Important UPDATED DETAILS HERE

The 5th Canadian HUMM is moving to Princeton, BC in the Cascades of British Columbia. Great new riding area, heaps more trails!

What's a HUMM? Horizons Unlimited Mountain Madness, a.k.a. 'the best thing you can do on a motorbike', is kinda like an off-road motorcycle scavenger hunt. There is no set course, so you make your own adventure! Winning demands strategy, teamwork, riding and navigation skills and pure fun! 'The best 48 hours of my life!'

The Cascades is a major North American mountain range, extending southward from British Columbia through Washington, Oregon and into California. Per Wikipedia: "...the Canadian Cascades are extremely rugged; even the lesser peaks are steep and glaciated, and valleys are quite low relative to peaks and ridges, so there is great local relief."

Grant Johnson is personally wrangling the points for this event, supported by Al Brooks with loads of input from local riders to find all the really cool spots you'd never find on your own.


Al Brooks on the trails scouting for HUMM Cascade!

Grant says the area features: "Roads and trails of every level, from highway smooth gravel to gnarliest single track you could ever want. Snow capped peaks and deep cool valleys, mountain-top lakes and open forests. This is riding nirvana!"






Registration is open now with early bird rates!

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ev...cascades-2022/

__________________
Susan Johnson

Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

UPDATE:

We know you are wondering whether Horizons Unlimited events are going ahead as planned, and how that may affect your own travel decisions. Your health and well-being are our top priorities, so please take care of yourself and your family.

We are working with our local organising teams and event venues, and monitoring regional and global developments, including travel bans and restrictions on events. Decisions will be made together with the local organising team and announced as far in advance as possible.

We are also aware that the HU demographic skews a wee bit older, and our deepest wish is that your well-being remains intact. We also are very aware that the small communities our events are held in have very limited medical resources, and we don't want to bring the virus to them with a large group of people from all over the world. Alternative dates available in Princeton were still too early (latest was first weekend of August) and worst of all - no unrestricted time to do the riding to set out the tags, which need to be finished at least a month ahead of the event.

Therefore we have made the difficult decision to POSTPONE to July 16-18 2021.

This may change , so stay in touch through this HUBB thread or social media. We will be providing updates on the 1st and 15th of every month, as needed. Stay updated here: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/covid

Please direct your questions to: events-c *at* horizonsunlimited.com

Or post general comments of interest to the event on this thread.

If you need a refund, we will provide it as soon as possible, but please be patient. For refunds, PLEASE REPLY to your original Registration Confirmation email to make it easier for us to find.

We will send emails announcing changes only to everyone already registered for an event with all needed details.

Thanks for your understanding in this difficult time.

Positive outcomes grow from staying true to what makes the global HU community special: inspiration, information, and connection through shared experiences, tolerance, and mutual kindness. Please continue to listen to and follow the advice of your local and national health authorities. Stay healthy so that we can all catch up later.

Remember that worrying does lower your immune system, so don't binge on news. And most importantly - take care of yourself and your loved ones!

Virtual hugs from Grant and Susan and all the HU family

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

HUMM Cascades Postponed to July 16-18 2021.

Details in previous post.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

COVID-19 Update at June 19, 2021

Currently, British Columbia is in Stage 2 of the BC Restart Plan: non-essential travel between provinces is limited, and the Canada-USA border remains closed to non-essential travel until July 21st at least, which means our USA friends can't join us and that makes the event less competitive!

For events, whether indoor or outdoor (or a combination, like the HUMM), numbers are limited to 50 persons, including event staff. Requirements include participant health checks, a COVID-19 safety plan, controlled access, assigned seating (when not seated, participants maintain a distance of two metres from one another, unless they reside together), no congregating by participants, etc etc. You get the picture - it's not exactly the ambience we want to have for a HUMM!

But here's the worst thing: Stage 2 provincial allowances are not necessarily okay for some rural communities in BC. We learned that because Princeton and area experienced (near) zero covid cases, they were not prioritized for vaccine roll-out as other areas with higher case rates. We are advised that first-dose vaccinations are just now in progress in Princeton and second-dose vaccinations are not anticipated to be complete until September, barring any delays for availability.

