[ocnLogan]

This is a PSA, and honestly a bit of a plea for help.

I want anyone/everyone interested to take the county survey (included below), to help increase their awareness on the number of mountain bikers in the park.

What the survey is for:

Lord Hill is getting redesigned/updated in 2020, with the potential for more trails, and better signage.

Lord Hill is a multi-use park. It features hiking trails, biking trails, as well as equestrian trails. At all of the public meetings, the equestrians vastly outnumber all the other user groups (3 or 4 to 1), and their collective sentiment is fairly negative towards cyclists (and especially towards any gravity focused riding).

Making sure the county is aware that the cyclists are a large user group, and also highly involved, I'd LOVE for anyone who has ridden, plans to ride, or maybe even just "might" ride Lord Hill to take the survey, to make sure we're adequately represented.

Link to the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GD97SDL

Link to the proposed redesign plans/maps:

One question asks about plans 1, 2, and 3. Plan 1 is more trails for everyone but intermixed, plan 2 is more trails for everyone, but separated (ie, biking only area, equestrian only area, etc), and plan 3 is no new trails, no changes to current.

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/5456/Lord-Hill-Regional-Park-2020-Master-Plan

As an FYI, I'm not affiliated with anyone/any group. I'm just a normal guy, local to Lord Hill, trying to make sure my closest riding area stays open to mountain bikers, so I don't have to drive an hour+ to places like Duthie, Raging river, etc.

Thanks all .

 

[Tarekith]

Done.

 

[EvergreenIan]

Thanks for posting this! EVERYONE should take just a few minutes to fill this out..

 

[jason_moll23]

Done, and yes thanks for creating the post and providing the link. Let's all take 5 minutes and get this filled out. LH can be so much better for the MB community

 

[jdusto]

Done.

 

[TFitz]

Done, and thanks ocnLogan.

 

[chopyourown]

I've never ridden Lord Hill, but am fairly local and am happy to take the survey. I'd like to ride there in the future. I've seen this same post in lots of places, but the one thing I haven't seen is anyone offering a concise perspective on which of the proposed alternative plans is most beneficial to mountain bikers. I did some quick research into the plans yesterday, and it looks like under both Alternative 1 and Alternative 2, bikes would lose access to a number of existing trails. Alternative 2 seems worse for losing trails (as in, more access lost)... but maybe it has more opportunity to build new, better, bike specific trails? So what i'm saying is, I'm happy to be helpful, but having not ridden here, I don't want to add my voice to a survey in favor of closing bike access to someone's favorite trail. Thoughts?

 

[ocnLogan]

I've never ridden Lord Hill, but am fairly local and am happy to take the survey. I'd like to ride there in the future. I've seen this same post in lots of places, but the one thing I haven't seen is anyone offering a concise perspective on which of the proposed alternative plans is most beneficial to mountain bikers. I did some quick research into the plans yesterday, and it looks like under both Alternative 1 and Alternative 2, bikes would lose access to a number of existing trails. Alternative 2 seems worse for losing trails (as in, more access lost)... but maybe it has more opportunity to build new, better, bike specific trails? So what i'm saying is, I'm happy to be helpful, but having not ridden here, I don't want to add my voice to a survey in favor of closing bike access to someone's favorite trail. Thoughts?

Glad to see that you've run into this survey more than just here!

Currently, "most" of the mountain bike trails are in the north western/central area of the park. This is where upper/lower springboard, as well as goldeneye/third eye and wishbone are, which appear to be the most popular trails in the area.

About the proposed plans:
​

I specifically tried to not influence anyones choices, so you're right, there wasn't much "content" here on the differences between plans 1 and 2. One thing that the survey doesn't really make clear, is that BOTH plans 1 and 2 will mean more new trails for all user groups.

Its worth mentioning that Plan 1 still has biking only trails, even though that is the "shared use" plan. And it also looks like we lose Ear therapy in this plan. It looks like its going to be hiker only no matter what.

Plan 2, while separating the user groups, does still have multi use trails. So trails like Easy 8, and Red Barn would still be accessible to bikers, even though its outside of the "biking zone".

However, you were correct. This plan does mean we would lose a few trails though. Primarily Temple Pond loop, and Ear therapy from what I can tell, plus a connector trail (Pipeline connector trail).

Public Sentiment:

From what I can tell, most equestrians are in favor of plan 1, and most mountain bikers seem to be in favor of plan 2.

From their comments at the meeting, the equestrians said this because plan 2 would initially decrease the mileage of trails they have, and would have to construct more of them, and they feel that it is possible that due to env studies/etc, these promised new trails may not be completed, thus limiting their trail access.

Mountain bikers seem to prefer plan 2, as it keeps access to the most popular trails, we will get an unspecified number of additional trails, and should have reduced conflict with other user groups (ie, less likely to have hikers hiking up a downhill only mountain biking trail).

I am personally more in favor of plan 2, as I've had a few negative experiences with equestrians on the trail, and on occasion I've also had a few horses/hikers appear unexpectedly going the wrong way on 1 way cycling only trails. Plus, all the trails that would be biking specific would be built in the same general area, making it easier to navigate/do laps.

That said, both the proposed plans increase our total mountain bike trail mileage, so neither are "bad".

Thanks again for the help everyone, I really appreciate it. The mountain bikers were really under-represented in person, but I'm hoping our efforts here are letting them know how many of us use this park, and what our preferences are.

The survey closes August 8th.

 

[burkawitz206]

Done, also sent it to some folks that I know that live in the area and ride there.