I feel like I need to address what’s going on at Standing Boy the next month or so (hopefully we’ll be open by early September and the worries contained in this post will be behind us).

As you probably saw in the paper, RJ Ripper (see here) is riding out there this weekend with some NICA kids and the people that have most consistently come to trail workdays.  I asked some people to give me input on who’s invited, but I’m sure the list is not perfect.  I apologize for that.

In order to do the ride, I had go back and forth with DNR and get a permission letter that stipulates the conditions of the ride (including a limit on the number of riders).  I also had to work through things with Trail Solutions, who had concerns.  I’m also really nervous about parking (cause there ain’t hardly any right now).  But, Trees Columbus (who puts on the film festival) has had my back on this project for years, and now it’s my turn to have theirs.  I’m more than happy to do that for them, because that’s how partnerships/friendships work.

Beyond that, I have an understanding with DNR and Trail Solutions that I can take people out there to ride for the purpose of helping raise the rest of the funds we need to complete Phase 2.  

The goal for phase 2 includes, in order of importance, segments:

• 13-16 (portion of outer blue loop)
• 6, 7 (climb and green gravity)
• 8, 9, and 12 (some of inner blue and rest of outer blue)
• 18 (blue gravity, but we have to get a team of sawyers to deal with tornado damage first)

Total cost for all that is $800,000 (not including the sawyers).

I’m currently signing a contract for 13-16 only.  We’re going to have about $300K left after Phase 1, and segments 13-16 alone cost about $450K (it’s a lot of mileage).

Committing with only a $150K shortage is less of a pinch-squeeze that I’ve run on this project in the past, but I’m trying to decrease rather than increase the amount of sleep I lose over this project.  While I think we can raise a lot more than $150K this fall, I don’t want to make a promise to my friends at Trail Solutions that rests on raising more than that.

The main purpose of the contract is to go ahead and get on their construction schedule before they get booked up.  It will also allow them to achieve some costs savings by planning further in advance.  Hopefully, we will keep amending the contract to add more trail as we raise more money.  The green climb and green gravity are $150K, and I really, really want to get those done in early 2020.

All that is to say that I’m not out there joyriding and treating it like my own personal trail system.  I’m normally taking people that have not mountain biked very much at all, but that can help me find the money for Phase 2 if they get excited about the project.  Often, I’m not even on a bike.  I’m walking the trails with people that don’t ride and aren’t yet ready to try it out.

I desperately want to get the trail system open to everyone, if only for selfish reasons.  Right now, there is nothing more fun than seeing the smiles and hearing the comments when people see the trails.

Trail Solutions is building back towards the parking lot.  I am pushing hard on signage, kiosk, etc. so that we can open the trails as soon as they connect to the parking lot.  I am really anxious and excited for everyone to be able to ride.  The second I am able to do so, I’ll put out the word to come ride.

Unfortunately, until then there are a number of reasons I have to insist everyone stay off the trails.  DNR has not given us permission to open the trails, and we don’t want to damage the relationship and trust I’ve worked so hard to build over the past few years.  Those trails are still a construction zone, and Trail Solutions has OSHA and insurance issues they have to deal with (that’s why the guys wear hardhats while cutting roots with clippers in the 95 degree heat).  Also, there is no parking currently.

Small game season is getting ready to open, which means DNR and hunters are going to be out there at even more random times.  And, DNR is walking the trails pretty regularly to monitor construction and progress.  I really, really don’t need a DNR officer coming across you illegally riding the trails or a hunter snapping a picture and sending it up to Atlanta.  Also, if you’re parked on Old River Road (or in back of Green Island) I’m going to get a text from the neighbors (I’ve asked, and it’s going to include a tag number).  Not only is it going to be really unpleasant to have to call people out, it’s also going to take time and energy away from raising the funds for Phase 2.  Please, please, please don’t make me get these texts and phone calls.

I expect a lot of people will think this post was a bad idea, but I prefer being transparent and hope that transparency will encourage people to stay off the trails.  Once the trails are open, there’s going to be a lot of ways for everyone to pitch in (and everyone is going to need to pitch in).  However, until the trails are open, by far the most important thing you can do to help me make all this a reality is to stay off the trails.  I know it’s tempting, and I really appreciate your discipline and patience.

The Trail Solutions guys have been hard at work building trail since early June.  We are still on schedule to open segments 1 – 5 this year, with a portion opening sometime in early September.  I am really, really, really excited to have some completed and open trail.

