Public land is a limited resource in places like Mankato, Minnesota, leaving trail organizations like the Mankato Area Mountain Bikers (MAMB) with few options for singletrack expansion. Fortunately, a private landowner is providing the acreage to develop six miles of new singletrack.
Despite being built on private land, these new trails will be open to the public. As the six miles are being constructed, MAMB hopes to acquire more land, potentially adding about 10 more miles, which would bring the trail system’s total to 16.
History of the Rockwell Quarry
“They’ve been mining on this site for over a hundred years,” Kyle Kaldor told us. “[Back to] the late 1800s.”
The “site” Kaldor is referring to is the Rockwell Quarry that will eventually house the adventure park. Kaldor works with the construction company that purchased and is currently running mining operations at the Rockwell Quarry. He has stepped into a project management role as the quarry begins to wrap up its final mining operations before transitioning to recreation.
Rockwell has been a primary producer of limestone in the area ever since miners first broke ground there. Initially, the mining operations were smaller, with crews of only a few workers.
Over 100 years later, in 2017, Joe Holtmeier purchased the Rockwell Quarry for his construction business. The decision was easy for Holtmeier’s business. “With their construction company, they do a lot of city utilities and things like that where they need gravel and sand and different aggregates,” Kaldor explained.
As the quarry neared the end of its production capabilities, Holtmeier began brainstorming ideas for what could be done with the land. Ultimately, he wanted to do something that would benefit the community within the recreation space.
“So we’re developing an RV and adventure park with mountain bike trails in a reclaimed limestone quarry,” Kaldor said.
Old quarry, new adventure park
The plan is to turn Rockwell into an outdoor recreation destination. Along with mountain biking trails, Rockwell will offer RV parking with full hookups, as well as tent sites. The site pond will be transformed into a water sports area, featuring a floating obstacle course and cable systems to pull wakeboarders and skiers.
Kaldor also said they are planning to build “free water solo” climbing walls over the pond. No ropes will be required since a fall from the climbing wall will result in a splashdown into the water.
However, the six miles of planned trails may be the most interesting aspect of the Rockwell RV & Adventure Park. These trails, located on private land, will be open to the public.
“The only land [for trail development] that we’ve ever had access to is in the floodplain of the river, and is literally flooded as we speak right now,” Justin Rinehart told us. Rinehart owns Nicollet Bike and Ski in Mankato and is on the board of MAMB.
Although MAMB has been around for over a decade, its trail portfolio is relatively small. This is due in large part to significantly limited access to land upon which to propose and build trails. So, for Rockwell to essentially donate their trails to the community of Mankato is a massive boost for MAMB and Mankato mountain bikers.
Simply put, Rockwell could charge for trail access, but they won’t. And best of all, the quarry is high up and out of the river valley, with no chance of seasonal flooding.
What trails are planned for Rockwell Adventure Park?
Rockwell won’t be the first time Singletracks has covered the reclamation of a quarry for future mountain biking trails. Cities like Colorado Springs are also utilizing old quarries for future recreational purposes. Similarly, other communities have converted old landfills into winding singletrack trails.
But Rockwell will be a little different. Mankato is located in southern Minnesota, where the top several layers of soil are relatively free from rock. This typically results in relatively smooth and flowy trails around the area. But not at Rockwell.
“What’s unique about this property, because it’s a quarry, is the exposed bedrock and rock,” Rinehart told us. “Until you get to northern Minnesota — north of Duluth, or east into the upper peninsula of Michigan — we don’t have really exposed rock anywhere.”
While the exact details on the six miles of trails are still unclear, Kaldor and Rinehart said they expect four or five trails to make up that mileage. The trails will likely be designed as stacked loops connecting one to another, creating a steady flow of progression. Most of the six miles will be on the quarry’s northern side, where a trailhead and a skills area will also be constructed.
“There are plans to put in some cool features,” Rinehart said. “Like one section of the woods on the southern part of the property has some old railroad tracks that are still in the woods. And [Holtmeier’s] the type of guy that reads about Bentonville having one train car, so he ordered three.”
Tentative plans for the rail cars include ladder bridges and jumps incorporated in and onto them, similar to Bentonville’s Railyard. There are also plans to integrate water pumps to create waterfalls along some of the corridors.
Rockwell is consulting with Adam Buck of Pathfinder Trail Building on the design of the trails. For now, they are unsure if Pathfinder will build the trails or remain in a consulting position, since Holtmeier has the machinery to take on the task.
Future plans
Six miles is not the end goal for MAMB or Rockwell. A potential land acquisition was underway as we spoke. If all goes according to plan, Rockwell RV and Adventure Park will actually open with 16 miles of singletrack — six of which are located on the park property, with ten more connected.
Rockwell and MAMB see the transformation of this old mining quarry as a pilot test for trails in the area. And the organizations are thinking long-term, envisioning possibilities 20, 30, even 40 years down the line. If they are successful with the Rockwell RV and Adventure Park, why wouldn’t they try again when another quarry runs out of resources or a dump is full?
“There are a lot of other mines similar to this one that are still actively mined that, at some point, will be done,” Kaldor said. “Even right across the road to the east is eventually going to be mined. So that’s going to probably be a 10 to 20-year project, but once that’s done, maybe we’ll just put a tunnel underneath the road or something.”
Regardless of how it gets done, Rinehart and MAMB are dedicated to providing more singletrack opportunities to the Mankato community and beyond. They are continuing to explore adjacent properties, as they believe this could eventually become a 40 to 50-mile trail system. And they are grateful for partners like the Rockwell RV and Adventure Park, who have the same vision.
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