This is Where I Hike

JustDave

JustDave

Well-known Member
It's a course of bike trails maintained by local mountain bikers. There are 16 miles of trail that wander about and I can cross over from one segment to another through the brush to create many different smaller loops, so none of it has gotten old. It crosses creeks, gains and loses elevation, but nothing strenuous for a young hiker, and there is one part where I often stop to catch my breath, and I've never met a biker on that part of the course.

The entrance to the system is just one mile from my house, and one part of the system actually comes withing 300 yards of my house. Being for bikers, it's just about right for hikers at my age. My dog loves it of course. I usually have it all to myself. I can hike every day and sometimes go weeks without meeting anyone else on the trail.

They sponsor a race once a year in March, and that weekend the course is inundated with bikers. I don't hike then. I'd be in the way, and it's too crowded for my tastes anyway. The rest of the time, it's quiet and pristine.

1200.jpgGreening C.jpgImage4.jpgIMG_3214.jpg
 
hollydolly said:
we have a very similar one here .. very close to my house... opposite the woods..... and the council in their infinte wisdom to the extreme anger of the locals have sold it off for housing to be built...
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That's a shame. The one near me is owned by the county. It was a couple hundred acres willed to the county to be used as a park. Part of the inheritance has been clear cut, and they have discussed clear cutting this part too, but so far have resisted the idea. It would be a shame.

The bikers have successfully made it part of a complex of similar bike trail systems in Virginia, which is why they host a race once or twice a year where people travel long distances to be there. They have tried to involve the county in declaring it an attraction to draw people to it, but almost all the effort to bring it to the attention of the public has been done by the bikers on their own. They also do all the maintenance on their own.
 
Many times word of mouth by those that are highly interested in an activity wakes up those that should help promote it.

I was going to say that's what it looks like behind my house. But not really. The thick undergrowth I have in mine makes it obvious it's not the same place.

That last pic is my absolute favorite.
 
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