Club News: Southeast

IMBA Trail News
Volume 14, Number 4
Fall 2001

Drawing more than 100,000 visitors a year, the 1,043-acre Oleta River State Recreation Area in North Miami, Florida, has become the Southeast's most popular mountain biking destination. Info: www.abfla.com/parks/OletaRiver/oletariver.html.

The recent IMBA Epic celebration held at DuPont State Forest in North Carolina attracted more than 70 riders/trailworkers - making it the largest in the program's three-year history. The DuPont Forest features 93 miles of some of the most varied terrain anywhere. The Epic ride included 33 miles of rolling Appalachian singletrack and doubletrack and a number of surprises. Epic participants rode eastern granite slickrock, and behind a waterfall featured in the 1992 film "Last of the Mohicans." Check out Epic highlights at imba.com.

The entire Ouachita Trail in Arkansas is now open for riding. The trail runs 137 miles across the Ozark Mountains. If the Ouachita is anything like the nearby IMBA-designated Epic route Womble Trail, it will be a must ride for any mountain biker.

Speaking of the Womble: kudos go out to the Hot Springs Bicycle Association for all their hard work on the trail this year. The Womble Trail was hit hard by winter ice storms, resulting in heavy damage and deadfall, but the group's work ensured that the trail was open and clear by summer. The Womble Trail now faces a new threat in the form of a proposed camp that would bisect the trail. IMBA clubs and staff submitted official comment letters objecting to the location of the camp; a decision is pending. For more info visit the Action Alert section of the IMBA website.