Posted 9:25 am Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Bicycle Club On Route To New Trail At Faulkner
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
The Tyler Bicycle Club is on the path to completing a proposed 5-mile multi-use mountain biking trail at Faulkner Park to be built almost entirely by volunteers.
In August, the City of Tyler signed a memorandum of agreement to allow the bicycle club to build the trail using Faulkner Park land as well as City of Tyler Water Utilities Department land. Volunteers with the project said it will be similar to the trail system at Tyler State Park, which is used for hiking and mountain biking.
Faulkner Park has a 1.25-mile-long crushed granite hiking trail. The new trail will utilize the majority of the remaining wooded area in the park and will be beginner friendly.
"Our dream is to get it laid out and to raise more funding. Hopefully, we will get approved for some grants so we can put in natural and wooden features which will make it even more enjoyable," said Tyler Simpson, Tyler Bicycle Club Mountain Bike Trail coordinator.
The trail will be 5 to 7 miles long and will be built primarily by volunteers. If the club raises enough money, members plan to ask for matching funding from the City of Tyler and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to complete the work, Simpson said.
Since August, the bicycle club has raised nearly $10,000 to hire Austin-based S&S Trail Services LLC, a recreational trail building service, to design and map the project.
S&S Trail Services LLC completed the design and mapping portion of the project last week using a device that monitors changes in land elevations. According to information from S&S Trail Services, the trail will be 2 to 3 feet wide and will be an open, flowing trail through the large trees in the area, with minimal crossings of the existing hiking trail.
Bob Hebb, vice president of the Tyler Bicycle Club and trail steward, said the club hired professionals to complete the design portion so that the trail would be low maintenance and less likely to have erosion problems.
"We were concerned (about erosion problems) because there is a lot of rise and drops in elevation at the park," Hebb said. "We wanted water to sheet off the trail, not up and down the trail. We don't want to build ditches out here."
Now that the trail is mapped, the hard part will begin Hebb said.
Starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, a group of volunteers will gather at the park to clear the trail by cutting limbs and removing dead logs.
With more funding, the club will level the area and add eight bridges and several armored creek crossings. The group estimates the total cost of the project to be $50,000.
"There is a lot of digging that has to be done. If we get the money and can hire professional trail builders, with their equipment it will be a lot faster than doing it by hand with shovels," Hebb said, adding that the trail will not only benefit the mountain bikers of Tyler, but hikers, birdwatchers and runners.
"It is nice back in there -- beautiful scenery, great huge trees. There is a lot of wild stuff back there that anyone can enjoy," he said.
Long-term plans for the trail include building an interior children's trail near an existing walking trail.
"Tyler State Park is a nice trail, but it's 45 minutes from here in the car, and having a trail in the inner city where it is accessible will be great for getting people outdoors," Simpson said. "Lord willing, we will have a really nice little trail that people will be able to utilize right here in the city."
Contributions to the "Faulkner Park Trail Project" can be mailed to Tyler Bicycle Club at Simpson's Fitness & Adventure Sports, 14204 Highway 110 South, Whitehouse, 75791. For more information about the project, or to volunteer with the trail clearing, call (903) 561-4810.
