Boone Area Outdoors

Guest Blog Post by Randy Johnson

This Saturday’s predicted bright sunshine and mid-50s fall temps should be perfect for building more trail at Boone’s budding mountain bike park, Rocky Knob.

The Boone Area Cyclists and a variety of other organizations and business are sponsoring a Community Trail Work Day Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, October 16, with food, beverages and a raffle immediately afterward. Tools will be provided, and volunteers should wear sturdy shoes, long-sleeved shirts and long pants and bring work gloves.

You can help even if you’re not an experienced trail builder. The range of activities includes easier jobs such as removing brush being cut by chainsaw operators engaged in clearing the trail corridor, and “finishing the trail,” which amounts to lighter raking of the surface to remove stones and debris on an otherwise finished path. Heavier physical tasks include building up the rocky base of the trail by constructing crib walls.

More than 500 volunteers have already turned out since mid-summer to help the trail building project, which is quickly becoming one of the Boone area’s best example’s of community involvement in outdoor recreation.

A wealth of local businesses are sponsoring the event with food or raffle prizes, among them Boone Bike and Touring, Magic Cycles, Bald Guy Brew, Black Cat, Food Lion, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Stick Boy Bread, Sunrise Grill, Boone Take Out Express and others.

The park is located on U.S. Highway 421 just outside of Boone toward Deep Gap, immediately past the Nissan dealership on the right.

For more information, contact Kristian Jackson or Alexander J. Raab by email atjacksnkl@appstate.edu or raabaj@appstate.edu or by phone at 704-942-8005. For more information on progress at the park—nearly a mile of the 2.6-mile first phase of the trail is complete—follow the blog at http://rockyknob.wordpress.com.

The WCTDA awards Trail Dynamics with a contract to design and construct trail, with the assistance of Boone Area Cyclists, at Rocky Knob Park.

On Thursday, July 29 at the Broyhill Inn in Boone at 6pm, the WCTDA will host the Rocky Knob Trail Kick Off meeting. Eric Woolridge, Outdoor Recreation Planner with the WCTDA, will provide an update on the current development and construction schedule of Rocky Knob Park. Also speaking will be Woody Keen, CEO of Trail Dynamics and President of the Professional Trail Builders Association.

In addition, Boone Area Cyclists will have a volunteer trail building workday the weekend of July 31st – August 1st at Rocky Knob Park. More details will be available at the Trail Kick-Off Meeting and at www.BooneAreaCyclists.com.

Check out a few picks below that I took today; things are coming along nicely and Watauga County staff is doing a great job grading!

7/14/2010 - Grading crew prepares area for the adventure playground

Kristian Jackson (left), Trail Boss for Boone Area Cyclists and Chuck Ramsey with Trail Dynamics discuss trail alignment at Rocky Knob Park.

Specialized Helps in Carolina MTB Park.

Photo by: Kristian Jackson

The construction of Rocky Knob Park has commenced! Throughout the summer months, work crews will construct the 1,500′ linear road, 60+ parking spaces, and building pads for the adventure playground, bike skills area, and picnic shelters.

By the end of July, construction will begin on the park’s mountain bike trail network.

A guest blog post and video from Randy Johnson. Learn more about Randy Johnson @ www.randyjohnsonbooks.com

In May 2010, National Park Service employees and volunteers cleared the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Tanawha Trail on Grandfather Mountain after a severe winter of snow and ice storms in North Carolina. Most trails in the North Carolina High Country appear open and ready for summer 2010.

Watauga County, in partnership with the Watauga County Tourism Development Authority (WCTDA), has just received a $500,000 grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) to assist with the acquisition and development for Rocky Knob Park.

The 185-acre park is located just east of Boone with access from Scenic Byway US 421. When complete, probably by late 2011, the park will contain 10-12 miles of trail for biking, hiking, and cross country skiing, three shelters and multiple picnicking areas. In partnership with the WCTDA, Watauga County purchased 45 acres of the tract last December.

“The county commissioners deserve tons of credit for their vision and foresight to see the benefits of this,” said Stephen Poulos, Watauga County Parks and Recreation Director. “They deserve credit for getting this thing going. They’re the ones who made the decision to go for this grant and support us and get this thing rolling.

During this last grant cycle, there were 83 requests from across the state totaling $25.5 million. Only 24 applicants were selected for grants from an available $6.6 million. The average award was $275,000, and Watauga received the maximum amount, $500,000.

This grant commits the WCTDA to completing the access road, parking area, and Phase 1 of trail development by the end of summer. That first trail, expected to be open and in use by fall 2010, will be developed using two $5,000 grants already secured from the Bikes Belong Foundation and Specialized, a bicycle manufacturer. These grants were made possible through the WCTDA’s partnership with Boone Area Cyclists, a local nonprofit organization working to promote and develop cycling opportunities throughout the Boone area.

WCTDA Executive Director Wright Tilley says, “This is the third grant we’ve received for this project, which confirms that Rocky Knob Park is a great project that resonates with officials in the parks and open space business.”

Eric Woolridge, the WCTDA’s senior Outdoor Recreation Planner, who’ll manage development of the park, says, “The design of this facility supports family-based outings, provides a safe place for all ages to ride bikes on natural surface trails, and will ultimately challenge skilled mountain biking enthusiasts.”

Woolridge also suggests that anyone interested in volunteering during development of the trails should join and support Boone Area Cyclists. “They are definitely the avenue for contributing to this and other local biking efforts,” he says. Woolridge maintains a blog about outdoor recreation development projects throughout the Boone area at www.booneareaoutdoors.com.

In march of 2009, the WCTDA Board of Directors instituted a program to aggressively support outdoor recreation in the Boone area. Since then, the WCTDA has helped secure four grants totaling $585,000.

The central goal, demonstrated at the late March Outdoor Recreation Summit, “is to build the partnerships, develop unique projects, and put Watauga County in a position to secure these types of funds and do so consistently,” says Woolridge.

The WCTDA is also sponsoring upcoming volunteer work days to clear the Tanawha Trail on Saturday May 15th and 22nd. Contact Eric Woolridge to “sign up” as a volunteer. (eric@exploreboonearea.com/ 828-266-1345)

PARTF is funded by the state real estate deed transfer tax and was created by the General Assembly in 1994 to improve the state’s quality of life through preservation of natural resources and development of public park and recreation facilities.

1. An erosion control plan/ grading plan for Rocky Knob has been submitted to the state for approval; by the end of May we should be permitted to move dirt

2. The WCTDA will soon release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for phase 1 of trail construction at Rocky Knob

3. The WCTDA and County Extension office have teamed up to construct stormwater wetlands and a 3,000 foot greenway along the South Fork New River, extending from the Brookshire Park walking trail

4. The WCTDA recieved notification of a $75,000 award from the NC Trails Program to construct the Hwy. 321 Bridge paddle access along the Watauga River (go to “projects” for more information)

5. On Friday, May 7th, we’ll find out about the status of the $500,000 grant for Rocky Knob Park

What a pleasure for the WCTDA to host the Boone Area Outdoor Recreation Summit!

To the right, under ”THE PLAN” you’ll find some of the maps and site plans presented at the Summit. I still have another 15 or so to upload, but it will be post-Easter holiday before that happens – thanks for your patience.

Send over any comments you might have in the next couple of weeks or give a call if you have questions. We’ll be working hard to get this plan in a draft form in coming months, while beginning work on Rocky Knob Park and some river access areas!