Meet the Maker: Drew Perkins, Designer of Flow Trail
Drew shared insights from the build process, and reflected on what Flow taught him about trail building and running a crew. Check out our full interview with Drew below.
SCMTS: Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us. Could we start by having you describe your role at SCMTS and in the building of Flow?
Drew: Sure thing. I’m the Trails Planning Director at SCMTS and I oversee our trail design and construction operations. I spend a lot of time working on development of new trail projects, designing where the trails are going to go, working closely with the land managers on figuring that process out. I also oversee our trail crew as well.
SCMTS: Cool! And you served as the main designer and builder for Flow Trail?
Drew: Yeah, I started working on the project as a volunteer back in 2011. I had been volunteering at SDSF doing trail work with Stewards of Soquel Forest, the volunteer group up in SDSF at the time. Life happened and some of the folks who had been leading work were no longer able to, so I ended up starting to lead some of the trail work events in the forest back in 2012 or 2013. We’d get 10-15 people at a time, and keep in mind this is before MBOSC (Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz) hosted much trail work. There were all these separate groups, and each park had its own volunteer crew. MBOSC wasn’t too involved in volunteer trail work, mostly just advocacy and new trail development.
[*Note: SCMTS was formerly known as MBOSC]
Anyway, I was doing work at SDSF helping to lead organized volunteer events there, and eventually, the opportunity to design a new trail came about…
SCMTS: Yeah, tell us more. How did you get the opportunity to build Flow?
Drew: Flow Trail came together because Tractor Trail was closed for several years. In 2011, CAL FIRE started the timber harvest along Tractor Trail, so it was turned back into a logging road. Tractor was the easiest trail in the forest, and without access to it, there were only more advanced options for riders like Braille and Sawpit.
Seeing a recreation gap, we asked CAL FIRE for permission to develop a more accessible mountain bike trail in the forest. We had developed a relationship with the staff there through volunteering and through other work I’d done at Cal Poly, and were lucky enough to get the green light from them.
Funny story: I actually worked with Angela, the current SDSF Forest Manager, on a project back in 2009 before she was in her current position. So I knew her a little bit before we collaborated on Flow Trail. She came out to see the work we were doing in Pogonip on the Emma McCrary trail and the benefits of developing a purpose driven recreation trail vs. reusing forest management infrastructure as trails. She really helped drive Flow Trail development forward after the Tractor Trail timber harvest was done.
So with CAL FIRE’s permission, I started scouting what became the Flow Trail as a volunteer, finding the right alignment to make both CAL FIRE and recreational users happy. MBOSC was building Emma McCrary at the time, so we had a lot of trail construction on our hands! I was working part-time at Cal Poly, building Emma McCrary, and scoping Flow Trail as well.
I worked with small teams of volunteer trail designers and builders whom I was friends with, heading out into SDSF and flagging potential trail routes. Kevin Smallman was a big part of that support team–he was out there in the redwoods with me a lot. Once we had the rough, 50-foot trail corridor figured out with CAL FIRE, we began work on developing formal plans and maps that would guide the environmental review process. That was spring of 2013. We had a vision for the trail, and knew from our experience with the Emma McCrary Trail that even with significant volunteer involvement it would take staff, equipment and materials to make it happen. We didn’t have the funds to create the scale and quality of the trail we wanted to build. So we set out fundraising, and “Own the Flow” was born.
“Own the Flow” was our first bike giveaway. It ran in April of 2013, and we partnered with Ibis Cycles to give away either an Ibis Ripley or Mojo HD to support the development of Flow. We needed at least $40,000 to get through all the design and environmental review, our first-ever Trail Crew Leader training, and initial trail construction. We surpassed our goal, and welcomed our first class of 30 MBOSC Trail Crew Leaders to the team. We also had the funds to hire Matt De Young (current SCMTS Executive Director, but back then he was a trail builder) to support construction. Finally, we had a team!
Over the summer and fall of 2013 the trail went through the environmental review process, and our final approval to build came in right at the end of the year. With CEQA finished and our design locked in, we pivoted to complete a little more fundraising before kicking off the bulk of the build. We met lots of key supporters who still fuel our trail work to this day, and raised about $90,000 in total before beginning construction that first year
SCMTS: Altogether, how long did it take to build Flow Trail?
Drew: It took us about three years from when the design was developed for all the fundraising, training, approvals, construction, etc. It seems like a long process, but was actually pretty quick for four miles of new trail. Actual construction time was about 8 months total over two winters.
SCMTS: Can you share some special stories from the build process?
Drew: We had volunteer events almost every weekend, and folks would join during the week pretty regularly.
That first winter build-out on Flow was during the peak of the California drought. We started building at the end of January 2014 and it hadn’t even rained yet. It was incredibly dusty and dry…. we had a good storm in February and not much more rain after that! We kept building despite the dry conditions, and eventually had to bring in our water to help. At the very end, we would soak towels, put them on the berms, and then cover them with plastic overnight and really try to get the water to sink in so that we could compact everything the next day. We finally completed construction of segments 3 & 5 in April of 2014, and still had four more segments to go.
