Wapiti Nordic

Congratulations to Zone 8 Mountain Bike Athlete, Ethan Martin, for a great competition at the Alberta Summer Games. The weekend started off with extreme heat and ended with excessive rain … sprinkled with a crazy amount of mosquitos and very angry wasps on the race course. Ethan persevered through all of it like a true competitor!

A big thank you to GP coaches, Lori Brough and Daniel Martin, for coaching not only Zone 8 but Edmonton Zone 6 athletes as well!

Save the date! Saturday, Sept 26th - the Cowboys🤠and Aliens👽(which are scarier?!?) are coming to Wapiti Nordic for an epic fun filled laser biathlon showdown! Ages 8+. Full details to follow. Stay tuned and get thinking which side you are going to battle on! 😆

🌲 Building Better Trails, Not Simply More Trails.

That’s the goal behind WNSC’s Sustainable Trail Development Strategy.

The before and after photos show one example from the western third of the south side of our lease.

Over the years, this small area grew to 12 separate trail corridors. Many had become difficult to navigate and were suffering from erosion, exposed sandy soils, and little remaining vegetation.

Our volunteer trail crew redesigned the area by consolidating those 12 trails into two purpose built trails Turnpike and Honey Badger.

In doing so, we’ve reclaimed approximately 1,800 m² of disturbed trail, allowing these areas to naturally return to forest while creating a simpler, more sustainable trail network.

🙏 Please help protect these restoration areas. The logs, brush, and natural barriers placed across retired trails are intentional. Please leave them in place and stay on the designated trails so these sensitive areas can recover.

This is just one step in our long-term vision of balancing exceptional recreation with responsible environmental stewardship.

Thank you to everyone who volunteers their time to make projects like this possible!

🚨🐻 Heads up - recent bear sighting. Always be prepared, carry bear spray and know how to use it. Info from a trail user, approximately 2pm today Wed July 8:

"Just a heads up to the users of the Wapiti Nordic trails. On my run today, I saw a sow and a cub on the riverbank hill trails. She is a brown bear and likely has 2 cubs. I saw a cub crossing the trail ahead of me, then to my side about 20 metres in the bush I saw the mother bear looking straight at me, and it looked like there was a cub already beside her. I took out the bear spray can I always carry with me, but did not have to use it. Then I ran up to the forest trails to finish my run."

🚨 New Trail Alert! 🚨

Our WNSC trail crew has been hard at work this summer! Along with keeping both the North and South trail systems in fantastic shape, they’ve also completed the first section of a brand-new trail on the south side.

This new section extends Turnpike and is the beginning of what will become Honey Badger! 🦡

Right now, it’s in new trail condition, so we’d love your help breaking it in. The more it’s ridden, the sooner we can move into the next phase of development root removal and finishing work.

The new trail also creates a much better south loop, letting you stay on singletrack instead of using the road or double track.

Get out, give it a ride, and let us know what you think! As always, thanks to our amazing volunteers who continue to make WNSC better with every shovel of dirt. 👊

📍Trailforks link in the comments.

🌿 Have you ridden the trails lately?

If you’ve been avoiding WNSC’s singletrack in the summer, it’s time to come back!

Despite all the rain and explosive growth this year, the North and South Trail systems are in fantastic shape. That’s because Mike has officially declared war on the alders, willows, and anything else trying to reclaim our singletrack.

A huge thank you to Mike for the countless volunteer hours he’s put in to keep our trails open for everyone

That’s a wrap on another great WNSC Summer Bike Program!

We finished the season with a group ride, stickers, ice cream floats, and plenty of fun on the trails.

A huge thank you to our riders, coaches, parent volunteers, and supporters who helped make this program such a success. It has been amazing watching the kids build skills, confidence, and friendships throughout the summer.

This year’s program was made even better by the continued expansion of WNSC’s trail network, giving our young riders more opportunities than ever to explore and grow.

Thank you everyone for a fantastic season. We can’t wait to do it again next year!