops that will soon be installed between the Farm Park and the current singletrack loop to allow the carpark and trailhead to be moved from Bamfords Rd to the Farm Park (6)
21 August 2011 - Glenn and Craig picked up a large supply of blocks and ferried them to LS to use for ramping all the new cattlestops (2)
8 September 2011 - Met with Living Springs management and Nick Singleton to discuss details of the Farm Park link project
10 September 2011 - Opened up the Canyon for general riding (previously only been open during nationals events) and made a line on 4WD just past end of Zanes to avoid the large boggy section. Also did more scoping for the Farm Park link project (6)
23 September 2011 - Spent a long day making a start on the fencing required for thew six cattlestops etc needed for linking the Farm Park to our main loop (4)
24 September 2011 - Another long day, starting installing the cattlestops at the Farm Park, and also boardwalking the 2 boggy sections of the Pines where new springs came up with Feb quake. Lots of kids there today (13)
26 September 2011 - Craig repaired a cut water line and almost finished installing another cattlestop (1)
28 September 2011 - Paul sprayed the MTB trails to tidy things up for the summer season of riding and events (1)
9 October 2011 - Installed the 3rd of six cattlestops and associated fencing in the Farm Park (4)
--- A storm system on 19 October 2011 caused considerable damage to bridges and track on Zanes and caused a massive landslip on the upper slope that has caused extensive damage to some of the upper loop track we had completed, as well as much of the surrounding forest. The threat of rock fall on those slopes is extreme and expected to remain for several years, meaning it will be a long time before further progress can be made on the upper loop ---
22 October 2011 - Nigel assessed what was required to repair the storm damage to the bridges on Zanes
24 October 2011 - Big day. Repaired the damaged bridge and got Zanes rideable again following the storm. Still some track work needed to get it back to what it was. Also installed another cattlestop at the Farm Park and completed some more fencing (7)
5 November 2011 - Graham improved several sections on Zanes that were getting boggy or had damage from the storm (1)
3 December 2011 - Worked on opening up the scrub section of the Farm Park link (7)
There has been some other work done during 2011 (such as installing the last two cattlestops in the Farm Park) which has not been recorded here. If anyone knows any what and whens then please let us know
2012
9 January 2012 - Craig & Rebekah built bridge in scrub section of Farm Park link (2)
24 June 2012 - Graham carried out improvements on Zanes (1)
15 July 2012 - Graham carried out improvements on Zanes (1)
July-September 2012 - Sam Lawn contracted to install double fence at Farm Park
24 August 2012 - With a team from Aurecon, completed much of the planting, mulching and gravelling of the new Farm Park entrance (11)
25 August 2012 - Compacted the gravel laid out on Friday, and built some Farm Park cattlestop ramps (5)
1 September 2012 - Laid and compacted a further 2 trucks of gravel in the Farm Park area (4)
5 September 2012 - Glenn made up some gates to close off our Farm Park cattlestops when moving stock (1)
6 September 2012 - Made a bit more progress with building the cattlestop ramps and gates etc (2)
14 October 2012 - Glenn hung gates on cattlestops for when stock are being moved (1)
21 October 2012 - Craig and Glenn built more ramps, cut and sprayed grass, installed table and did some fencing (2)
16 November 2012 - Glenn built more cattlestop ramps at the Farm Park (1)
22 December 2012 - Glenn did more at the Farm Park (1)
2013
12 January 2013 - Craig cleared grass, vines and weeds from the Farm Park link and installed signage etc (1)
21 January 2013 - Craig sprayed lots of grass and weeds on Skoolz Out and the Farm Park link and installed more signage (1)
1 February 2013 - Craig weeded, sprayed, applied more mulch and installed entrance sign at Farm Park (1)
6 February 2013 - Glenn completed more cattlestop ramps and sprayed and weeded Farm Park area (1)
13 February 2013 - Sprayed, weeded and applied more mulch around entrance sign (2)
