Bike trail builders reach 5-mile mark
Munching on s'mores in front of a campfire, cooling off with a swim on a hot day and exploring the Ice Age National Scenic Trail are three reasons why Hartman Creek State Park is a popular destination this time of year.
Mountain biking can be added to that list, too.
A local group of volunteers has spent the past four years building 5.2 miles of single-trail bike trails in the park's southwest corner. The Cronies Trail Building Crew is taking a break this month to escape the heat and enjoy the trails, which wind through a wooded section of the park that doesn't get much use.
"We wanted more trails to ride in the area instead of having to pack up, haul our bikes and spend all our time driving to get some decent trails to ride," said Wanda Jenson of Waupaca, who helped build a 2.2-mile easy trail that connects to a 3-mile intermediate section.
She is one of about a dozen Cronies members that show up at the park on designated work days to build or maintain the trail system.
Crew member Ann Casamassa also showed up for a recent work day, but for a different reason.
"I'm going to ride today," she said. "It's a rare thing without a trailer full of trail-building tools behind me."
Casamassa works with Darrin Mann, who helped get the project off the ground about five years ago. He's still involved, as is his wife, Amanda.
"I'm an avid cyclist and found out about it through Darrin," Casamassa said. "Years ago, I rode with a local bike club in the park. At that time, there were limited areas that you could ride your bike."
That's not the case anymore, although it wasn't easy.
The group completed a little more than a mile of trail in 2006 and the 3-mile intermediate stretch took three years to complete.
Plans are under way for another 5 miles, according to Jenson.
"It's a lot of hard work, tearing trees out and cutting trees down," she said. "It was huge, but it went much slower than anticipated. We're making much better progress than we have in the past. We'd be extremely happy having the 10 miles completed and then being able to just ride and maintain the trail."
The crew's members have logged 440 hours on the trail since work began in April.
The Manns know first-hand that word is spreading about the trails.
"On holiday weekends, it's not uncommon for us to see 16 people in one hour," Darrin said. "Even on a slow weekday, you'll run into two or three within an hour. It's very rare to come out here and not see other people riding."
"We want people to know that it's family-friendly," Amanda said. "The first loop is the easy loop and the second loop is more difficult. The easy loop is 2.2 miles and you can branch off onto the intermediate loop, which is another 3 miles. It starts with the easy loop and you can work your way up to the intermediate.
"Cyclists who've been doing it for a long time can get a good ride out of it and I think our goal was to start with the easy (trail) and build up to the more difficult and very difficult," she added. "We're putting a few more obstacles in the loop we're working on now so it's a little harder with more climbing. It's what you want to choose to ride when you come out here."
"It's close to home," Jenson said. "You hop on your bike and go. It's great."
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