Pennsylvania Mountain Bikers Creating New Trail Opportunities

Clubs Working to Fill the Trails Void Left by Gameland Closures

The crew takes a little time to sample the smooth Pennsylvania singletrack.
SAMBA has been working with PA State Parks for over a year to develop a plan for a trail-based park, built and designed by mountain bikers.
Following a trailbuilding school with a focus on advanced rockwork, volunteers are ready to put their skills to the test.
Soil in Pennsylvania, who would have thunk it!

Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, Aaryn Kay and Scott Linnenburger, spent the better part of the first week in August, touring Southeast Pennsylvania working with local clubs seeking to add new trails throughout the region. "It's a tragedy to have lost as much quality trail as we did in the Gamelands, and it's an issue that we'll continue to actively address," said Joe Transue, Eastern PA IMBA Representative and Valley Mountain Bikers Honch, "but the simple reality is that we have to replace these trails in other public land and continue to grow the mountain bike culture here in Pennsylvania."

Forging new partnerships at Swatera State Park, creating singletrack connectors at French Creek State Park, and adding trail mileage at Bear Creek Ski Area, IMBA-affiliated clubs from Philly to Harrisburg are definitely filling the Gamelands void. Swatera, on the Appalachian Trail, is planned as a trail-based park, and PA DCNR is looking to the Susquehanna Area Mountain Bicycling Association (SAMBA) to design and build an initial 10 miles of trail with the potential for 10-15 more in the future. The Pennsylvania Trail Hounds (PATHS) are looking to create a 2 mile rocky singletrack connector in French Creek State Park that is the missing link in an almost 20 mile loop within the park. In Emmaus, home of Rodale Press, the Valley Mountain Bikers (VMB) continue to work at Bear Creek Ski Area. Following the Trailbuilding School at Bear Creek, Didi Yunginger, I learned so much - I always wanted to know what to do to help out a trail in need, and I'm really looking forward to putting it to practice."

"Mountain bicyclists in Pennsylvania need to stand up and be counted." Joe Transue continues, "whether you are helping with the trails or not - we need your names because of the power of numbers, especially when we talk to public officials. That was one of our big stumbling blocks with the Gamelands situation, and our riding opportunities can't afford that to happen again."

Great things are brewing in Pennsylvania - be a part of it! Special thanks to Sharon Frech (PATHS), Brian Arnold (SAMBA), and Joe Transue for organizing another great Southeast PA tour.