13 March 2013 - Replaced the kanuka bridges on Mississippi with standard bridges (2)
17 March 2013 - Fantastic small team scrubcut and pruned almost the entire circuit as well as a few other jobs (4)
23 March 2013 - Glenn cut back grass and kanuka branches etc on Rhymes with Orange and improved the Farm Park ford (1)
1 April 2013 - Installed the new noticeboard at the Farm Park (4)
--- A storm system late June 2013 (200mm of rain and strong winds) caused several large slips above the lower section of Zanes which deposited large amounts of soil onto the track and did some bridge damage. In the Pines a few trees got blown down across the track and there are a couple of small slips. The tracks were closed for several months ---
30 June 2013 - Investigated the extent of the storm damage (3)
3 August 2013 - Cleared much of the slip material off the bottom section of Zanes and looked at realignment options for one section of track. Messy job! (9)
24 August 2013 - Cleared the vegetation (massive vine jungle!) for the realigment required for the area of worst slip damage, and cleared all the fallen trees and small slips in The Pines (5)
--- Before we finished repairing damage from the June storm, another storm blew through Canterbury on 10 September bringing extreme NW gales which blew over numerous trees in The Pines and a few kanukas in Mississippi and Zanes ---
15 September 2013 - Built the majority of the storm (June) damage realignment on Zanes, including moving a bridge, installing drains, removing a huge boulder, and digging out a considerable amount of slip debris (6)
4 October 2013 - Removed all the wind blown trees from the September storm and cleared most of the debris from around the track that had built up as a result of the track being closed since June and numerous high winds during that time (4)
19 November 2013 - Sprayed the Farm Park laneway (1)
2 November 2013 - Sprayed much of the Farm Park link, removed a lot of wind blown debris from the track and did more finishing work on the winter slip area on Zanes (1)
19 November 2013 - Sprayed farm park laneway and weeded Farm Park garden (1)
27 December 2013 - Odin cut back the grass on Rhymes With Orange as it had become quite overgrown with seed heads etc (1)
2014
1 February 2014 - Craig & Rebekah mowed the Farm Park laneway and did lots of spraying, before meeting with Denis to discuss cattlestop placement for the new fence that will destock Zanes (Yay!) (2)
--- Two storms during March 2014 blew over several trees in the Pines and Zanes and left wind blown debris over most of the track ---
22 March 2014 - Our 200th session! clearied fallen trees from recent storms, cut back vines, cleared debris, cleared drains, fixed stock damage, raked pine needles from Pines, sprayed most open sections, mowed laneway (5)
29 March 2014 - Installed the lower of the two cattlestops required for a new fence currently being installed to destock Zanes. Sprayed more of Farm Park area (4)
5 April 2014 - Installed the upper of the two cattlestops required for the new fence. Also cleared some vines on Mississippi (5)
--- Another storm on 18 April blew over a couple of trees (one of which ripped a huge hole in the track), left wind blown debris over most of the track and created a small slip in the Pines ---
20 April 2014 - Cleared the debris and occasional fallen tree off the track from a recent wind storm, cleared lots of drains and finished the ramp and fencing at the cattlestop installed on 5 April (3)
--- And yet another storm on 29 April, that brought heavy rain on an already sodden ground, caused a lot of trees to fall over in the Pines, some ripping up the track, and creating numerous slips. ---
1 May 2014 - John assessed the scale of most recent damage and reported back the above details (1)
3 May 2014 - A team from Living Springs cleared most of the storm damage themselves, leaving only one problematic area in the Pines where a large tree has ripped apart the track and left a very deep muddy area that will require boardwalk (3)
4 May 2014 - Zanes and a few other areas are excessively wet. Opened up and created many drains on Zanes to aid drying of the tracks. Also assessed what is required to repair the above area in the Pines (2)
