Article from the Citizen times Written by Melissa Dean
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Get your helmets and lace those hiking?shoes, Madison County Parks and Recreation have heard your needs and are set to deliver.
Coming in 2012, parks and recreation will open new hiking and mountain biking trails in Madison County to satisfy your inner outdoorsman.
?We are always getting calls on new ideas and suggestions,? said Lynn Bowles, Madison County Parks and Recreation Director. ?But most recently, the main question is where to ride mountain bikes.?
Parks and recreation saw the need and saw the potential, and on Monday, June 13 approached Madison County Commissioners during their regularly scheduled meeting.
The result, a unanimous decision to allow the use of over 100 county-owned acres of land near Long Branch Road and the fairgrounds to be transformed into an outdoorsmen?s playground.
And while the plans are still in their infancy, initial?designs call for a seven mile cross country course, a downhill course for more advanced riders, a pump track for beginners, hiking trails and a disk golf course.
?It will look similar to?ski slopes with harder trails on top and easier ones
on the bottom with signage to show which trails are appropriate (to skill level),? said Bowles.
Madison County resident, Ron Stimach, has been an avid downhill mountain biker for nearly?two decades.
?There are a lot of people that come out here for outdoor activities, but there are no places for mountain biking, everybody has to leave the county and go to Buncombe,? said Stimach, who often drives over 45 minutes to get to the closest downhill trail.
With the new trails, he will be less than one mile from downhill courses.
?It will be great, especially because it will be so close,? said Stimach.
And while local bikers expressed their excitement for being in such close proximity, the new trails may also bring new faces into the county.
?I would think people will come from all over to ride,? said Stimach. ?It could also bring money into the county.?
The new trails will also give teens and children around the county a convenient place to exercise and enjoy outdoor hobbies.
?So many kids around here have BMX bikes, but just don?t have a place to ride them,? said Stimach. ?It will give kids something great to do around here.?
Bowles said that the project should be no cost to the county as teams of volunteers will clear the initial land and maintain the trails once constructed.
?It?s the nature of this type of project,? said Bowles. ?People know that if they don?t take the time to take care of the trail, it will not be there to use.?
Bowles said that she anticipates bikers and hikers alike will be able to utilize the new trails, free of charge, by?spring of 2012, depending on the amount of volunteers able to help make this possible.
Anyone interested in volunteering their time may call Lynn at the Madison County Parks and Recreation at 649-3635.
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Source: http://www.pisgahareasorba.org/?p=2778
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