Posts
108
Joined
4/3/2025
Location
Lake Ann, MI
US
I love trails, building them and riding them. I searched for a generic trail thread on here and didn't really find one, if I'm wrong and one exists feel free to delete this.
I envision this as a thread to discuss general trail maintenance, routing discussions, land manager relationships, rogue trails, and all other things trail building. Post what you're working on if you're willing. I'll hopefully grab some pics soon of a jumpy little xc line I've been working on that I'm excited about.
I've been working on getting a mini-enduro network built in Meredith, NH, USA. I first went to a conservation commission meeting to gauge interest, and also contacted 2 local NEMBA chapters to see if they would support it. I had briefly considered just building the trails illegally, but it's pretty close to houses and town, so it was a bit too risky, and likely to be shut down, ruining any chances or good will later on. The commission was all retirees, so they were a bit skeptical, but thankfully the chair of the commission is himself a mountain biker, so he could help explain what modern biking is (no I don't want to just ride the fire roads under the powerlines like one guy asked). The commission wanted more information so I put together this proposal, and they seemed to be impressed, and the local NEMBA leadership was as well, so one of the NEMBA chapters (Pemi Valley) is supporting it. Feel free to use the format for the proposal for any of your local trail proposals.
The town and NEMBA have since signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which outlines the locations where trails shall be built, the town has a right to approve the trails, and that NEMBA is responsible for maintenance.
It's good that my local NEMBA chapter is pretty small, and the leadership skews younger/more gravity oriented than other chapters I've been to. (trust me, some other chapters have boomers leading them that refused to build a single berm because all they wanted to ride was flat root mat trails). Considering that, it's been great because I'm basically building legal rake and ride loamers with rock rolls and drops in it. They're short (0.3 mi and 160 ft of vert), but fun. One blue loamer is finished so far (trail 3 on the map in the proposal), with another double black one flagged that I'll be building soon (trail 2 leading into trail 4).
Check them out on trailforks here.
That's great, I totally understand what you're talking about when you mention older riders and trail advocacy. Unfortunately the group around me is totally xc trail oriented to the point they made agreements (without asking riders or the dnr requesting it) to keep all jumps and features out of their network save one small skills area. There's a freeride zone that started rogue and is working on becoming legit and they've ignored it and a neighboring county that should've been under their umbrella decided to form their own coalition instead of working directly with that group.
Post a reply to: The Trail Talk Thread