Starting on Tuesday, August 6th you will see an increase in heavy equipment activity on the right hand side of Ski Hill Drive as you approach our parking lot. In collaboration with Meadowsend, we are building a new road that will lead to the site of our future Camps Village.
Highland has been partnered with the folks at Meadowsend from our very beginning. Their land stewardship and emphasis on sustainable, environmentally sound forestry practices have been integral to the development of not just our public XC network, but also the downhill park. Both Easy Rider and Meadows End (the trail) are built on property leased from Meadowsend (the company).
WHAT’S HAPPENING:
Recently, Highland purchased 13.3 acres of land from Meadowsend, bringing us one step closer to our goal of building our own on-site lodging facilities to support our summer camps and adult programs and opening the door for future trail development. But before we can break ground on those projects, we need to be able to access the land: for that, we need a road.
The crew from Meadowsend will be building the new access road over the next week or two. Once the road has been cut, they will spend several months harvesting trees on the property. You will likely see equipment and logging trucks coming and going for the remainder of the season.
IMPACT ON XC NETWORK:
In the interest of everyone’s safety, there will be closures on the XC network whenever the Meadowsend crew has machines actively harvesting on the property. This will primarily be on weekdays during morning and work hours, and should not impact evening or weekend rides.
We will do our best to keep the Conditions page updated with XC network closures. When in doubt, err on the side of the posted on-trail signage.
IMPACT ON THE PARK:
We expect that the logging operation will have little to no impact on our regular park operations. There may be a few days with temporary closures on Easy Rider.
Please be mindful of large vehicles pulling onto Ski Hill Drive, and continue to drive slowly, both for safety and out of continued courtesy to our neighbors.
IMPACT ON THE FOREST:
Meadowsend are sustainable tree farmers, known in the industry as responsible foresters with a heavy emphasis on land stewardship and respect for the environment. We have the utmost confidence in their ability to maintain the health and well-being of this land as it is adapted for a new purpose.
WHAT’S NEXT:
In addition to the 13.3 acres purchased this year, we’ve signed a long-term lease on 126 acres for future trail building projects. Owner Mark Hayes calls it “a beautiful template to be able to build trails on.”
First on the to-do list? A dedicated uphill trail! This project has been a long time coming, and we have some exciting ideas for its design and development, including steeper “shortcuts” for e-bikers and those pedalers who like a challenge.
Once the uphill trail is in place we’ll move on to developing more downhill terrain. The character of this area of the mountain will be reminiscent of trails like Easy Rider and Bonesaw—on the narrower side, with a blend of machine-built and natural elements. Terrain difficulty will range from beginner to advanced. The goal is to eventually have 9-10 new trails on that parcel of land, with the first generation built within the next two years.
As far as the Camps Village, there are still years worth of site work to get through before construction can begin. We hope to see the first phase of cabin construction on the property by 2026.
Our existing partnership with Meadowsend—the 400 acres that are home to our XC network—will continue well into the future. Our long-term goal for the XC network (which, if you didn’t already know, is free to the public and accessible from our overflow parking lot!) is to connect Highland’s trails to other local trail systems. We’ll continue developing more XC terrain as part of the Foothills Foundation network and integrate with other nearby properties until we essentially have a free community bike park in the woods.
Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months and years! Thank you for being a part of the Highland Family and making it possible for us to share our passion for mountain biking with so many riders in our community and beyond.
(Side note: already this year you may have seen some heavy equipment and changes to the landscape on your left as you approach our parking lot. We get a fair number of questions about it, but that lot is privately owned property and not associated with Highland. It is not a part of our expansion project.)