30 November 2014 - Sprayed all of the Farm Park garden and laneway and up to the bridge (1)
~30 November 2014 - Brian did a bit of a tidy up around the place (1)
7 December 2014 - Windfall tree cleared from the Pines (2)
13 December 2014 - Lots of grass cutting and spraying around Farm Park and Zanes. Encouraging to see the natives already responding so well to the area being destocked (3)
21 December 2014 - Graham and Tim walked the circuit clearing out drains, cutting vines, removing thistles and manure etc - a great tidy up before the main summer period (2)
2015
8 April 2015 - Craig cleared windfall (trees, vines etc) on Zanes and did some weeding in Farm Park (1)
2 May 2015 - Mike cleared a wind fall tree and overhanging vines (1)
3 May 2015 - Craig, Rebekah and Denis scoped out new trail alignment options to work in with the creation of two proposed reserves (3)
22 May 2015 - Craig met with fencing contractor on site to discuss and mark out locations for cattlestops for the creation of the Totara Gully reserve
30 May 2015 - Craig & Jennifer purchased timber and built up one cattlestop (2)
31 May 2015 - Installed one cattlestop and moved another one to work in with the new fences on Skoolz Out (8)
1 July 2015 - Craig and Rebekah marked out the Totara Gully track and chainsawed the vegetation corridor section in The Pines. Also discovered the trailhead sign had been damaged (2)
27 September 2015 - Purchased timber (using funding grant) for three more cattlestops and started to make them up (2)
29 September 2015 - Glenn sprayed the Farm Park garden and laneway (1)
30 September 2015 - Glenn finished spraying the laneway and through the deer paddock (1)
30 September 2015 - Craig started building up three cattlestops (1)
14 October 2015 - Craig finished building up the three cattlestops and then him and Richard took them over to Living Springs ready to install on the new reserve fences, and then reinstalled the trailhead sign that had been damaged (2)
19 November 2015 - Craig scrubcut all of Zanes and a few other areas. Now that it is ungrazed the grass and seedlings are growing rapidly! (1)
2016
6 March 2016 - Mike cut back the abundant weed growth in the Farm Park garden and laneway etc (1)
12 March 2016 - A big team started building the Totara Gully track, starting at the Pines end (10)
12 March 2016 - The Tregurtha's scrubcut the Totara Gully grass and all of Zanes and a few other areas (3)
27 March 2016 - The Tregurtha's sprayed the Farm Park garden and laneway and up to second deer fence crossing, then spent a while building more of the Totara Gully Track (2)
9 April 2016 - A team of 17 carried on building the Totara Gully Track, almost finishing the section under the pines, installing the bridge and building much of the track from the bridge to the pines (17)
1 May 2016 - Glenn carried on doing finishing work on the Totara Gully track (1)
7 May 2016 - another big team carried on building the Totara Gully Track, building most of the section from the cattlestop up to the bridge (will be widened in places later) (15)

15 May 2016 - To celebrate 10 years since we begun trailbuilding at Living Springs, we had a lunch at the Farm Park for anyone who had helped at all over the 10 years. Living Springs funded and supplied the catering (thanks team!!!)

15 May 2016 - John (and perhaps other??) cleared the recent windfall in The Pines (1)
21 May 2016 - Richard delivered cattlestop bases to Living Springs (1)
6 June 2016 - Installed the Totara Gully cattlestop and did a fair chunk of the benching between the Canyon Drop and that cattlestop (8)
18 June 2016 - Big team effort, FINISHING the main Totara Gully line (16)
22 June 2016 - Craig cleared the thick matt of grass on the lower Totara Gully line to get ready for benching (1)
~1 August 2016 - Paul went around the course with a leaf blower clearing all the leaves and pine needles. Sensational! (1)
15 August 2016 - Benched the top half of the lower Totara Gully line and Glenn built the entrance ramp on the Totara Gully cattlestop (13)
11 September 2016 - Installed closed for lambing signs and walked around loop to check for damage from last week's big wind storm. Thankfully only one big tree on the track (which was cleared to rideable state) but a lot of debris (3)
