Now and then
CAMBA singletrack initiative expands MTB trail options
by Ron Bergin 
| Sue Parman of Wausau,
Wisconsin, rides the CAMBA No Hands Bridge at Lake Hildebrand. Photo by mark Parman |
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The Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) was created with the assemblage of a 300-plus mile system of off-road bike trails during the very long story summer of 1993. The accomplishment thrust the Chequamegon area to the top of the "must-do" list of places to ride a fat tire bike.
Sprinkled among the six small towns of Cable, Delta, Drummond, Hayward, Namekagon and Seeley (populations from 300 to 2,200) in southern Bayfield and northern Sawyer counties, the CAMBA trails were one of the first major organized trail systems in the Midwest. As such they became immediately popular and the darling of the media. Articles in regional newspapers set the phones ringing at the Cable Area Chamber of Commerce office with cyclists
clamoring to get to the wilds of the "northwest territories" to pedal. This was all good. But the CAMBA system was lacking – lacking tight, technically challenging trails through the trees for which the mountain bike is best suited. Initially CAMBA was reluctant to develop new trails and daunted by the task of keeping its mammoth trail system in shape throughout the season. Over time, however, an effective maintenance
system was implemented. All the while, the demand for singletrack continued to crescendo. A survey of trail users and an economic impact study conducted in 1995-96 resulted in a clear need for more singletrack trails. Even without this mandate, the economic impact study concluded the sport of mountain biking in the Chequamegon area had an estimated $1.2 million impact annually.
By this time the movement toward sustainable trails was well under way throughout the country. The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) was the prime mover and shaker with regard to defining exactly what constituted sustainable trails and how to design and construct them. CAMBA also adopted the philosophy that any new trails needed to be constructed to sustainable design standards. But how to go about creating new singletrack remained the question.
Telemark Terrain Park
In 1999 in conjunction with Minnesota Off Road Cyclists, CAMBA hosted one of the first regional trail schools at Telemark Resort. Kurt Loheit, an IMBA trail building guru and author of The Elements of Design, was brought in to teach local trail advocates, cyclists and land managers from throughout northern Wisconsin and Minnesota.
After a long morning of classroom presentations about site selection and construction techniques, the class set out to apply what they had learned. The started from scratch singletrack trail was to be built at Telemark Resort at the behest of Phil Van Valkenberg, then the marketing director for Telemark and author of several cycling guidebooks. He advocated that wooded areas between the old downhill ski runs at the resort serve
as the location of the new trail that would ultimately be dubbed Telemark Terrain Park. These areas lent themselves well to the new project as they provided plenty of opportunity to design and build trails that took advantage of the terrain while incorporating sustainable design considerations. Though the total real estate was relatively small, about 1.5 miles of winding singletrack was laid out connecting
several islands of woods. The finishing touches were put on Telemark Terrain Park just in time for the 1999 Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival.
Ojibwe Trail
When planning the progression of its singletrack initiative, CAMBA chose the path of least resistance. Starting first with a private landowner (Telemark Resort), CAMBA went on to work with county forest officials and then the managers of the national forest, each of which required trail evaluation, assessment and approval.
CAMBA developed a good relationship with the Bayfield County Forest, so the approval process there was relatively painless. Telemark Resort abuts several square miles of county forest, and thus was the logical place to continue the trail building initiative.
With the help of many volunteers, the boys from the Prentice House and several CAMBA Trail Camp programs, a total of 11 miles of totally new trail was laid out and built entirely by hand over a three-year
period. The Ojibwe Trail starts with a two-mile out and back connector from Telemark Resort and ties into a nine-mile loop for a total of a 13-mile ride. The Ojibwe has several side spurs that connect to existing CAMBA trails to provide bailouts and longer rides in other trails.
The initial reaction to the Ojibwe was interesting. Not having had many previous opportunities with this trail
type, even good riders returned saying, "Man, that's tough." Of course the trail was brand new and had many more rocks, roots and tight turns than the well-worn CAMBA trails of today. Others immediately and enthusiastically embraced the new trail as a much-needed and long-awaited addition.
As the trail tread firmed up from use, the ease with which it could be ridden increased dramatically. As a
cross-country mountain bike trail, the Ojibwe is still regarded as a difficult trail. Fit and experienced riders will find it moderately difficult while novice to intermediate riders will be challenged.
Employing IMBA design standards throughout, there are no fall line hills and few sustained climbs. There are only a couple of real grunts when climbing out of the Namekagon River Valley at Telemark before
looping south toward the Sawyer County line through much of the same terrain as the northernmost segment of the Birkie Trail.
Mitchell Scott of Bike magazine described the Ojibwe Trail as "cross-country perfection … some of the most definition cross-country riding we've seen … this is the soul of mountain biking."
Rock Lake Trail
At the same time the Ojibwe Trail was under construction, efforts were under way to do something about
the deteriorating conditions of the Rock Lake Trail in CAMBA's Namekagon Cluster. Long regarded as one of the most popular places to ride, the Rock Lake Trail was being loved to death.
Originally designed as a cross-country ski trail, the Rock Lake Trail took full advantage of the glacial topography of the area and incorporated many fun and challenging hills. The trail ran straight up and down
the fall line – great fun for skiing but precisely the opposite of what makes a sustainable bike trail.
At the behest of CAMBA, Chequa-megon National Forest Great Divide district assistant ranger Dave Nelson agreed that something needed to be done. He set in motion the necessary environmental assessments, tapped the social and cultural networks and pushed the paperwork needed to create separate
Rock Lake bike and ski trails. The resulting singletrack bike trail proved to be as challenging and fun to ride as the original, but with the bonus of being sustainable.
