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S

Hickory City/Geitner-Rotary Park

Mountain Bike Trail Improvement Project

Our Goal

S Make Hickory City/Geitner-Rotary Park a mountain bike riding destination for mountain bikers in Central & Western North Carolina

Our Goal

S  The Northwest North Carolina Mountain Bike Alliance (Alliance), a chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) seeks to adopt the trails at Hickory City Park.

S  With the help of our local members in the Hickory area, we want to bring the trails up to standard through a complete redesign and rebuild of the trails. We hope to arrive at an agreement with the City on the following general proposal and with this we’d like to start planning and fundraising to make this happen!

Why Update/Improve the Existing Trail?

S  The Current Trails are: S  Outdated

S  Eroded

S  Poorly Signed

S  Not Beginner Friendly S  Inferior to Other Trails in the Area

Existing Trail in the Area

S  Belmont S  USNWC (~15mi)

S  Boone S  Rocky Knob Bike Park (~7mi)

S  Gastonia S  Poston Park (~9mi)

S  Lenoir S  Zack’s Fork Trail (~3mi)

S  Newton S  Jacob Fork Park (~2.25mi)

S  Troutman S  LNSP (~25+mi)

S  Wilkesboro S  Dark Mountain S  OVT S  Warrior Creek (total ~ 25+mi)

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Potential Benefits for The City

An Appalachian State University economic impact study conducted by the College of Business and the Recreation Management Program in 2013 found the park contributed an estimated $2.8 million to the local economy that year alone.

In 2014, Rocky Knob Park was designated a National Recreation Trail system by the Department of Interior in recognition of the outstanding opportunities for recreation.

Our Plan

S  Hire professional trail builder to completely update trail system

S  Adding new sections of trail S  Updating usable existing trail to current mountain bike standards

S  Provide consistency with an appropriate progression

S  Limit access points to the parking lots

S  Reduce Greenway crossings

S  Obliterate social trails, shortcut trails, and unnecessary connectors

S  Refurbish areas where old trails will be eliminated

Trails Will Co-Exist with the Master Park Plan

S  We hope to work with the city to define the exact area, including a thorough review of the construction boundaries and limits for the Riverwalk project, the parking lot expansion, and other plans.