4 October 2016 - Craig removed closed for lambing signs, delivered timber for Totara Gully lower bridge, sprayed entire track, including Farm Park laneway and garden area (4-5 knapsacks) - 4 hrs (1)
16 October 2016 - Finished building the lower line in Totara Gully, including building the bridge. Trialled using a rotary hoe for the first time which worked really well (9)
2 November 2016 - Craig & Rebekah repaired a damaged bridge, cut back vines and opened up drains on Zanes, installed temporary signage for Totara Gully, improved 4WD track crossing point, and widened the lower Totara Gully line to allow spray quad to access more of the native plantings. Long day. (2)
30 November 2016 - Craig built a boardwalk section and cleaned up some drains at the bottom of Zanes to avoid the issues with the spring there (1)
10 December 2016 - Glenn sprayed grass etc and cut back vines on the entire main loop (5 hrs). Craig welded up and installed a gate on the Skoolz Out cattlestop on north side of Totara Gully as it is not used for riding now outside of events and has been an issue for sheep gaining access to the reserve (1)
2017
21 January 2017 - Craig did some finishing touches on the lower line in Totara Gully and removed a fallen tree on Zanes (1)
3 February 2017 - Glenn sprayed Farm Park laneway and up through Farm Park paddocks (1)
30 April 2017 - Mike removed the pipes and emptied out all the silt that had accumulated in the cattlestop under the big Eucalypts (1)
6 May 2017 - Craig sprayed Farm Park entrance, laneway, Gum Tree Track and most of Totara Gully (1)
--- A storm during July blew over several trees (mostly in the Pines), created a few small slips and washed out two bridges ---
8 October 2017 - Paul Kelly's crew removed all of the trees that came down in the winter storms (4)
23 October 2017 - Reinstating a washed out bridge and fixing up two other bridges that all got damaged during the winter storms. Also built berm feeding into the small Pines bridge, and Graham scrubcut grass near the top of Zanes (7)
5 November 2017 - Craig P cut back all overhanging vegetation around the circuit (1)
17 November 2017 - Craig P repaired a couple of boggy sections on Totara Gully by iinstalling box drains (1)
25 November 2017 - Craig scrubcut all of Totara Gully (so much growth!) (1)
2018
5 March 2018 - Craig scrubcut Farm Park entrance and laneway, and all of Totara Gully (1)
13 March 2018 - Living Springs removed all the poplars in the 'Autumn Leaves' section of Zanes
17 March 2018 - Craig sprayed Farm Park entrance and laneway, and all of Totara Gully (1)
20 April 2018 - Craig P cleared vines etc at bottom of Mississippi and on Farm Park link (1)
26 April 2018 - William, Pauline and Jope scrubcut etc down Zanes (3)
27 April 2018 - William, Pauline and Jope scrubcut grass between Mississippi and Zanes (3)
22 July 2018 - Craig P made repairs to the very muddy exit section of Zanes and scoped out bridge repair work (1)
3 November 2018 - William and Jope scrubcut part of the track (2)
4 November 2018 - William and Pauline scrubcut part of the track (2)
4 November 2018 - Craig P cut back vegetation on Mississippi and did more drainage work at bottom of Zanes (1)
18 December 2018 - William and Jope scrubcut part of the track (2)
19 December 2018 - William and Jope scrubcut part of the track. Big 6 hr session (2)
21 December 2018 - William scrubcut the last of the long grass for now (1)
2019
19 March 2019 - William, Pauline and Graham scoped out bridge damage and other work needed and cut back a lot of vegetation (3)
2 May 2019 - Craig P repaired a bridge and cleared some vines(1)
5 May 2019 - A team cleared a recent windfall that brought down a large branch and a massive mess of vines (7)
Sometime in spring? - We think John and maybe others cleared fallen trees
25 October 2019 - Craig P spent the day on a scrubcutter dealing to the spring growth from the highest point of the loop down to Bamford Rd, and some of the entrance (1)
5 December 2019 - William (and Pauline?) trimmed grass leading into Zanes (2?)
6 December 2019 - Calum trimmed grass from bottom of Zanes around to Totara Gully (1)
8 December 2019 - Darren cleared the pine needlemat from the entire Pines track and trimmed some grass in Totara Gully (1)
