York, PA: New energy, new opportunities

The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew works with the York Area Mountain Bike Association.

Check your head! This culvert adds an element of interest and provides safe passage under the freeway to connect the trails.
The sweet spot: Chris and Hank find the perfect place for a turn - a flatter spot on the hillside with natural rock that can be used for a retaining wall.
Energetic Yorkers tackle full bench cut approaches to a new sustainable turn. Horsemen, hikers and bicyclists of all ages turned dirt together to better the shared use trail.
YAMBA member Hank Smeltzer leads the crew building the rock retaining wall for the insloped turn.
They use existing rock as a foundation.
YAMBA volunteers turned out in droves, ready to get muddy.

July 2004: Wet weather could not dampen the sprits of the York Area Mountain Bike Association, as the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew visited the lush and picturesque York County, PA parks on July 16 - 18.

Jill and Chris spent nine hours assessing several miles of trails with local club leaders and the County Parks land manager. YAMBA has been active in trail maintenance, acting as park ambassadors, and donating money to the County Parks Department. Their efforts have gained them respect from the land manager, who actively works with them to improve trails for all users.

The club faces typical issues in the parks, the primary one being existing maintenance roads that are now fall-line trails. Rerouting and closing problem sections is a priority of both YAMBA and the land manager. The team decided to focus their efforts for the weekend on rerouting an eroded, fall-line turn. While everyone agreed that the section was a problem, some riders had come to view it as a challenge. The Crew therefore wanted to make sure that the reroute was not only sustainable, but more fun and challenging than the old trail.

The solution was to build approximately 450 feet of new, swoopy singletrack, highlighted by a bermed turn to challenge the more advanced riders. The YAMBA members worked tirelessly to complete the bench-cut trail, finally being halted in the late afternoon by a torrential rainstorm that left everyone drenched to the skin. In addition to the mountain bikers who were present, several equestrians and trailrunners also attended the event, and were instrumental in the work effort.

Not to be disappointed by the unseasonably wet weather that also cancelled the group ride, YAMBA took full advantage of the Crew¹s presence and spent several hours in the field on Sunday, conceptually laying out reroutes for two other eroded fall-line turns. When completed, they will provide more than a thousand feet of sustainable new trail that incorporates natural, technical rock challenges, including a three-foot tall drop along an optional line to the main trail.