Get All the New Trail Developments and Updates Here
Valley Mountain Bikers, working with Lehigh County, is designing and building a new flow trail at Trexler Nature Preserve that we believe will be one of the best flow trails in the mid-Atlantic region. Grant funding is in place as of February 2019, and we expect the trail project to begin this year. This page will include information on the trail, background on the project, and updates on progress as we move along.
UPDATE OCTOBER 17: Contruction on the new trail in nearly complete. DirtScuplt is finishing up work on a few features to allow emergency and first responder access, and there's some seeding, compacting and other erosion controls to be addressed and installed. But we expect to open the new trail around the first of November. Please stay off until then. It's still an active construction site. And the county, for insurance and legal reasons has made it very clear that the trail needs to remain closed until all those details, and some important paperwork is completed. We're all itching to ride the trail now, but please stay off for another two to three weeks. Details on the grand-opening celebration will be available soon!
UPDATE JULY 15: We have the most exciting Trexler new trail update yet. This week, Dave King’s DirtSculp has won the bid to build the new flow trail at Trexler Nature Preserve. We’re fortunate to have such a qualified, respected builder as Dave who is local, rides Trex, and who is available to start building soon. We are planning for construction to begin as soon as mid-August.
This will be an approximately 1.5-mile-long, one-way, bike-only flow trail in TNP’s Hunsicker Valley (just behind the North Range parking lot). Our plans also call for building about .8 miles of connectors to integrate this new trail into the existing network.
The trail will have about 15 features (listed below), including some tabletops and step ups. We want this trail to safely accommodate riders of all abilities while offering challenging options for more advanced riders. We also want this trail to integrate into the Preserve’s natural landscape. If you’ve scoped out the valley from the Border trail, you know how beautiful it is.
VMB has been working on this project for years and we are more than excited that it is nearing completion and to have you all riding this new trail soon! This project is being funded by a grant from the PA DCNR, and with the support of Lehigh County, and Lehigh County Parks. They’ve each played a huge, helping role in helping make this new trail possible.
As part of the grant funding, we must contribute 200 volunteer hours to the project, working with Dirt Sculpt. We’ll need lots of volunteer help to meet that goal. We’ll share options for helping as we near the start of construction.
Planned trail features (subject to on-the-ground adjustments during the build):
Descent 1 (North Facing Slope): In addition to 4 insloped turns and typical
rolling contour trail, this portion of the new trail should include at least
the following features:
• 1.1-Tabletop jump approximately 2’ high by 10’ long
• 1.2-Tabletop jump approximately 3’ high by 12’ long
• 1.3-Tabletop jump approximately 3’ high by 12’ long
• 1.4-Step up jump approximately 4’ high by 15’ long
• 1.5-Step down jump approximately 4’ down by 15’ long
• 1.6-Step down jump approximately 4’ down by 15’ long
• 1.7-Step up jump approximately 4’ high by 15’ long
Descent 2 (South Facing Slope): In addition to 4 insloped turns and typical
rolling contour trail, this portion of the new trail should include at least
the following features:
• 2.1-Tabletop jump approximately 2’ high by 10’ long
• 2.2-Tabletop jump approximately 3’ high by 12’ long
• 2.3-Tabletop jump approximately 3’ high by 12’ long
• 2.4-Tabletop jump approximately 4’ high by 15’ long
• 2.5-Step up jump approximately 4’ high by 12’ long
• 2.6-Step down jump approximately 2’ down by 15’ long
• 2.7-Tabletop jump approximately 4’ high by 15’ long
• 2.8-Tabletop jump approximately 4’ high by 15’ Long
• 2.9- Hardened creek crossing using onsite rock
UPDATE 11/30
A lot of important behind-the-scenes work has been happening at Trexler Nature Preserve. After having a prelimanary trail plan produced and flagged by Andrew Mueller at Greenstone Trail Craft in April, the plan was handed over to Hanover Engineering to tackle erosion and sedimentation controls for permitting. That work is nearly complete and we'll submit for permits this week to the Lehigh County Conservation District. We expect a quick approval (3 to 4 months) and will send the project out for bids then.
UPDATE 03/29:
This month, we've received approval from DCNR, the grant adminstrator, and Lehigh County to hire a professional trail designer to develop a concept plan for the trail. This will be done by taking input from VMB and other stakeholders, ground truthing the area, and develop a concept based on our critera: A one way flow trail with natural and man made features that's approximate 1.75 miles long. This concept will be used to put in the bid package so interested builders have a framework to provide a competitive and accurate bid. Once the concept plan is done (we expect this within 30 to 45 days) we will complete the RFP and put the project out to bid. We've received estimates from several conceptual designers and will hire one the first week of April.
UPDATE 03/02
Map of the area we've identified and that has been approved by Lehigh County, Wildlands, and the PA Game Commission to locate the trail:
UPDATE: 1/31
VMB met with Lehigh County and the head grant administrator for the DCRN to review our grant and details for the project to make sure all elements met DCNR and Lehigh County requirements. The DCRN is excited about the project, it being one of the few mountain bike trail projects they've awarded. The grant is offically awarded to the county and any funding hurdles have been cleared. From a financial standpoint, we're flying.
The next step is for VMB to hire a trail designer to put a concept plan together, based on our input, that we will include in the RFP that goes out to trail builders. This is a concept that they will bid on then use as the framework for the final trail design and build. We anticipate the RFP going out in late spring, with permitting in the summer and construction in the fall.
ALL THE BACKGROUND INFO YOU WANT
The new trail at Trexler will be a 1.75 mile-long flow trail located in the Hunsicker Valley in the North Range of Trexler's Nature Reserve. It will be, when completed, one of the top flow trails in the Northeast. The trail will use both the north and south grades of the Valley, and connect to the existing trail system with new connector trails. Construction will be paid for by a $128k grant from the DCNR awarded to Lehigh County. The trail will be a directional, mountain bike only, flow trail with natural and man-made features. There will be jumps, and berms, and all the good things you'd want on a flow trail. With the grant awarded in November 2018, we expect the project to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020.