Mtnbiker 66 said: “I rode it as well and everyone did a great job with a lot of hard work I'm sure, but why does everything have to be the same as every other trail? I've ridden that trail while it was still DuPont property and while that section has eroded some, it was one of the best sections in DuPont. The rock gardens and drops were the best part of that trail. Now it could be ridden on a tricycle. I'm not fussing about the quality of work at all, but there is no challenge to riding it.”
The comments from 66 push my button so please allow me some soapbox time.
-It drives me crazy to receive comments from folks the week after the work was done. They always seem to find the time to make comments on various listserve and MTBR, but can’t seem to find the time to come out and help maintain the trails they ride so much. Why is that?
-If they did come out for work projects on a regular basis, they would better understand why we do what we do when we do it. Each work project is intended to also be an education opportunity.
-I did tell folks at the start of the project that if we wanted to develop a harder line or options that was OK, but the first and foremost goal was to stabilize the trail and stop the erosion. We did not have enough human resources to get more creative, perhaps if 66 and his riding posse had shown up for the trail work day we could have had enough human resources to have gotten more TTFs and some options in the ground.
-Anybody who has ever worked with me knows that I am all about TTFs. In DuPont I have worked hard and earned the trust and respect of management and we get good opportunity to add some spice. Bottom line however is this, we can sonly do as much as the people and energy we have on any given day of trail work.
-66 is way wrong to state that the trail “has eroded some”. That section of trail has eroded a lot and lost tons of soil in 5 years. I pointed out many sediment deposits to folks working on that day, and we were only seeing recent activity. I have photos of working on that trail 5 years ago and photos of the conditions before we started work last week. There is a huge difference between these sets of photos that clearly illustrate the erosional changes over a few years. Perhaps some riders do not care if we pollute our mtn streams and waterways with sediment, but I do. Maybe some also does not believe that global warming is real, but that is just a head in the sand approach.
-Most of our technical trails are in fact eroded slop ditches that are dumping tons of sediment into our mtn creeks, streams and rivers. That may provide for some fun riding for some folks, but that is taking a short term and narrow view. Think about what that trail will look like when your grand children are getting into mtn biking. Think about the fish and other life forms that not only drink that water, but in some cases breathe that water (fish extract oxygen from H2O).
-For the most part, mtn bikers have not been willing to put the work into designing, building and maintaining technical trails. I have ridden all over the country and in BC (Whistler) and there are great examples in other places of purpose built technical trails that are maintainable. This is a sharp contrast with the eroded technical trails in our area that started life as roads and were not designed to be recreational trails at all. Due to poor design (or lack of any real design), they have dumped tons of soil/sediment into pristine mountain waterways. This is a real problem.
-Sediment is the number one pollutant of mtn streams and rivers. There are always lawsuits against developers for violations of clean water law, when eroding trails and roads on public lands fly under the radar screen most of the time but are just as large a contributor of the problem. I say most of the time; the USFS does have a lawsuit against the Tellico OHV area right now. Please see:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pb...D=200770708015
The lawsuit was filed by Trout Unlimited and other environmental organizations.
It would be easy for many of us to jump on board and side with the plaintiffs in the case, but if we support eroding technical trails for mtn bikes then we are part of the larger problem and maybe the next likely target for such a lawsuit.
-Saying we like the trails just “the way they were” fails to recognize anything other than a very selfish viewpoint. It is a very “me, me, me” intrinsic attitude. When you go buy a few hundred or thousand acres of land for your very own trail system, you can build it the way you want it to ride for you and you only. Please re-read the article about the lawsuit and be aware that if soil leaves your property you can get popped with penalties and fines. If you don’t plan to buy such land (or can’t afford to) then that means you have share trails with many other users on public lands. And the word public means just that, public as in owned by many people with many different ideas of what they want to see trails looking like. At the end of the SORBA workday I was up top doing a few last things working by my self. There was a group of 5 mtn bikers coming down and the average age in group was 60+.
-Sharing trails not only means with older than you and with less skill mountain bikers. It also means sharing trails with hikers and horses. Families out for a walk and picnic at a waterfall or summit area with a view. Older folks with less fitness and some mobility challenges. Trails running is a newer sport than mtn biking and growing faster than mtn biking. Not all trail users have exactly the same motivation (or skill or fitness level) as you and we have to consider their needs.
