MORE
September 14th, 2008, 02:52 PM
This is a message from Mike Capraro:
Hello Everyone,
Susan and I met with Doug Vinson, a park ranger at the Guest River State Park, in Bentonville, south of Front Royal on Route 340, about halfway between Front Royal and Luray. It is a beautiful, large park, about 1600 acres, with 5+ miles of frontage on the Shenandoah, diverse wildlife, multiple picnic areas, camping, trails etc. It is rolling, heavily wooded terrain. There is a small entrance fee - currently $3 per car during the week, and $4 on the weekend.
The multi-use trails there have been open to mountain bikes, but they were never designed for sustainability, fun etc. Some trails/fire roads go straight up the fall line and are rather straight. There are some big climbs - maybe 10+ minutes, and lots of shorter steep ones.
Some of these trails have been or will be closed due to a major construction project underway to add much more extensive campgrounds that would accomodate RV's and a visitor's center. Fortunately, there is lots of nice land left to build new trails.
Doug is a mountain biker himself, and also an instructor in trailbuilding techniques with motorized equipment. He is heading up an initiative at the park to build some new multi-use trails, and close off some of the old ones in the proper way. He has already started mapping out new trails, and setting flags for their routes in the woods. The park has a Ditch Witch mini skid steer machine with blade and bucket attachments. But, lots of manual help will be needed too.
We mentioned that we belong to multiple mountain bike clubs, and he asked us to put the word out to hopefully drum up interest in doing trail work there. Susan and I plan on helping out. We walked some of the terrain last night, and it looks very promising for fun MTB trails. They would not be as rocky as the GW trails, not as smooth and fast as Wakefield - I think it has potential to be a "Fountainhead on steroids".
Doug is hoping to start moving dirt this fall, maybe as soon as October. He plans to have some organized workdays, where he would lead volunteer crews. They have a "Volunteer Benefits" program in which you get a free pass and/or other benefits when you work a certain number of hours.
Please pass this info on to your clubs, post it on your boards, and tell people you know who might be interested in volunteering. You can reach Susan and myself for more info, either via email (mikecapraro@yahoo.com) or call 703.200.6909 or 703.582.9410. You can also call Doug at the park at 540.636.4630. He would love to hear from other interested mountain bikers.
Thanks,
Mike and Susan
Hello Everyone,
Susan and I met with Doug Vinson, a park ranger at the Guest River State Park, in Bentonville, south of Front Royal on Route 340, about halfway between Front Royal and Luray. It is a beautiful, large park, about 1600 acres, with 5+ miles of frontage on the Shenandoah, diverse wildlife, multiple picnic areas, camping, trails etc. It is rolling, heavily wooded terrain. There is a small entrance fee - currently $3 per car during the week, and $4 on the weekend.
The multi-use trails there have been open to mountain bikes, but they were never designed for sustainability, fun etc. Some trails/fire roads go straight up the fall line and are rather straight. There are some big climbs - maybe 10+ minutes, and lots of shorter steep ones.
Some of these trails have been or will be closed due to a major construction project underway to add much more extensive campgrounds that would accomodate RV's and a visitor's center. Fortunately, there is lots of nice land left to build new trails.
Doug is a mountain biker himself, and also an instructor in trailbuilding techniques with motorized equipment. He is heading up an initiative at the park to build some new multi-use trails, and close off some of the old ones in the proper way. He has already started mapping out new trails, and setting flags for their routes in the woods. The park has a Ditch Witch mini skid steer machine with blade and bucket attachments. But, lots of manual help will be needed too.
We mentioned that we belong to multiple mountain bike clubs, and he asked us to put the word out to hopefully drum up interest in doing trail work there. Susan and I plan on helping out. We walked some of the terrain last night, and it looks very promising for fun MTB trails. They would not be as rocky as the GW trails, not as smooth and fast as Wakefield - I think it has potential to be a "Fountainhead on steroids".
Doug is hoping to start moving dirt this fall, maybe as soon as October. He plans to have some organized workdays, where he would lead volunteer crews. They have a "Volunteer Benefits" program in which you get a free pass and/or other benefits when you work a certain number of hours.
Please pass this info on to your clubs, post it on your boards, and tell people you know who might be interested in volunteering. You can reach Susan and myself for more info, either via email (mikecapraro@yahoo.com) or call 703.200.6909 or 703.582.9410. You can also call Doug at the park at 540.636.4630. He would love to hear from other interested mountain bikers.
Thanks,
Mike and Susan