The North Shore mountain bike trail at Shawnee Mission Park near Kansas City has undergone a major transformation over the past 3 years thanks to the hard work of the Earth Riders mountain bike club. Faced with serious erosion and a confusing network of trails with more than 18 different intersections, leaders decided to start over with a new design.
Ignoring the existing trails, the group set out to create two loops in a figure 8 design with two entrances and a single intersection in the middle. Steep sections were reduced to a maximum of half the grade of the surrounding slope which makes the trail less prone to erosion. New signage and the ability to close wet trails after a rain ensure the rerouted trails will be accessible to all mountain bikers for years to come.
2 Comments
Jun 5, 2007
We spent at least a third of our manhours repairing and closing the eroded trails and we still have several hundered hours of closure work to do.
Jun 5, 2007
Often it seems like trail networks are the "easy" way to create new trail since you can build short connectors and spider-web your way through an area. Loops are tougher to plan and build but in the end they seem more satisfying to ride.