We started with segments 3 & 5 because they were easiest to access. There was still firewood logging taking place where we planned to build segments 4 & 6, so we had to be patient and wait for work in those areas to be finished.
That first summer we hosted a public opening event for segments 3 and 5. At this point, you had to ride Tractor Trail down, then do 3, then do 5. It definitely wasn’t ideal, but it was the first trail on public land in the Bay Area with those types of large, bicycle-oriented features on it and a roller coaster feel. So while there were only two segments open, folks really showed up to ride.
We picked things up again in December 2014. We did more fundraising, and were able to hire some additional support to speed up the build. We finally had a bigger team, and were excited to wrap up development. Then we kept building, and eventually finished all the segments during the winter of 2015/2016. We opened each segment as it was completed, which gave users a nice surprise each time they visited the forest. We finished up with a big grand opening party at the Badger Springs picnic area deep in the forest with tacos, a live band, and a great volunteer raffle.
SCMTS: Flow Trail sees 50,000 rides per year; did you anticipate that level of use?
Drew: Uhhhh no, not really. We didn’t really expect usage in the forest to increase, just thought there’d be less traffic on Braille and Sawpit if we opened Flow. But we really underestimated the novelty of a new trail–we don’t have great trail counter data from that time, but the overall use of the forest definitely went up. After Flow opened, the parking lot was always full, and CAL FIRE had to do more emergency responses. The first year Flow was open, I think CAL FIRE’s resources were a little strained… they had something like 18 responses to injured riders in the forest that year.
SCMTS: Did you have to make any changes to the trail to accommodate the high usage?
Drew: We definitely learned a lot about momentum and the importance of line of sight in where trail wear from braking happens. We started to get better at estimating typical riding speed on the trail, and when and how folks will slow down. The winter of 2016/2017, we did a ton of work on the trail. Even after the full trail opened, Flow Trail was our full focus because of just how popular it was. Matt had come on board as our full-time employee, and was coordinating a lot of the digging to keep Flow, well, flowing. A lot of work went into fixing the berms, and we found all the problem places on the trail where potholes had formed. We probably had another 2-3,000 volunteer hours go into Flow Trail that winter. Our volunteer events were growing, and set the stage for today’s 100-person Dig Days.
SCMTS: Did building Flow impact how you run today’s trail crew? What’s changed since then, and how is it affecting the current build out at Cotoni-Coast Dairies?
Drew: Yeah, definitely. We got a lot better at leveraging machines for trail building. Flow was machine built, but we didn’t have anyone to teach us… it was a lot of trial and error, which was extremely slow. Today, we have skilled professional trail builders who are very efficient at building with machines.
The other thing about building Flow was that it was really iterative. We’d build a section, we’d ride it, and then we’d go back and change it up. It took us a long time to dial in the best trail route, and now we’re much better about knowing how much dirt we need to move and how big each feature should be. We’re better at predicting, and can make our final vision a reality much faster.
SCMTS: How has Flow impacted your career? How has it impacted how you design trails?
Drew: I think it was a great way to learn. Especially because we were involved in maintaining it and taking care of it after it was done. I learned a bunch just seeing how it evolved and fixing issues that cropped up. A lot of trail builders are hired to build a trail, but then they leave and rarely get to go back and see the impact of the choices they made. It’s really special to get to stay engaged with Flow, and see how it changes over time. I still remember what it was like when it was new, and have a good sense for how it’s changed. That helps me predict how other trails we’re building will change.
SCMTS: What’s one of the biggest or most dramatic changes you’ve witnessed?
Drew: Hmm… well, the way the dirt’s compacted and settled over time has really changed the most popular riding lines. Features shrink over time as soil compacts, the tread of the trail shifts over busy riding seasons, and lots more roots and rocks are exposed now than when the trail first opened!
SCMTS: We know there’s some upcoming maintenance scheduled for SDSF, what do plans involve?
Drew: There is the stuff that needs to happen every year, like brushing (removing overgrown branches that block the trail corridor), clearing drains, and filling in holes from braking bumps. We also plan to rebuild some of the turns and implement some minor reroutes to make the trail ride better, reduce wear, and improve drainage.
SCMTS: Why do you think it’s important to support trail stewardship?
Drew: Even when you design trails to be sustainable, use will degrade the user experience over time. Land managers don’t have the resources to take care of the trails or build new ones that create the kind of experiences users want. The more that folks can volunteer or donate to support what we’re doing, the more opportunities we have to create great trail experiences.
SCMTS: And what’s an SCMTS interview without asking your go-to taqueria and order?
Drew: I usually go to La Cabaña because it’s walking distance from the office. I’m a big fan of their vegetarian options, especially the really fancy ones–the Tolteca is probably my favorite; it has fried zucchini. I love their housemade orange salsa (Salsa Cabaña).
Support renewed access to Soquel Demonstration State Forest and a restored Flow Trail through our "Return to Flow" bike giveaway. Earn a chance to win the Ibis Cycles bike of your choice when you give $5 to the cause. Happening now through 4/14.
