Tahoe basin pumping up mountain bike trail
By Kathryn Reed
Heading into fall, the Corral Trail may be an entirely different experience for mountain bikers and motorized vehicles.
This is because the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit spent $24,000 from its trail budget to bring in Hilride Progression Development Group to design the trail that could lead to a more sophisticated mountain bike system throughout the basin. Construction is slated to begin in late summer. Between now and then a series of design workshops will be conducted.
Improvements to the South Shore's Corral Trail are likely to begin this summer.
At a meeting Thursday night of more than 24 fat tire die-hards, it sounded like a foreign language was being spoken – though it was a bit like how riders talk about terrain parks at ski resorts.
Right now three jumps are on the trail that is accessed off Pioneer Trail at Oneidas Road. Those who spoke out April 28 want more jumps, some want bigger features, all said it needs to flow better.
Len Holmgren cautioned that the route needs to match the ability of the riders – who aren’t all gnarly riders like many of whom attended the meeting put on by the U.S. Forest Service.
Garrett Villanueva, assistant forest engineer with the Forest Service, agreed after the meeting that the array of users on this particular trail were not at the meeting – particularly the mainstream mountain biker, motorcyclists and quad ATV.
“Without input, they won’t have the options they desire,” Villanueva warned.
The next meeting is June 11 at the Forest Service office in South Lake Tahoe. The morning will start at 9 going over a map Hilride officials will have devised that will contain potential locations for various features. The rest of the day, which will end about 4pm, will be scoping out the actual trail.
“This will be built by volunteers. It’s the only way it will be put in the ground,” Villanueva told Lake Tahoe News.
Several at the meeting are members of Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association, which has pledged its support to help build the trail.
Mountain biking is big business. People travel all over the world to ride specific trails. In Whistler, 10 percent of the residents belong to the cycling club there, according to a Hilride official.
Matt Lopes of Hilride showed endless video of trails – mostly in the Western United States. Most people at the meeting have traveled to these and other locations to ride their mountain bikes.
Rose Daiek is one of those traveling riders. But she also likes the idea of improving her back yard. And she recognizes needing something for all levels.
“Progression is how people get better,” Daiek said.
For more information about the Corral Trail project, contact Villanueva or Jacob Quinn at the LTBMU office at (530) 543.2600.
I thought it was a very good meeting, but there is one thing that needs to be made perfectly clear. The Corral Trail will be used by mountain bikers, hikers, motor cycles and horse riders, going both downhill and uphill. In order to meet the needs of these different groups, some compromises will need to be made. This is the trade off for free access to public land; the land is to be shared by all. If any one group wants a trail specifically designed to meet the needs of their group alone, those needs can be met at a pay for access facility. There are many hiking trails in the basin that are off limits to mountain bikes and motor cycles. Hard core downhill mountain bikers can pay for lift accessed riding at Kirkwood or Northstar. The reality of the situation is that much of the burden for the success of this trail and future trail projects will be put on the mountain bike community. A motto of TABMA says, “How you ride affects where we ride”.
The second point that all the various user groups need to remember is to be involved. The wheels of government grind slowly and the paper trail is often long and complicated. Do not be discouraged. The worst thing any group can do is walk away from the table and not have their needs and desires clearly represented.
This effort and outreach by the Forest Service and the reformation of TAMBA signal the beginning of exciting times for the mountain bike community in the greater Lake Tahoe area.
I am happy for the mountain bikers who will benefit from this project but I feel it is selfish and irresponsible to spend that kind of money to bring in another consultant. I can’t believe how often taxpayer money is spent to bring in consultants instead of people who work for these agencies doing their jobs and talking with people themselves.
Unfortunately I could not make the meeting. Was there any discussion on the increased vehicle traffic resulting from shuttling riders to the upper trailhead? Mitigating the effects of the parking at both lower, middle, and upper points?
While I am totally for the re-design of this trail, lets not deny that increased use will result in impacts outside of the trail itself. For instance, the dirt parking area that has formed at the junction of the powerline access road does not have BMPs that will trap sediment before reaching the creek. These kinds of things are the needs associated with growth.
Kudos to the USFS and the user communicating well. Let’s factor in the entire picture though.
Don’t forget that several motorized users were in attendance at the meeting!!!
When polled, roughly a third of the room raised their hands as motorized users.
Also important: the proposed trail work is only on the last mile of trail (from the downhill perspective).
FROGGY hit on a good point, the shuttling of riders. Heavy erosion is occurring on the upper trail. One way to slow this down and also eliminate pollution from vehicles heading to the top would be to close the road to vehicles either at the powerline junction or at the mid-point of the hill.
Please keep the Gates closed, if you don’t ride up it, don’t ride down it. The uphill traffic helps the dirt. Look at the condition of the connector trail now with the gates closed, it is great shape.