Nelson, who laid out much of the original Rock Lake ski trail, spent two months wandering the woods and flagging the new bike route. The approval process took nearly three years so that by the time the Ojibwe Trail was completed, CAMBA was ready to tackle the Rock Lake bike trail relocation.
Another three years was spent toiling in the woods, swatting mosquitoes to carve out over 12 miles of independent bike trail. While much of the new trail was hand-built, mechanized "implements of trail construction" were pressed into service.
CAMBA contracted with TrailSource of Minneapolis to help expedite some of the work. TrailSource principals Tim Wegner and Dale Gundberg utilized small walk-behind mini-excavators to create a
40-inch-wide trail tread. While slightly wider than what one might perceive as singletrack, additional machinery was used to finish off the up-and-down slope edges and allow them to revegetate. TrailSource has worked extensively on the Lebanon Hills trails in the Twin Cities area using these machines.
Over the past three summers, construction advanced on the Rock Lake Trail with new loops being phased
in. The Glacier Trail, which also originated from the Rock Lake Trailhead, was similarly rerouted and removed from the ski trail.
While there were skeptics that the new Rock Lake Trail would be as fun to ride as the original, pessimism soon evaporated. Steve Ashley, a regular rider of the old Rock Lake Trail, made almost weekly visits from his Glenwood City, Wisconsin, home. While the trail was still under construction he offered this feedback.
"I was concerned, at first, that the trail was going to be way too technical (like the Ojibwe at Telemark). I would have to say that my initial concerns are no longer relevant," Ashley wrote to CAMBA. "If this newest construction is an example of what is to come, then you and your people deserve commendation. There is no doubt that Rock Lake will be better than ever."
A major push last summer also included the construction of about three miles of what CAMBA calls "easy
riding" singletrack. This trail type is intended to be slightly wider and less technically difficult. To construct these trails, a small bulldozer cut the initial tread that was finished with hand tools.
The final three-mile loop of the new Rock Lake bike trail was completed last summer and fall. Named the Hildebrand Loop for the pristine wilderness lake around which it circles, this is one of the most beautiful and
challenging trails in the CAMBA system. Bench cuts across steep side hills give the illusion of an area far more mountainous. Riders peer through giant lakeside pine trees 75 feet below.
Consistent with the IMBA trail design concept of creating "stacked" loops (where the farthest loop from the trailhead is the most difficult to filter out less experienced riders), the Hildebrand Loop has far more technical features than any other CAMBA trail – some natural, some contrived.
John Leighton, a CAMBA board member and enthusiastic trail volunteer, was responsible for installing most of the technical aspects. The features include tight weaving lines through rock gardens, rock bridges over low areas, multiple uphill lifts, rock drops of 12, 18 and 24 inches, multiple tiered steps and camel-back dips and humps.
"All of these features have good sight lines and you can see them well down the trail so you can prepare," Leighton assures riders.
Though the Rock Lake bike trail relocation project has officially been completed, discussions and planning are already under way to refine some sections.
"The previous district ranger was somewhat averse to disturbing the soil," Dave Nelson said. As a result, two to three miles of trail was sited on old woods roads. It is hoped that the trail will eventually be moved from these roads to an old ski trail. The fine-tuning will also include separating sections of trails in the
Namekagon Cluster from snowmobile trails and two-track roads that are not as sustainable or desirable.
What's next?
After seven years of singletrack trail development, CAMBA now turns its attention to the Hayward Cluster.
The Hayward Cluster had become problematic. With a large amount of road-based and two-track trails, the quality of riding was unsatisfactory for many riders. In addition, many of the roads have been widened and have become too sandy.
As ATV riding has increased in recent years, so has the potential for user conflicts. While actual conflicts have been relatively minimal, it is widely understood that separate motorized and non-motorized trails are more desirable for both safety and ideological reasons.
More importantly, ATV use has resulted in significant degradation of the trails in many places. The damage has been extensive enough in many cases to render the trails unpleasant to ride at best and dangerous at worst.
Wanting to offer an alternative to the superhighwaywide town roads, New Moon Bike Shop owner Steve Morales began a project to bypass this area with singletrack. The resulting Sugarbush Trail is about three miles of technical singletrack.
The Hayward Cluster does not yet offer a comparable amount of quality singletrack as its northern neighbors, so it remains at a distinct competitive disadvantage as a mountain biking destination within the CAMBA trail system.
There are efforts under way that may change this. At its May 3 meeting, the Sawyer County Forestry Committee approved CAMBA's proposal to launch the first phase of what is expected to be a multiyear effort to create new singletrack trails from near Fish Hatchery Park north to County Trunk OO beginning with an approximate 8-mile loop at Hatchery Park north to Mosquito Brook. CAMBA's vision is to follow this with a 12-mile loop from Mosquito Brook north and another 9-mile loop to County OO.
The Hayward singletrack initiative is a bold effort to inject quality singletrack riding opportunities in the Hayward area and create a cluster on par with other CAMBA clusters. Construction on the first phase of the initiative is expected to begin this month.
In its annual report card rating the state of mountain biking across the country, IMBA cited the development of new singletrack in the Chequamegon area as "Phat," a plus for the state when compiling its overall rating.
There's no question that singletrack trail development in CAMBA country will continue. How much more depends on land managers' attitudes and abilities to manage and fund these projects.
Not unlike CAMBA's first foray into trail development in the early 1990s, the current singletrack trail-building efforts demonstrate that the organization is not afraid to take on large and challenging projects in the interest of improving off-road biking opportunities in the Chequamegon area.
For more information about CAMBA or to learn how you can make a financial contribution to the CAMBA Single Track Development Fund, visit www.cambat rails.org.
Ron Bergin is executive director of the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association, race director for the Cable Area Off Road Classic mountain bike race, coordinator of the NORWISKI cross-country ski program and in his spare time publishes Cross-Country Skier magazine.
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