Given this timeline, running the event in July would put a vulnerable community at risk, especially with global concerns about the Delta covid variant.

We know, it's cutting it close, so close that we can almost taste the trail dust. We're just not there yet.
This means that HUMM Cascades slated for July 16-18 is postponed, possibly until August 2021, or worst case scenario, until 2022.

What about a HUMM in August?
We'll continue to keep an eye on what's happening with second-dose vaccinations in Princeton and how that may affect a possible August event date (Hold the dates: August 20-22, the weekend before HU CanWest Meeting). Grant will be reconnoitering in Princeton next week and hoping to finalize an alternate venue, because the Princeton Arena puts down their ice at the end of July for hockey school, so isn't available to us in August. We should be able to update by mid-July or sooner.

Be sure to sign up for the Event Updates List so you're first on the block to know when registration reopens!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

UPDATE - July 11, 2021

We promised an update and here it is. Some good news - as of July 1, BC has entered Stage 3 of its reopening plan. Limits on numbers for outdoor events have been significantly increased and no longer pose an impediment to the HUMM. Inter-provincial restrictions have been lifted. Finally, Princeton has increased their single-dose vaccination rate to 70%, in line with provincial averages.

However, there are some issues. First, a small but really annoying one: Grant did a recce to Princeton and discovered that the eco-friendly tags (wood and string instead of plastic) that he put out over the past couple of years have either attracted critters chewing on the strings to see if they are edible or have degraded earlier than anticipated, so many will need replacing.

More of an issue is that our venue for the HUMM HQ (planning, staging and awards dinner) will not be available in August as they are putting down ice for winter sports - hard to imagine but true! We have looked for other venues but nothing is available indoors, and an outdoor event would require renting large tents, generators for power (no air-con!), porta potties, etc.

Finally and most concerning is the weather situation and fire danger. BC, along with other western provinces and states has been in the hot weather news a lot lately. Here in the Fraser Valley we encountered temperatures above 40 C (over 100 F) for several days, which broke records everywhere. In the aftermath of the heat, fire destroyed the town of Lytton and continues to threaten communities across the province. As we write this, there are almost 300 wildfires burning in BC, an increase of 97 in two days, according to official data.

Those of you who have competed in previous HUMMs will know that we work with local forestry companies to utilize forest service roads, and we impose strict rules to reduce the fire hazard from the HUMM. For HUMM Monashees in Nakusp, we just dodged a complete closure of the forest by a couple of days in August due to high fire risk, which is why we moved the event to earlier in the year. Since August is usually a higher fire risk than July, this also argues against an event in August. The local forestry company, Weyerhauser, is not supportive of running the event this year, and their support is critical.

Taking all of it into consideration, we've reluctantly concluded that we will postpone HUMM Cascades to 2022. We're gutted, but we think it's the responsible decision.

Many folks have written to us to indicate they can't make the August dates and will roll over their registration to 2022. We've already invested over $6k in this event, so we'd really appreciate it if people can roll over their fees. Of course, we are prepared to refund in full on request.

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FURTHER UPDATE - July 18, 2021

In response to our message about postponing HUMM Cascades to July 2022, a local rider wrote us to recommend a different time of year for the event:

"I would absolutely consider delaying until spring time. July has had severe fires for the last 5 years or so and it's not going to go away next year. If this is delayed until this time next year, the same problems will arise potentially forcing yet another delay or cancellation. Not to mention the heat being consistently in the high 30’s throughout the entire months of July and August results in exhaustion and poor riding conditions. The safest and best time to ride in the Okanagan is late April through early June. Even the local enduro series doesnt usually host events during these extreme summer months.

On top of all that, tourist season is at peak and the surrounding areas are filled with people camping which increases dirt road traffic significantly. As a local resident and experienced rider of the area, i strongly feel a spring time event would be a better option in every way I can think of."