10 December 2019 - William (and Pauline?) trimmed grass in Totara Gully (2?)
12 December 2019 - Calum trimmed grass in the laneway and removed two windafalls in The Pines (1)
2020
5 August 2020 - Craig P trimmed a few things with a chainsaw (1)
10 August 2020 - a sad day! We got the call to say the block of pines is being felled. It has been a good 14 years having that climbing line but the inevitable day has arrived :( Tracks were closed to the public on 14 August
15 August 2020 - A small team removed two cattlestops, 6 sections of boardwalk, a retaining wall, and 2 bridges to get ready for the felling of the pine block (5)
2021
22 April 2021 - Craig and Rebekah spent over 4 hours scoping out and flagging a new climbing line through the felled pines block (2)
5 May 2021 - Craig and Murray scoped out and flagged more of the new climbing line through the felled pines block (2)
15 May 2021 - Big team session clearing forestry slash from the pines block getting ready for the new climbing track (22)
12 June 2021 - Team dig session in the kanuka stand, marked out the track for the tree planters and moved the cattlestop from the start of rhymes with orange to the end of rhymes with orange (9)
31 July 2021 - Big team session building the climbing line in kanuka at the top of the felled pines area, and Darcy spent the day on a GSL digger building the set of three climbing switchbacks just before the start of the kanuka section. Super good day (25)
18 September 2021 - Another big team session building the new climbing line. Got all the top half mostly finished, installed three bridges, and Darcy had a GSL digger there all day again taking on some of the more tricky big soil moving jobs (21)
9 October 2021 - Biggest team session to date at Living Springs! Massive progress on the climbing line, getting the entire line to rideable standard (30)
8 November 2021 - Fantastic clearing session with three brushcutters on Zanes and a few other spots. Was very overgrown after two years of now work and 14 months of no bikes (4)
9 November 2021 - Richard and William trimmed most of Totara Gully (2)
10 November 2021 - Richard trimmed the rest of Totara Gully, the rest of the top of Zanes and some of the laneway (1)
20 November 2021 - Knocked Mississippi Track back into shape, cleared fallen trees and overgrown vegetation on Zanes, trimmed back overgrown kanuka on RWO, scoped out alternative line through gum tree paddock (8)
22 November 2021 - Richard finished trimming the laneway and retrimmed many other sections, especially Totara Gully (1)
24 November 2021 - Craig sprayed from the carpark to a quarter of the way up the new ex-pines climb and from Totara Gully around to Bamfords Rd gate area. 4 knapsacks. (1)

From December 2021 - A team of staff through Living Springs took on much of the maintenance of the MTB tracks. Details of the who, what and when are not included in this diary.

2022
16 January 2022 - A crew fixed up the drainage on the climbing switchbacks, installed a bridge at the bottom of the ex-pines, installed a cattlestop on the Kamahi Track off the laneway, installed a bridge on the Kamahi Track, replaced a bridge on Zane's, modified the creek crossing on the Kamahi Track, and did a whole of of scrubcutting and a bit of benching. (17)
21 January 2022 - Richard cut back all the flaxes amd trimmed the laneway and half of Kamahi trail (1)
22 January 2022 - Craig and Richard did the last of the trimming and misc jobs needed before the tracks can reopen (2)
22 January 2022 - after being closed for almost 18 momnths, the tracks were REOPENED!!!
7 May 2022 - Craig, Murray and Richard installed a cattlestop in the new fence near big gum trees that is creating a further reserve (3)
--- A storm during July (approx 300 mm over three big rain events a week apart) created a major immpassible slip and a few minor slips and other issues. Overall not too bad considering the rainfall, but the big slip resulted in the loop being closed. ---
30 July 2022 - Craig and Rebekah walked the loop to do a post storm inspection, clearing fallen branches and small slips etc. (2)
28 Aug 2022 - Dave and Ross created a walk/bike carry bypass around the big slip so that the tracks could be opened again. (2)
2023
3 Mar 2023 - Craig replaced many of the signs and added a few new ones. Still a few to replace/add. (1)

May 2024 - The team of staff through Living Springs handed the responsibility back to the Singletrack Club, who setup a group of local riders to carry on with much of the maintenance of the MTB tracks. Details of the who, what and when of these volunteers is also unlikley to be captured in this diary.

22 Nov 2024 - Craig & Rebekah trimmed overhanging vegetation on Zanes and a few other places. (2)



At an average of about 3-4 hours per visit, approximate total hours spent building and maintaining these trails to 3 March 2024 is: (3.5 x 1285) 4498 Volunteer Crew hours, plus (4 x 160) 640 Community Work crew hours.
Note that this does not include much of the work done since 2021, as indicated in blue above.