Terrain blessing, curse in Northwoods area

The terrain of the Northwoods Trail area will be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to constructing a system of mountain bike trails, experts say.

Trail Solutions, a division of the International Mountain Biking Association that specializes in the construction of mountain biking trails, surveyed the property that will eventually support the entire 44.6-mile trail system.

Phase One of the project, which involves construction of 14.7 to 16.6 miles of trail in a plot of land just east of Cedar Glades Park, is set to begin this month. About half the cost of the nearly $1.3 million project is being funded by a $648,421 matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation.

“They’ve kind of identified areas and they pretty well know what happens based upon land forms and what trail, how hard it is or isn’t to do trail,” city of Hot Springs Trails Coordinator Ken Freeman said.

Trail Solutions is meeting with Visit Hot Springs Thursday to discuss the logistics of the trail project. Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said Trail Solutions, which did its initial survey in 2016, will then spend another four to five days resurveying the property.

Trail Solutions specialist Joey Klein singled out the rocky Ouachita Mountain terrain and waterways within the designated land as potential difficulties in the construction of the trail system.

Freeman said the terrain surrounding the 2,000 acres of land designated for the construction of the trail system is “blessed and cursed” with rock.

“If you’re wanting to build a trail, you have to move some of that. The blessing of that is that it drains real well, doesn’t erode as well,” Freeman said. “It may be a little tougher in some places building, but it’ll be a blessing in that it will help us make that sustainable trail we’re all looking for.”

“Some of the rock will be really good to work with, and some of the rock will be just in the way,” Klein said. “We’ll just have to see.”

Though the rock presents a construction challenge, Klein said such terrain allows IMBA to build a more challenging trail.

Freeman pointed out that the trails will be rolling contour trails, which are marked by a gentle grade and outsloped tread. This design, along with the already tough terrain, will prevent the trail from eroding.

Klein said the designated land also contains streams and creeks that the trails may need to cross. According to a proposal approved by the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission on Monday, the second component of Phase One would include the construction of 150-plus feet of bridges.

Though he did not specify how many bridges will be constructed within the Phase One trails, he mentioned the possibility of having five constructed within the project’s entire 44.6 miles.

“It just depends on where we’re crossing the streams,” Klein said.

Like the rocky terrain, bodies of water within the designated land are seen as an attribute to the course and a construction challenge. Klein pointed out that lakes Sanderson, Dillon and Bethel, which were formerly used as water sources for Hot Springs’ municipal water system, provide wrap-around ridges for riding.

“Each of the reservoirs or lakes have these really nice ridges that sort of separate them or wrap around the whole basin,” he said. “To be able to ride anywhere near the lakes, I just think that’s going to be really nice.”

Klein said that before construction can begin, nearly a foot of fallen leaves and debris must be cleared away from the trail’s path.

“That’s kind of the first thing, is just to see what’s underneath all that — what the soil is like, that sort of thing,” Klein said.

A difficulty Klein noted that is not unique to the Northwoods project is constructing a mountain biking trail up to present-day expectations. He said building a trail by today’s standards means molding the terrain more than would have been required in the past and taking all of the trail’s potential users into consideration.

“There’s a lot more thought, there’s a lot more about how we can, I guess, cycle people through the site and do it in a way where maybe some of the trails are directional, or maybe different skill levels, or having trails maybe just for hikers to where maybe they can get the solitude that they’re looking for, and at the same time provide gravity for the hikers who just really want to send it and not have to be worried about impacting someone else’s experience,” he said. “There’s just so much more that goes into it these days.”

Freeman expects the final Phase One trail, once completed, will include beginner, moderate and advanced trails. Arrison said the final product will include jumps and turns commonly seen in bike parks that will be built into the trail.

Phase One is expected to be completed by the fall of 2018.

Arrison said the flexible trail length outlined in Phase One is in place “depending on the conditions and what they face during the construction process.” He also said the

$1,229,975 budget for Phase One has a 10-percent contingency built in.

Arrison said Visit Hot Springs and IMBA will reconsider Phase One’s estimates if the project doesn’t appear to fit within the projected parameters.

“Either we’ll have to cut the project back, or we’ll have to discuss it and come up with more money,” he said.

Arrison also said he doesn’t mind pushing Phase One’s completion date back to ensure quality, but believes IMBA will be accurate to the outlined estimates.

“We’ll just wait and see,” Arrison said. “They’re the best of the best.”