Mountain bikers in the area will no longer have to travel to find a good trail.
At 8 a.m. March 26, Auburn's first mountain bike trail will open at Lake Wilmore near Ogletree Elementary School. The property is owned by the city of Auburn, but the city did not fund the trail.
The trail is open to the public and admission is free.
"This is the first mountain bike facility that the city of Auburn actually owns," said Brandy Ezelle, traffic engineer and bicycle coordinator. "There are some other area mountain bike facilities that are within driving distance, but this is the first one for Auburn."
Construction is complete on one of three proposed loops of the trail.
"The first loop that we built is an easy loop," said Brad Hooks, president of the Auburn Off-Road Bike Association, a local group leading the project. "It's fairly flat, and there's not much elevation change at all, not a lot of difficulty."
Hooks said the two additional loops will become increasingly more difficult.
"We're hoping to have an intermediate loop and then kind of an advanced skills loop," Hooks said.
Hooks also said once all three loops are completed, there will be more than seven miles of trail for riders.
"It took about a year from the time they proposed it to getting their plans approved, and then they went out this winter and built it," said Becky Richardson, parks and recreation director. "The mountain bike trail is the first thing that's been finished on that property."
Richardson said the city received Lake Wilmore property, approximately 206 acres, from the Water Board in a property swap. The remaining land will be used for future parks.
"We developed a master plan, and that includes a future community center and some other recreational amenities," Richardson said. "It also includes future walking and biking trails."
Hooks, who started mountain biking in 1982, said AORBA used volunteers and chapter funds to construct the trail.
"The actual trail building we pretty much did with no funding, just volunteers working," Hooks said. "The materials for the trail kiosk were donated by the Auburn Bicycle Committee."
Ezelle said the trail was built without compromising the natural beauty of the land.
"The trail is constructed in methods that are environmentally friendly, that do not create a lot of erosion and movement of the existing terrain," Ezelle said. "We can basically bend the trail however we need to to go around existing trees and other existing topographic features."
Richardson said although the trail is for biking, it could be used for other activities.
"This is technically a mountain bike trail, but if you wanted to walk the trail you could," Richardson said.
Hooks said members of the community are looking forward to the new trail.
"I've run into walkers and runners and families who are very excited that they have a trail this close into town that's that nice," Hooks said.
"They feel safe on it because it's not so far out."
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