First Day in the Gem

This blog is going to be for the sole purpose of tracking events in the park named Big Gem in Shenandoah Virginia. I am about to become involved in the building of a network of trails in this 68 acre park. I hope to share the process from my perspective.

Quick history. My friend Kevin conceived of the idea as an advocacy project for our cycling club(Page Valley Cycling). Big Gem seemed perfect to him for mountain bike trails. So we contacted IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association) Attended a parks and rec meeting and then proposed our idea to the town. They received us well and have even partnered with us so that we could apply for grants. To date we have raised $2000 towards the project and hope to hear about the grant we applied for in February.

Today was our first day working with IMBA and the parks and rec dept. We met this morning with Rich Edwards(IMBA), Dan Hudson(IMBA), Lori Mongold (parks & Rec) , Janice(Parks and Rec), and myself. Dan is going to be putting in Flag lines. These little flags will mark where the trails will go. In order to do this we needed to get a good lay of the land. I thought I had a good feel for this piece of property, but I saw it in a whole other light today.

We spent a good portion of the day walking the area and defining the off limit area,boundaries, and areas of concern. The consensus seemed to be that we need a beginners circuit coded with a green designation and a green spur if possible to access the neighborhood bordering the park. This path will be 3-4 ft wide and will be perfect for a leisurely stroll with a dog or cruising on a bike with the kids. The other trails will be blue(intermediate) and red(advanced). We discussed these trails a bit as well but then decided that the green trails are the most important to start with.

Dan and I walked the rough idea of the green circuit and addressed a few concerns. There is a creek bed that must be crossed. We have two options here a bridge at one location or a ford further on down. The bridge is more desirable but the ford is probably what the budget will allow. We will flag both ideas and let everyone stew on it for a bit I recon. We also spent a bit of time trying to decide where one of the trail heads will go and need to gain more info about a new entrance that is planned for the park.

I learned how to use the inclinometer(they measure slope) today and Dan and I zeroed them out on each other so we can go right to work in the morning. I am sure Dan would be more than willing to show all if they wish to come out at some point for a trail building class.

Tomorrow we flag.