About 19 years ago Mike McCue, Joel Byrd, JB Ritter and I started work on the Munson Hills Trail. We spent about a year in those woods, wandering, mapping, riding, walking and designing. Many others helped along the way, including some folks at the US Forest Service. I remember John Cameron, Steve? and Ron Smith. I am sure there were more.
Check out the Challenge Cost - Share Agreement from 1991 and Design Narrative from 1990. Some interesting details come up. Mike McCue is listed as FOTL Club. We had a bridge in the plans for crossing Munson Slough. Joel Byrd wrote the complete Design Narrative, does anyone have a copy? What I have posted seems to be a reply to what Joel wrote. It does however refer to levels of difficulty and interpretive plans. There must have been a maintenance component.
Our intention, as I remember it, was to get more people in the woods and on bikes. I knew we reached that goal the day I saw a dad, on an old road with a baby seat and baby, riding along the trail. He stopped to lift the bike over a log, I caught up, he looked over smiled and said how cool he thought the trail was. It felt good to see someone enjoying what I had helped create. It was not uncommon to see beach cruisers, BMX bikes and old road bikes on the trail, mountain bikes had just began to catch on. All kinds of riders were discovering the trail.
Doug Alderson spent a lot of time on the trail designing an interpretive tour to tie into the mural at what was then the Munson Hills Trailhead, where the information kiosk is now. The mural was hand painted by T.S. Elliot (I'm not sure about the T.S.) Doug finished the tour information but it never seemed to make it to the trail system. The original mural can be found at the Forest Service Office in Crawfordville. They removed the original hand painted canvas mural and replaced it with the current one. They were concerned the original might get damaged. A good decision, what they installed has lasted 15 plus years, the original is still in great condition. I never meet the artist but his work has educated a lot of trail users.
We did regular maintenance for many years after Munson was created. Some of that in the form of organized work parties, some of it was done by users taking care of their trail. Munson Hill was one of our first run in with sand. Water bars, sections of telephone poles, was our first try, conveyor belt sandwiched between 2x6's, our second try. These were intended to slow down the water. Neither worked particularly well for water but did slow down the riders. The third and lasting effort consisted of pickup truck loads of pine bark and road base lime rock. The lime rock was used as humps, like the new ones you see on the trail now. In between the humps we put loads and loads of pine bark. The bark was intended to absorb the water flowing down the hill and eventually deteriorate and blend with the sand. We also lined the trail with logs to hold in the materials and narrow the trail back to its original width. Walk up Munson Hill next time you are on the trail, you'll see the work I did there about 15 years ago.
My regular maintenance efforts faded over the past 10 years or so, kids, careers, life just kind of changed things. New efforts are afoot though. With those new efforts and all the users now enjoying the trail, disagreements on how things should get done to the trail have arisen. With the permission and help of Forest Service personnel I have been doing bits of work here and there. The most obvious work are the humps, pine straw and trees used to line the trail. For the most part this work has been well received. Unfortunately someone in disagreement with the use of trees to line the trail has begun to tear out some of the previous work. If you see these people please ask them to contact the Forest Service or me directly (544.5040) or through this blog. The Forest Service and I want input from all users. The Forest Service has requested I/we stop doing any further work until a trail "Operating Plan" is complete. It should be done in about 4 weeks.
Please take the time to post your comments on this blog. Tell me what you like, don't like and what you want to see done to the trail.
I can't get the Challenge Cost - Share Agreement and Design Narrative to post so click on these if you want to see them.
http://www.tallahasseemountainbike.com/pdf/Design%20Narrative%20-%20Munson%20Hills%2020090404.pdf
http://www.tallahasseemountainbike.com/pdf/Challenge%20Cost%20-%20Share%20Project%2020090404.pdf
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Very cool post. I feel like that has to be more than 19 years ago. I can remember my mom and dad riding those "dirt trails" on Jamis Boss Cruisers - the red ones. I can remember Steve and I riding the trails soon after. Steve on his brother's chrome mountain bike - not sure what brand - we were in high school. I remember working as an electrician my first year of college and the summer after (1990) I bought my first real mountain bike. I had been riding a Lotus and some other no name bike. I brought home a Specialized Hard Rock Sport. It was read and had Suntour parts. Steve bought a Trek 950. We rode those bikes all over Munson, Leon Sinks and Fisher Creek. I remember riding up on you, Mike and some other dudes. You guys were putting the roof on the sign. I remember the bike race with the orange Fat of the Land shirt. I think Bill needs to dig that artwork back up. Let's print some anniversary shirts and sell them as a fundraiser for the club.
ReplyDeleteWeird. My sarcasm gene has gone strangley dormant. Although it is sandy like a beach right now, I will still be riding it soon I am sure.
ReplyDeleteDamn, Ken, thanks for that walk through time. Very mellow feel to that post -- very Munson.
ReplyDeleteThe Munson sand is the admission fee. If you're a person who never gets past that sand (and there are a ton of one-time Munson riders turned away permanently by the sand), then that's unfortunate for you. There's a lot of peace out there.
Here's what I want. I want to help you fix the FIRST super sandy spot you come to on the trail if you start at the original (billboard) trailhead. It's that sweeping hairpin left turn that is ALWAYS a sloppy mess. I'd be willing to give most of an entire Saturday (and even spend a little money) to have a hand in fixing that spot. I'll limestone it, railroad tie it, plywood bank it, PAVE it; I don't care as long as it goes from sloppy to stable like that former backside sandtrap that you hardpacked and moguled. I'm not crazy about the moguls or the tree-lined lane, but I still whisper a little thanks every time I go through there because that section is no longer a slippy, slidy, dusty-ass, sand river to float through. If that's the way it needs to be for the trail to stay put, that's GREAT. Thanks for all that work. Please let me know when we (or I, if you'll tell me how to do it) can go fix that awful turn. I'd prefer to do it while the ban is on, you know, because that request seems ridiculous, but I'll wait with you for the green light if we have to.
You're the man.
Squatch
Thanks, Ken. I cut my teeth on Munson Hills. Tom Hellman and I skated and surfed together, until he bought a mountain bike and ruined my life. ;-) I bought one soon after, and we spent many hours racing around those sand hills. I can remember Tom and I arguing about tire combinations. We disagreed as to whether a Panaracer Smoke or Onza Porcupine made the better front tire. Our argument consisted of hitting those sand turns faster and faster until someone finally ate it. The first to crash was wrong. I've never had quite so much fun settling disagreements.
ReplyDeleteI had to move home to my Mom's briefly while I was in college. Since she lived down by Wakulla Springs, I would get up early 4 days a week, and ride Munson before going to school or work. The forest would be so peaceful early in the morning. It was the perfect way to start the day.
I guess I may need to slide down there again this weekend, sand or no sand, and get my nostalgia on.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the bit of Munson area history. Love the wording in the PDFs.
Hope you and/or JohnH can start something similar re the building of Fern Trail.
Kalin
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