Disc Golf & Mountain Bike Conflict

[Mocheez]

Please Help! Washington County Parks (Wisconsin) is holding a meeting on January 30th to gauge the level of interest in future Mountain Bike Trails at Heritage Trails County Park.

This is a critical time for potential disc golf expansion into the wooded areas of the park. If we do not act now, Metro Mountain Bikers will take over the wooded areas of the park that were originally staked out and approved for disc golf expansion.

Please do one of the following:

1 Reserve your spot at the meeting by clicking on the following link: Microsoft Forms

OR

2 Send an email to [email protected] and tell them the following:

"I am unable to attend the public meeting on January 30th, please add to the public record that I am in favor of disc golf expansion and improvements ahead of any future mountain bike trails."

 

[biscoe]

You would be better off offering to work with the mountain bikers to determine how to co-exist. Done appropriately they might even get you a course or 2 approved somewhere else down the line.

 

[Mocheez]

You would be better off offering to work with the mountain bikers to determine how to co-exist. Done appropriately they might even get you a course or 2 approved somewhere else down the line.

We tried to work with them to develop a cohesive plan and were ignored. Instead, they pulled strings and had disc golf expansion post-poned. We've been waiting 7 years through budget issues, failed mining projects, and now this.

 

[Innova63]

Please Help! Washington County Parks (Wisconsin) is holding a meeting on January 30th to gauge the level of interest in future Mountain Bike Trails at Heritage Trails County Park.

This is a critical time for potential disc golf expansion into the wooded areas of the park. If we do not act now, Metro Mountain Bikers will take over the wooded areas of the park that were originally staked out and approved for disc golf expansion.

Please do one of the following:

1 Reserve your spot at the meeting by clicking on the following link: Microsoft Forms

OR

2 Send an email to [email protected] and tell them the following:

"I am unable to attend the public meeting on January 30th, please add to the public record that I am in favor of disc golf expansion and improvements ahead of any future mountain bike trails."

I assume Mark and Josh will be speaking at this meeting.

 

[Mocheez]

I assume Mark and Josh will be speaking at this meeting.

Josh will be there. Mark would rather not be involved as there are a lot of hard feelings. On a league night, we watched the mountain bike club enter a wooded area with an excavator building bike trails over proposed fairways.

 

[Monocacy]

It is a shame when mountain bikers and disc golfers are at odds. I have seen parks where the two activities coexist seamlessly.

 

[Mocheez]

It is a shame when mountain bikers and disc golfers are at odds. I have seen parks where the two activities coexist seamlessly.

That's what we wanted from the start. What are the names of the parks?

 

[elmexdela]

i like the coexist idea

tbh wi has waaaay moar dg than mtb and wi mtb is lacking

plenty of places have intersecting hikin/bikin trails with dg weaved in

 

[ru4por]

I my experience, disc golfers end up player second fiddle to most proposed park activities. You will need professional leadership, strong presentations and the ability to show deep participation numbers and club presence. Mountain bikers seem to have these in many areas. I have found that success in getting disc golf courses in the ground, is a ration of many no's to yes's. Hang in there and fight the fight.

 

[Monocacy]

That's what we wanted from the start. What are the names of the parks?

Seneca Creek and Patapsco Valley State Parks in MD, and Freedom Center - Clark's Run in VA jump to mind. Seneca Creek did a particularly nice job because the disc golf course and mountain bike trails cross at least twice, but crossings occur on the walks between holes.

Good luck!

 

[elmexdela]

mtb typically have moar money and usually moar money means moar political power

just hope to hell that the horse riders dont want their piece of the pie too

 

[ru4por]

mtb typically have moar money and usually moar money means moar political power

just hope to hell that the horse riders dont want their piece of the pie too

Or dog parks, pickleball, horseshoes, bocce ball, RC cars, geocachers, bird watchers, basketball, skate boarders.......

 

[biscoe]

mtb typically have moar money and usually moar money means moar political power

just hope to hell that the horse riders dont want their piece of the pie too

Horse riders are far and away the hardest to co-exist with. Nothing else even close.

 

[Mocheez]

mtb typically have moar money and usually moar money means moar political power

just hope to hell that the horse riders dont want their piece of the pie too

This is true. They have all sorts of heavy equipment on site while I am digging out teepads with a shovel and pick axe.

Haha! A horse farm borders the property and they complain about the bike trails all the time.

 

[Countchunkula]

I was never into MTB, but all the BMX trails around here were unsanctioned and largely built by kids using borrowed tools. Using heavy equipment is cheating.

 

[biscoe]

Seneca Creek and Patapsco Valley State Parks in MD, and Freedom Center - Clark's Run in VA jump to mind. Seneca Creek did a particularly nice job because the disc golf course and mountain bike trails cross at least twice, but crossings occur on the walks between holes.

Good luck!

Walnut Creek is one of the hotbeds of mountain biking in Virginia. Fortunately there is a ton of space there so plenty of room to avoid it for the most part. There are more issues with walkers than mountain bikers as the park has grown busier over the years. I am pretty sure that I wouldn't use holes 17 and 18 if i were putting that course in today.

At Forest Valley I met with the mountain bike trail designer multiple times and we had productive give and take with both of us winding up relatively happy. The mountain biking has not to this point come to fruition there but it will not be an issue when it does.

I hope it will lead to a relationship where we can work together other places. We both want the same type of land to a large degree and the 2 activities can be made to work pretty seamlessly if approached that way from the get go. Parks departments want to see their land used more so the ability to say "we can do this in conjunction with that" is a solid selling point as well.

Dealing with pre-existing trails is harder. I worked my arse off trying to avoid trails at Clark's Run.

Losing space pre-ordained for disc golf to another activity is another beast entirely. At the heart of things it is all about relationships between individuals representing the various interests and when personnel changes on any side of it so do knowledge of the situation and expectations for it. From the sound of things there are already bad feelings there.

@Mocheez - is disc golf on the Master Plan for the park?

 

[Mocheez]

We have had an 18-hole disc golf course since 2015 but at the time it was installed, the forestry manager would not allow any activities in the wooded areas. So it was installed mostly in open fields with the main challenge being elevation (which is utilized nicely) and avoiding the prairie grass that lines the fairways (lots of wild parsnip and stinging nettles).

in 2017, the parks manager proposed 9 hole expansion into the wooded areas on the north side of the park to add much needed variety. Installation was delayed due to budget changes and then a failed mining project. The MTB club came on the scene in 2019 and both activities were to be installed concurrently. However the parks manager left for another job and the MTB club took advantage of the transition and gobbled up all the land they could while we patiently waited to see their plans.

They have built some amazing trails but it's going to be very difficult to incorporate disc golf into any available space as their trails look like an NOAA hurricane spaghetti model. There is still some room for 4-5 wooded holes on the north side of the park and that's ultimately what is going to be decided in the upcoming meeting.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Meyer Broadway in Three Rivers, MI has both world class Disc Golf and mountain biking that intertwine quite a bit. We respect each other, and I've never heard of a problem.

 

[GeezerGolfDFW]

I will not play in a park with Mountain bikes. They are dangerous. I have played at a park in Fort Worth with bikers and was almost run over a number of times. Walkers probably say the same about us.

 

[Shallows]

Gateway in DFW is a great example of a combination Mountain Bike and DG course. They've designed it so you're never throwing across the bike routes, you only cross them
While walking between holes.