charlottesville area mountain bike club

Hike vs. bike: Council will likely let them ride

Senior citizens who enjoy quiet but challenging hikes are only accommodated in one place in Charlottesville and all of Albemarle County, according to former mayor Kay Slaughter. And that’s Ragged Mountain Natural Area, where three out of five city councilors say mountain biking and trail running should be allowed—which would make the vicinity a little less peaceful.

“Ragged Mountain is one of two natural areas,” says Slaughter, who has been hiking there since the trail system was completed in the late ’90s. “For those who want [them], more than 70 miles of bicycle trails currently exist in other county and city parks.”

Several people voiced the same grievances at a December 5 City Council meeting, in which the public heard the first of two readings of a draft ordinance to lift the ban on biking and running at Ragged Mountain and 35 signed up to comment. A conclusion to the ongoing controversy draws nearer—the final reading is scheduled for December 19.

Dave Hirschman, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, says his group has spent some time hiking and boating at Ragged Mountain—“not biking or taking any dogs, of course”—and consulting with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s natural heritage program.

“One of the things that some of the board members pointed out is that even though there are various opinions, there’s a great deal of common ground,” he said. “When it did come time to take votes, there was one unanimous vote, and that was to allow hiking, trail running, fishing and boats with electric motors or no motors.”

However, he said opinions varied on details of the proposed ordinance and the board decided on a few limitations: To the extent possible, the trails for hiking and mountain biking should be separate, though all biking trails should also be open for hiking. On very narrow and steep single track trails, there should be no shared use. And biking should not be allowed from the natural area’s dam to the pontoon bridge nor around the southwest corner of the property.

The last restriction is troubling to those in the mountain biking community, which wants the ability to bike an entire loop around Ragged Mountain’s perimeter.

President of the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club Sam Lindblom says allowing bikers in the southern area near the floating bridge would disperse them away from the majority of hikers who may not want to be in the same vicinity as the cyclists. He submitted a CAMBC-approved shared-use map to council for consideration.

“It makes sense to allow cyclists to quickly move towards the west and south side trails where only a small percentage of walkers will venture to,” he wrote in an accompanying letter, adding that without a loop trail, bikers will be restricted to the northeast corner where the majority of hikers concentrate. Hikers rarely use the floating bridge, he says, because it’s a long hike from the parking lot, next to the noisy interstate and down a steep gravel road that could be designed safer for bikers.

Former mayor Slaughter says this southern area is also an “ecological hot spot,” an area of great concern for the plant populations, which a city-ordered biostudy previously noted. Though it seems like bike approval at Ragged Mountain is a foregone conclusion, she says a landscape architect should have a hand in mapping which trails will support shared-use.

“I don’t think I should come in and design the trails, either,” she says. “I think it’s arrogant for any group to think they can do that. I believe that it should be a professional with some kind of oversight from people who have looked at this long and hard.

See full map below. Click to enlarge.

If approved, hikers and bikers will have access to 13 miles of trails at Ragged Mountain Natural Area. City of Charlottesville

Pedal to the metal: Advocates want bikes at Ragged Mountain

“It embarrasses me that some outdoors people feel that there are others who are not ‘pure enough,’” wrote avid trail hiker of 50 years, John Pfaltz, in a letter to C-VILLE the day after Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2 to table the decision on whether a prohibition on cyclists, runners and dogs would be lifted at Ragged Mountain Natural Area.

Pfaltz has made an annual hiking trip to Douthat State Park, where mountain biking and training is encouraged, for the last eight years, and says the cyclists have been invariably courteous and friendly.

“I’m sure a few are not, but I have not met them,” he adds.

Acknowledging that biking may damage a trail, Pfaltz says, “I can understand people wanting to [preserve] nature,” but, he adds “it keeps people out.” He also acknowledges hiking could damage a trail.

Sam Lindblom, president of the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club, also believes everyone should be given the chance to experience nature, and he says the “epidemic” of people not getting outside contributes to poor health.

“We also know that if we want people to care about natural places, then they have to go there. They have to visit and experience them,” Lindblom says. “People tend to care about places they frequent.”

To make Ragged Mountain more accessible, Lindblom, who is also a longtime member of the Nature Conservancy, says his biking club supports the development of sustainable, shared-use trails, which could be made environmentally responsible with proper planning and by avoiding sensitive areas.

But, for some, any human activity at the natural area is too much.

“It is broadly accepted that there is a tier of disturbance to naturally sensitive areas,” City Councilor Dede Smith says.

Smith, who voted to table the decision, is opposed to lifting the ban on recreational use and believes it should be enforced further.

“It’s not a new principle to say that walking paths have the least impact [on the environment],” she says, “but yes, some areas should be off-limits, period. And that is where we need to focus our attention now.”

Preserving drinking water at Ragged Mountain is one of the main reasons Smith is apprehensive about allowing recreational activity at that location—the area has a two-square-mile watershed due to its “bowl-like” topography, she says.

“Anything bad that happens on that land, including a lot of dog poop and erosion, will end up in our drinking water,” Smith says.

For 14 years, Smith ran the Ivy Creek Foundation, which managed the Ragged Mountain Natural Area until September, when the land was transferred to the city after the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority built the new dam.

Out of 13 parks in the county, where Ragged Mountain Natural Area is located, six allow mountain biking. If it were to be allowed at Ragged Mountain, only one other park, Charlotte Yancey Humphris Park, would be reserved for passive recreation. Other parks allow a slew of activities including hiking, swimming, fishing and horseback riding, with access to grills, picnic shelters and playgrounds. Both Ragged Mountain and Charlotte Yancey Humphris are shared city-county parks.

Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Manager Doug Ehman says it’s going to be awhile before a decision is made, but he’s aiming for next summer. The city’s trails planner, Chris Gensic, plans to inform the City Planning Commission of the results of an environmental study by June. After the commission’s recommendation, the ordinance will go back to City Council for the official vote.