UNTIL THE TRAILS ARE OFFICIALLY OPEN, PLEASE STAY OFF THE TRAILS.  They are still a construction area, using uncompacted trails can damage them (longer until completion; more costly to construct), and DNR has not officially sanctioned opening of the trails (please don’t damage the relationship we have worked so hard to build by being selfish and impatient).  Thank you!

I took a bad fall off the bike May 30th and ended up having surgery on my leg.  I’m pretty healed up now, but it slowed down some of the “administrative stuff.”  The final, 100% approved Master Plan is up on the website and the trail map has been updated (no significant changes).  I am waiting on a contract to build more beginning January 2020.  I have several fundraising meetings coming up over the next few weeks.  More on that soon.

Thanks for everyone’s continued interest and support!

My apologies for the long silence.  I promise you we’ve been working.  As we head into construction of the trails, the final fundraising push, and activating users, we’ll provide much more frequent updates here and on social media.

Trail Solutions came down shortly after the tornado damage.  While it was bad in some areas, it’s thankfully not going to require any substantial reroute of the trail corridors that had already been flagged.  A few weeks ago, DNR closed on a salvage contract with a timber company to come get all of the downed timber.  This is a very positive development, as much of that downed timber would have been expensive and dangerous to remove with chainsaws as part of trail construction.

We’re pretty much there on the environmental and archeological surveys.  Trail Solutions was in town this past week for the Georgia Trails Conference and looked at the only small reroute that will be required for the beginner trails (moving a small, couple hundred yard segment of trail a little bit uphill).  Other than that, the only issue worth mentioning is some sensitive habitat at the end of segment #17.  That can be rerouted as well, and we’ll address it in the fall.

I have the contract in hand for the construction of segments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.  #1 is the kids/super-beginner trail and then #2-5 will form what is known as a lasso or lollipop.  It will be around 6 miles of beginner trail.

I’ve got the contract out to the Steering Committee, Fund Advisors, and DNR for comments and hope to sign the middle of next week.  Trail Solutions is in Anniston, AL right now and will be coming down after they finish there.  They should be here end of this month or early June, and hopefully these segments will be complete by early- to mid-July.  The Fund has the money to pay for the construction of these segments.

It remains the goal to build the other 19 miles of trail this fall and early 2020, but that’s going to require more fundraising.  We need $1.75 million and have around $750K (many thanks to those that have already contributed).  Once I get the Master Plan this coming week, we are going to begin the final fundraising push (and we’ll start updating the thermometer on the homepage).  The Master Plan will not affect the layout of the trails.  It is essentially a 30 to 40ish-page document that addresses technical specifications, maintenance, and management.  I’m confident it’s going to be an impressive document and help with fundraising.

Thanks for everyone’s continued interest and support.

More green trails like this, except a lot more and even better.  And lots and lots of kids and beginners riding them.  These little riders are pre-k and 1st grade.

Green, blue, and black are just like ski trails: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

#1 in NE corner is the kids/beginner trail.

The other green trails form a figure eight, with inner and outer loops.

The blue trails also form a figure eight (but it make take a little effort to follow it on the map). The inner loop runs along the ridge, and the outer loop will offer a longer, more remote trail experience.

All of these trails will be designed with hikers, runners, and bikers in mind.

Off of the inner blue loop, there are a number of downhill, bike-optimized blue and black trails.

The Trail Solutions guys are flagging the trail corridors right now and should be done by the end of this week (week of Feb. 10th).  Then it will be on to the environmental and archeological surveys.

Please donate to help make this happen!

Thank you for your interest in Standing Boy Trails!  I promise future posts will be more succinct and do what blogs are supposed to do: provide updates on what’s currently going on.  There’s just a lot that needs to be said in this initial post.

This is Blake Melton.  I am going to post in the first person to make these posts less staid and absolve other supporters of any blame for incorrect or otherwise inadvisable posts.

It is way, way too early for a victory speech, but getting to where we currently are represents a significant milestone that deserves a moment of celebration and thanks.

This project has been a huge part of my life going on four years.  I would have given up long ago and we wouldn’t be where we are now without the support of numerous individuals and organizations.  I would love to thank each and every person and organization individually, but there simply isn’t room.  My apologies to everyone not mentioned by name.

