marko35s

We are building a small single track section next to it as a by-pass, it's easier than trying to fix the road. Every day we go in after more rain that jeep track gets more 'interesting' especially on the levels above Vasbyt. It looks to me like SANParks and the companies that need access to the mast are trying to out wait each other in the hope the other party will finally crack and work on the road. On the plus side if we do enough of these by-pass sections the climb will be a bit more interesting.

We watched a Hilux on its way up to the mast decide to give up completely on one section of road and basically go full off road because of a new trench in the road that had developed overnight. It is just the right size to swallow a vehicles front wheels and land it on its chassis.

Not great to be honest but the trails are coping far better than the roads at the moment. We are busy with by-pass work for the worst parts of the road alongside working on the trails.

The jeep track could be mistaken for a new DH track in places. It also offers many opportunities for a spa day mud bath. Have a feeling the next few days are not going to help much.

That's the plan, assuming the level 4 jeep track doesn't get completely ruined and/or buried in mud. Should be fine though.

Time for another quick update. So far trail repairs have been going quite well, well enough for Tokaimtb to put in a request for a partial opening of the area. The latest feedback from SANParks seems to, on the surface, be quite positive so hopefully we shouldn't have too long to wait for an answer. SANParks have asked for a map of the proposed opening area which we will supply by the end of the week. The current plan would be to open up all the Snake trails, The Switchbacks, DH2, 3, & 4, Vasbyt, My Roots, Your Roots and Fairy Garden while the remaining trails are worked on. Also hoping to have Lizard sorted - it was repaired but after the heavy rain all the surface soil on the slope above slid down onto the trail. The water management did quite well in protecting the trail from the worst of it but we do need to go back in there and sort it out again. We also have a bit of unexpected work to do on the roads after the rain last week, some parts are now fully fledged 4x4 trails (working on by-passes for the worst affected areas) and other parts are under thick soil after the unprotected areas above the roads decided it wanted to relocate. It's sort of okay when dry but becomes a bog when wet. I will update here as things progress.

Checks name of thread and I see it is clearly - CLEARLY - called 'Tokaimtb Trails Closed until further notice'. Why on earth would people be zoning in on Tokai, it's a complete mystery.

Rubbish, utter rubbish. All you do is make excuses for selfish individuals that simply don't care. How about today where if you went to Tokai you would find the gates closed, a sign explaining the area is closed and hazard tape across multiple trail entrances, exits and around areas that had been repaired. You know what we found when we went into Tokai to continue repairs? People had gone through the gate, past the unmissable sign and then proceeded to tear down all the tape closing off the trails and riding them. As far as damage goes, yes there was damage to the repaired sections of trail, but possibly more importantly there was other damage brought on by complaints to us by the horse riding community (riders in their section of the park) and SANParks having a chat with us about rider behaviour. The second one there is really important because we are lobbying for as early an opening as possible with the Snake trails, DH2, Lizard and all the trails below there being open for use and the remaining trails staying closed until they have been repaired. We are now being asked if this is viable because it appears that certain riders will simply ignore any closures. So thanks a lot to the self idiots that have just made getting Tokai open just that little bit more difficult. And precisely what sodding bubble do we have to step out of to get the message across to these sad twats?

Please do not ask them to change the website, once done it will be another year before they change it to show open again. As far as 'closed' signs we have asked them to put up signage, even just temporary stuff, so let's see if they do get around to it. In the meantime Tokaimtb have started placing hazard tape on trail entry and exit points. The trails that have been worked on are now festooned in what has been described as a "Petulant" amount of tape. Believe me it is unmissable. One thing to note - There are large parts of the horse riding area and levels 4 & 5 towards the Elephants Eye Trail that SANParks consider unstable and could be quite dangerous when the rain arrives over the weekend.

It all went but it went quickly, which from our point of view was quite handy because it meant the fire moved through the area quickly and lessened the damage it did to the trails.

Quick update time - After a quick inspection and trail walk on Wednesday we can confirm that the fire did a fair amount of damage but nothing like the 2015 fire. The good news, the following trails were unaffected - Fairy Garden (got lucky there as the fire reached within 5m of the trail), My Roots, Your Roots, DH4, Boomslang, Snake Eyes, Rinkhals, Puff Adder & The Bridal Path. We got really lucky as this means none of the wooden trail structures were affected. The bad news, the following trails were affected by the fire - Donkey, Broken Road, DH0, DH1, DH2, Boulders (this was hit very hard), AM Trail, Lizard, Cobra. All these were fully burned. In addition the following were partially burned - Vasbyt (25%), DH3 (25%) and Mamba (30%). Luckily after the 2015 fire we spent a lot of time replacing wooden trail features with rock wherever possible so that minimised some of the damage. What is still an issue are the many tree stumps and roots on and around the trail that at the time of inspection were still burning, we are hopeful that the rain yesterday will have helped with that. Currently the trails remain closed by order of SANparks, we will be talking to them to work towards opening up again as soon as possible.

Tokai will be open.

Just how bloody difficult can it be to check nothing is approaching before you open a door, it's literally half a second or less for crying out loud.

Should be fine all the way up to The Bridal Path (not had any issues at that level), it's a bit further up where the issues have been.

Er, what? There could be many reasons, certainly more valid ones than you have to drop a comment like that.