The cordial discussion about 'wilderness' and mountain biking is somewhat off topic, recall the topic of this thread is to comment on IMBA's trail design proposal.
One of my points by posting the photos was to gauge the reaction to the earth moving that IMBA built trails can entail. I'm a mountain biker/dirt road tourist and to me it is excessive and creates too much disruption to the natural landscape. Another thing I'd like to point out is that trails built explicitly for mountain biking are not necessarily interesting for hikers to use (do hikers need banked turns and jumps?) , while many trails that where built for hiking are perfectly suited for mountain biking. (Witness the photos above from the North Country Trail).
The primitive corridor initiative would be nice option to have, should the ADK mountain bike trails system be centered around multi-day routes, but I can imagine the howls of protest from other outdoor user groups. Wilderness areas and selected bike prohibited trails are things I can live with, assuming there alternatives and bicyclists aren't squeezed out completely.
One of my points by posting the photos was to gauge the reaction to the earth moving that IMBA built trails can entail. I'm a mountain biker/dirt road tourist and to me it is excessive and creates too much disruption to the natural landscape. Another thing I'd like to point out is that trails built explicitly for mountain biking are not necessarily interesting for hikers to use (do hikers need banked turns and jumps?) , while many trails that where built for hiking are perfectly suited for mountain biking. (Witness the photos above from the North Country Trail).
The primitive corridor initiative would be nice option to have, should the ADK mountain bike trails system be centered around multi-day routes, but I can imagine the howls of protest from other outdoor user groups. Wilderness areas and selected bike prohibited trails are things I can live with, assuming there alternatives and bicyclists aren't squeezed out completely.
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