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Published Monday, January 16, 2012 in Local

13 miles of mountain bike trails 'flagged' in Chatt-Bend Park

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

Thanks to the commitment of individuals, construction should begin soon on a series of mountain bike trails at Chattahoochee Bend State Park.

The Chattahoochee Bend State Park Mountain Bike Club has formed and has already flagged nearly 13 miles of proposed trails.

The next step is getting the trail locations approved by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Then comes construction.

People have been asking about bike trails, as well as equestrian trails, for quite some time, said Steve St. Laurent, trail committee chairman for the Friends of Chattahoochee Bend State Park.

"For a long time on Facebook I was saying -- here's the deal. If we don't have a group of volunteers committed to building and maintaining the trails, they're not going to happen," St. Laurent said.

Finally some local mountain bikers "were able to pull some things together and talk to different people and get people interested," St. Laurent said. "We just marketed it on Facebook and email and through the website," and things took off.

On the original park plan, there were some mountain bike trails indicated, but it was only a very few miles. Additionally, "they weren't even approved" by the DNR, St. Laurent said.

St. Laurent said that Park Manager Trint Wicklund wanted at least 15 committed mountain bike trail builders. "We're up to 18 or 19 now," St. Laurent said. "The purpose of the article is to get more."

Volunteers Pete Edmonson and Rick Frataccia took the lead. Volunteers hiked the trails indicated on the plan, and they were about 2.5 miles, St. Laurent said. "As we do with the hiking trails, they went and figured out that if we make adjustments here and make adjustments there, follow the terrain and avoid major obstacles," the trail became nearly five miles long.

That trail was just the beginning.

The mountain bike network "will consist of five loops of varying distance and difficulty, ranging from a short loop for families with young children looking for their first off-road biking experience, to long difficult back country trails that experienced riders will enjoy," Edmonson said.

"We see this trail as a great opportunity for the region," he said. "This will be Coweta County's only public mountain bike trail and the only trail in the region dedicated solely to bicycles. Since the park's land area is so large, each user group -- bikes, horses, and hikers, will have their own trail systems."

The trails have been laid out in a sustainable manner following the standards of the International Mountain Biking Association, Edmonson said.

"This type of trail will take more time to build, but once it is completed, it will be easier to maintain," he said. "Eventually we would like to make Chattahoochee Bend State Park a mountain biking destination for the region and not just a trail people ride once and then never return" to.

For more information or to volunteer, visit www.bendfriend.org or e-mail trails@bendfriend.org . You can also check out the friend's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ChattahoocheeBendFriends .

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