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Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park approves mountain bike trail construction

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Mostly, mountain bike trails and, in many cases, riding off designated roads (dirt, paved, or otherwise) inside America’s National Parks is not allowed. Mainly, this is because much of it is managed as wilderness. Now, finally, one of our most visited parks has decided that Mountain Bikes are OK, and has opened the door to trail building.

Reported by People for Bikes, GSM NP studied the impact mountain biking could have and, not surprisingly, found what most of us have known all along – that mountain biking proposed no significant impact.

The results of that National Park Service Environmental Assessment will be an 11.8 mile trail system in the Wears Valley region of the park. Currently, there are fewer than 8 miles of bicycle-approved trails in the park, but more than 800 miles of pedestrian and other trails.

The next step is getting funding approval, which will be used for trail construction, an access road, trailhead with bike wash/repair station, picnic tables, and restrooms. More details on the project on the NPS’ Park Planning website. Proximity to Knoxville is pure bonus (photo above is from Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness trail network).

The precedent this sets is encouraging, as it’ll (likely) show that mountain biking has a positive impact on tourism and park use without crowding existing trails or degrading the environment. It’s also proof that your voices count…whenever there are open calls for public input, make sure your voice is heard!

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Chris
Chris
1 year ago

Great news!

Andrew M
Andrew M
1 year ago

Rad! Seems like a great step for bike advocacy.

Lee
Lee
1 year ago

They let horses in everywhere basically and anyone who has spent time in GSMNP can tell you that those big bastards ruin trails way more

Karl
Karl
1 year ago
Reply to  Lee

Huh…everywhere?

Rick
Rick
1 year ago
Reply to  Lee

Bit harsh don’t you think? Sounds like the deal is already done, and what’s the point of rubbing it in to those innocent animals? Sounds like someone needs to come down off their high horse, or stop riding around getting high on their horse.

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

See how it goes, I used to think MTB Trail Building/Access/Usesto National Parks was unfair. However over the years I’ve found that there’s enough places to MTB that aren’t National Parks ie. Moab, Bentonville, Kingdom Trails, Tsali, Copper Harbor, Maa Dey Hey Trail, etc, etc. We have some spectacular Riding destinations here, it’s just getting to them. I’ll never get to or ride half of them, soooo….so at this point, it doesn’t really matter to me. Just super thankful for what America does offer MTBikers.

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