-Trails have a wide range of TMOs (Trail Management Objectives) that trail managers look at when planning new trails or re-working old ones. Some of these include:
1. Resource management- is the trail having a negative impact on water quality and other natural resources. 2. Risk management- is the trail receiving a high amount of accidents or does it have other serious threats to the safety to forest/park visitors. 3. User conflict- are there regular conflict issues between user groups and are there ways to reduce and/or mitigate these. 4. Enhancing the user experience- is the trail meeting the needs of the collective need of all users.
-DSF is a state forest, not a free-ride area at a ski hill. The NC Division of Forest Resources is not really in the recreation business, it has been a hell of a struggle to get to where we are today. I found out last week from state park people in Raleigh that the push to turn DuPont into a state park was not coming from state parks, but rather higher ups in the forest service who do not want to manage a high use recreation area. Local staff have embraced recreation and have no problems with mtn biking, but upper management in Raleigh don’t understand recreation much less mtn biking, much less technical mtn biking.
-The reasons why so many “trails look the same” is because rolling contour trails are sustainable. They shed water effectively and minimize the impacts caused by users. Laurel Ridge Trail has not changed significantly in the last 5 years. There were users on it after the hurricanes of 04 and they had this to say to me in an email “not only was there no damage after all that rain (19” in 24hrs), but the trail was completely dry”.
-Fall line trails like Big Rock, Burnt Mtn, and Ridgeline erode and change significantly in short time periods. Rock armoring can work in some cases, but this is very labor intensive work and requires much time and materials. The local mountain bike community has fallen down on the job of maintaining the trails they ride and love, and as a result often times a re-location is the best long term answer. When re-locating trails, they will in fact “look like every other trail” because we know that design works. It is the basic principle of sustainable trail design.
-In reading another post by 66, it seems as if he knows Chuck Ramsey. Chuck has been riding the property for more years than anyone as he worked at the plant for 30 years. Chuck got the permission from DuPont to open up the old roadbed that we now know as Burnt Mtn Trail. Ask him of that trail has changed in the last 5-8 years, I am certain he will answer hell yes and has lost a lot of soil. He told me once he now feels bad for opening that trail up knowing what impacts it has had on the resources. Of course at the time, he did not know it would be a heavily used trail in a state forest.
-The amount of use a trail receives is a factor in how fast and how much a trail will erode over any given period of time. Other factors include: how bad is the design of the trail, how much does it rain in that area and how does that rain come (gentle showers vs. downpours in a thunderstorm, what is the soil type and how much binder does it have, how resistant to displacement forces is the soil type, and more.
-The goals at DSF are to bring to the entire trail system up to sustainable trail guidelines and reduce the over all impacts while reducing the needed maintenance. Please expect more changes over time. Some of these changes will be complete re-locations of certain trails (Ridgeline Trail will get moved this fall) while others will be some re-construction and hardening work.
That is likely enough said for now. This is not meant to be a personal attack against Mtnbiker66, but his comments were a good opportunity to respond and get a lot of good info out there that many others need to understand.
My best advice is to get involved. Join SORBA, either the Pisgah Area chapter or the new one forming down in the Upstate area. Join IMBA as it is also working on mtn bike access issues and providing many great tools for mtn bikers. Use the IMBA website as a resource for answers to many questions.
Free-ride solutions:
http://www.imba.com/resources/freeriding/index.html
Trail building:
http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/index.html
Great books on trail design and managing mtn bikes:
https://secure2.convio.net/imba/site...bym0pu31.app2b
And of course don’t forget to get involved in local trail work efforts. Keep an eye out for the next trail design/construction class that I will host sometime in the fall.
I would also suggest that if you want your opinion heard and to earn the respect of others who are doing the lion share of trail work, come out and join us and show us your commitment to trails. After you have moved a few BFRs (big frigging rocks) and cut some back-slope, we tend to start listening to you a bit more. Besides, it is good cross training and helps to build upper body strength.
I also doubt that 66 or anyone else could ride Big Rock Trail (up or down) on a tricycle. Give me a break…………………….
Thanks to all who take the time to read this. Thanks even more to those who are working to make a difference in our area.
Typing messages into a listserve or online forum is a start, you are communicating with others and helping to build a community. The real work however is attending meetings, volunteering for trail work, volunteering to work at the SORBA booth at events, and more. We need more help!!!
Woody Keen
President- Trail Dynamics LLC
President- Professional Trailbuilders Association
Board of Directors- IMBA
Certified NC Clear Water Contractor