U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and IMBA Initiate New Trail System in Southern Alabama

Welcome to Lake Claiborne - After IMBA's great weekend visit, we wouldn't be surprised if the Corps added a bike symbol to their welcome sign.
Visit host Roy Ellis, USACE, and IMBA's Scott Linnenburger initiate the bench cut on the new winding trail.
Sweet singletrack starting to take shape.
All IMBA/Corps projects include the local community. Boy Scout Troop #24 of Monroeville made a weekend of the event, attending the IMBA Trailbuilding School, building trail and riding their bikes.

A desire to create an expansive, top-notch trail system inspired the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project at Lake Claiborne to host the International Mountain Bicycling Association's Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew in late February. Mardi Gras festivities nearby didn't prevent a dedicated group of volunteers and Corps staff from embracing the weekend's events and making great things happen. A special thanks to project host Roy Ellis who welcomed the crew and area mountain bicyclists.

The Haines Island and Isaac Creek portions of the Lake Claiborne project have significant recreation potential. The visit drew Corps personnel from Montgomery to Mobile, mountain bicycling volunteers from Pensacola to Mobile, local recreation advocates from Monroeville and representatives of the local chamber of commerce.

After a trailbuilding primer from Trail Care Crew leaders Scott Linnenburger and Aaryn Kay, this diverse group of supporters spent the next two days constructing a new, quarter-mile, winding singletrack trail. To bring two trail systems together, they also opened another three quarter-mile, relict path that connects the new trail with the existing trail system at Haines Island.

Mindful that the project includes almost 1,200 undeveloped acres of bluff-lined, mixed hardwood forest, Ellis said, "Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg for trail-based recreation access at this site. We are looking to put together a number of cooperative partnerships with mountain bike clubs, the Boy Scouts and others to create a substantial trail system, maybe 15 to 20 miles, that provides recreation opportunities to folks from Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and all points between."

The rolling hills offer great trail potential in an area not known for mountain bicycling. The Trail Care Crew helped the group realize the area's potential for trails tourism. After spinning uphill on the new trail, Trail Care Crew member Aaryn Kay huffed, "Isn't Southern Alabama supposed to be flat?"

The Lake Claiborne trail system is one of eight 2003 mountain bicycling pilot trail projects identified by national leaders of the Corps and IMBA last September.