We absolutely can see the logic of his argument, and others that we talked with said the same, so we started looking at earlier dates. We're advised that early June is great riding in this area, with temperature highs averaging in the mid 20's C, and the fire risk is greatly reduced!

Taking into consideration the "smallish" risk of snow at higher elevations, (another thing to think about when strategizing?) we're booked for June 3-5, 2022

Mark your calendars and book your vacation time!

What about my event registration?

No worries. We’ll honour it and automatically roll it onward for the inaugural HUMM Cascades. It’s gorgeous riding out there and we can’t wait for you to explore BC’s “wild west” with your team.

If you need a refund, we will provide it as soon as possible, but please be patient. For refunds, PLEASE REPLY to your original Registration Confirmation email to make it easier for us to find, or if you can't do that, please email a request to: events-c@horizonsunlimited.com

Still have questions? Email us at: events-c@horizonsunlimited.com

Get in some riding where you can, brush up on your navigation skills, finally resolve to learn how to fix a flat (!), and stay hydrated.

Again, thanks for your patience and stay well. We look forward to seeing you at HU Canwest 2021 in Nakusp and HUMM Cascades 2022 in Princeton!

Grant and Susan

__________________
Susan Johnson

Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

*** VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE ABOUT HUMM CASCADES 2022 ***
Revised event date (final): JULY 15-17, 2022

Don't worry, HUMM IS STILL WELL ON TRACK FOR THIS YEAR!
Online team registration is still open.

Mother Nature has forced us to push the event to JULY 15-17, 2022 - and you don't say no to Mom. We mentioned that HUMM Cascades is an evolving situation as we finalize important details after a two-year delay. We learned a few key things from our Map Sponsor Weyerhaeuser (Princeton office) this past week that affects the actual event date. The old date of June 3-5 is out.

Weyerhaeuser monitors and manages road and bridge conditions for their operations. Initial road infrastructure and snow-pack reports showed that November's "atmospheric river" and post-flood damage in our original riding area is more significant than they thought. We've been assured that snow is not an issue by July and that wildfire risk is still low in the area. This means you have extra time to get your team registered and to "de-rust" your off-road riding and navigation skills. Meanwhile, the main venue and caterers have confirmed the revised date is still a "Go".

Here's what we learned:

1) We're going to wrangle a whole new, yet exciting, riding area:
All of the higher-elevation (read: more technically challenging and with the best vistas) trails, routes, and forest service roads look to remain impassable in early June due to significant snow this past winter. Great news if you play with snowmobiles; bad news of you're Grant and Al who want to re-check the HUMM riding area earlier in May.

Due to the major flooding and rainfall in November and throughout winter, there are some missing bridges and anticipated instability which make access to any previous tagpoints impossible and unsafe. Double-whammy - the affected area happens to include the same area we wrangled for HUMM. Assessments, repairs, and replacements are not anticipated to be done in time. Even if the snow was gone in May, access to the area have literally been cut off. Grant and Al will target areas that were originally slated for subsequent HUMM Cascades.

2) Accommodations might be scarce this spring as Princeton businesses rebuild:
Post-flood rebuilding and renovations are happening full-steam with contractors staying in local accommodations for now. As progress continues to prepare for summer tourist season, we hope that this opens up some more accommodations. KEEP ON CHECKING! If camping or RVing is an option for you, then it will be much warmer.

3) The Town of Princeton is resilient and friendly:
They know we're committed to bringing HUMM to you and to their location. They're doing everything they can to prepare and are looking forward to welcoming you there this year.

We understand the hiccups in having to re-jig your schedule for HUMM. After two years of "rough terrain" for events, we prefer the ups and downs to be out there on the trails - and so shall it be this July 15-17 at HUMM Cascades 2022! A brand new location for us and exciting times to be had by you. As always, thanks for your patience as we iron out the final details. The riding area was a biggie.

If you've done a HUMM before or signed up for HUMM updates, then you should soon get a full update emailed to you this weekend.

More info about HUMM Cascades 2022:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ev...-cascades-2022

Register for HUMM here:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ev...gistration.php

Sign up for updates about any HU event:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/events/updateslist/