I appreciate Commissioner Mark Williams, Deputy Commissioner Terry West, Rusty Garrison (Director of Wildlife Resources), Michael Roy (Chief Engineer), Wes Robinson (Director of Public and Governmental Affairs), Kevin Kramer (boots on the ground at Standing Boy), and others at the Department of Natural Resources.  My understanding is that our community asked them to do something fairly different and unique with Standing Boy.  They are all busy individuals, and it would have been easy for them to say no and move on to other issues.  I appreciate their listening to what our community wanted and working in partnership with us to make it happen.  They are all good guys I have enjoyed getting to know.

I appreciate Trail Solutions, and especially Rich Edwards and Steve Kasacek.  Without their mission-based, make-the-world-a-better-place approach there is absolutely no way we’d be where we are today.  While it’s true we are paying them for design and construction, we are not paying them for the many, many, many hours they have spent holding my hand, coaching me up, answering my unending emails, and participating in numerous and lengthy conference calls to get us to the design and construction stages.  Similar things can be said about many others at SORBA (both regionally and locally) and IMBA, but there are too many to list.

I appreciate the Chattahoochee Valley Community Foundation, and especially Betsy Covington, for agreeing to establish the Standing Boy Trails Fund.  Betsy’s experience, knowledge, and patience have been invaluable.  Partnering with the CVCF has proved beneficial in ways I didn’t even anticipate and may be the smartest move I’ve made on this whole project.

Thanks to Reggie Luther (of Big Dog Running and Iron Bank fame) at TracSoft for donating his company’s time to build us a basic web page.  As anyone who knows me well can attest, I damn sure didn’t build this thing myself!

Thanking all of the other individuals and organizations listed under the “Community” tab would take up way too much space, but I am deeply grateful to each and every one of them for believing in this idea (and maybe to some extent in me) and taking a risk while this project was in its infancy.  I am especially grateful to the Bradley-Turner Foundation, which pledged $100,000 before we even knew whether we wanted them to pay the grant to the local SORBA chapter, the CVCF, or somewhere else.  Their early support gave us legitimacy and momentum, and without it, this project would have died.

Finally, thanks to my wife Jensen and our five- and six-year-old girls.  They have supported and tolerated my obsession with this project over the past years and graciously accepted the time it has taken away from them.  This past December my oldest told me she wanted to get her friends bike riding lessons for Christmas so they could go mountain biking with her.  I promised her I’d deliver – maybe not in the way she was thinking, but hopefully in a way that’s much bigger.

That is more than enough victory speech for now, because there is much work left to be done.  First of all, we are more than aware that building the trail is just the beginning.  We have to manage it, maintain it, and educate and develop users.  Rest assured we have plans for all those tasks and intend to work just as hard at them as we have at building the trail.  However, none of those issues matter if we don’t have any trail, so we’ll leave them for another day.

Two main hurdles remain to building the trail: (1) finalization of the trail corridors based on environmental and archeological surveys and (2) the ubiquitous issue of funding.

Calling the environmental and archeological surveys a hurdle is really a misnomer because all supporters of this project and Trail Solutions take stewardship of the environment and archeological resources seriously.  Rich and Steve have laid out the trail with awareness of these issues, and they are cautiously optimistic we won’t have any serious problems.  However, there’s no way to be sure until the surveys are actually completed.

If there are issues, it should just involve rerouting sections of the trail.  We’ll know in the next few months.  In the meantime, there’s nothing for any of us to do.  We just need to let the professionals do their jobs and keep our fingers crossed.

The hurdle we need help clearing is funding.  The final master plan with final cost estimates should be in hand within a few weeks.  Our current estimate is a total cost of $1.75M for 25 miles of professionally designed and constructed trail.  This is a lot of money to be sure, but also somewhat of a bargain in comparison to the cost of building other recreational facilities and amenities.  At the time of this post, we have about $700K.  This is a great start, but leaves us a long way to go.

Please take the following actions to support this project:

• Donate. Even if you can’t donate at one of the recognized levels, donate what you can – and please do it now.  If the great mass of folks excited about this project sit back and wait on a handful of foundations and individuals to fully fund the project, the project will fail.
• Spread the Word. Share this website and our Instagram page with everyone you know, might know, once knew, or think you once knew.  Tell them how excited you are about the project and how much you think it will mean to Columbus.  Encourage them to donate.
• Join an Advocacy Group. Use the links on the Donate page to learn more about and join CVA SORBA, the Columbus Road Runners, and the Pine Mountain Trail Association.

Finally, please spend some time perusing the FAQ page and looking at some of the many hyperlinks.  Trails are a topic where a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you!  There are many more worthwhile causes than any of us have time, energy, or money.  Thank you for giving some of your time and energy (and hopefully money!) to this project.