“It’s something we’d love to do in the future, but, for now, this is a good middle ground.The Castle Ride actually does pass a real castle located in Camas, WA. “We aren’t in the position right now to designate a whole property or area for mountain bikes only,” said Llewellyn. But for right now, bikers will have to settle for this one trail, in a park that likely won’t see any more designated to exclusive userships.
Llewellyn said the county might look into creating something similar in the future. After more than a decade of work the city of Portland recently opened a small but growing bike park called Gateway Green. Sandy Ridge, in Sandy, Ore., offers more than 10 miles of bike-only trails. He thinks creating a bikes-only trail will only draw more riders to the east side of the park where they’ll likely stay - away from the more pedestrian-friendly trails on west side.Īs mountain biking has grown in popularity, a number of municipalities have dedicated space for them to ride exclusively. “Mountain bikers don’t like to take away from a hiker’s experience, but we also don’t like to suicide ourselves into the brush to not hit somebody,” he said. Red Tape, he said, reached a certain point where it wasn’t a practical trail to ride because of the “huge risks” of running into hikers and riding down a steep hill at a slow rate of speed saps the fun out of the experience. The trail, by design, gets riders up to a high rate of speed, but the twists and turns give it narrow lines of sight. While some people were thrilled at the idea, numerous runners and hikers lamented the loss of the route.ĭavid Stiles, vice president of the Southwest Washington chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, described the designation as “a really smart move on the part of the county” for the safety of all users and giving bikes a place to ride freely. When word got out about the county’s plans for Red Tape in June, the reactions were mixed on the advocacy group’s Facebook page. While most people are courteous regardless of how they’re going through the park, he said, the park is generally much busier than it was when the advocacy group started maintaining its trails eight years ago. “As much as I don’t like this idea, the concern is if someone does get hurt, they’re going to come after the mountain bikers.” “I really struggle with this, because I don’t like any regulations or limitations on user groups,” he said. To illustrate his point, Vergillo said he had to stop four times for people on foot on a ride down Red Tape last weekend.Īs new developments have simultaneously cleared surrounding forests and erased old trails, they’ve also brought in more people who see the park as a chance to escape the subdivision. He said ideally there would be no need to segregate usership on park trails, but this isn’t an ideal world. Sean Vergillo leads the advocacy group and is also a member of the alliance. The county chose the trail after working with multiple user groups, including the Lacamas Trails Advocacy Group, a volunteer group that maintains the trails in Lacamas Regional Park, and the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. The county won’t do any kind of enforcement work it’ll be on users to follow them. In the next few weeks, county workers will post signs at the ends of the trail notifying people of the change. As with many trails in the park, it was user-created.Ĭounty officials also say putting parameters on the trail will make it safer for all visitors. It’s a steep, twisty and rolling path that cuts through a lush landscape and crosses a few small streams. The trail runs through the fairly secluded eastern portion of the park. Not only is the roughly half-mile-long trail the only bikes-only trail among the more than 12 miles of trails in Lacamas Regional Park, but it’s also the only bike-exclusive trail in any county property. Additionally, hikers and runners already enjoy foot-traffic-only access to the Camas Lily Field in the northern part of the park. And, the trail doesn’t see a lot of foot traffic compared with other routes in the park. Llewellyn said the trail is well-suited to the tastes of mountain bikers. “The idea isn’t to exclude people, it’s just adding one more component to the site that is a novelty to the area.” “We did a trail study in 2016 at Lacamas Park … and a lot of the feedback was it’d be nice to have something focused on mountain biking,” said Karen Llewellyn, volunteer program coordinator for Clark County Parks. For the first time in Clark County, mountain bikers will have a trail all their own.Ī dirt trail in Lacamas Regional Park, unofficially known as Red Tape, is being closed to foot traffic and designated as a one-way, downhill mountain bike route.Ĭlark County Parks officials say reserving the 0.6-mile-long trail for bikes offers greater diversity for users of the popular park.
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