“There’s kind of a race to make sure we get it done and opened and that they can have a great ribbon cutting ceremony and bring her out to try out [the trail],” said Aaron Steele, President & Senior Project Manager of Tailored Trails. “I mean, obviously, she’s 97.”
The woman Steele is referring to is Anne L. Styles, who donated a 120-acre parcel of land to Dawson County, Georgia, explicitly for the construction of a natural park with walking and biking trails o it. The parcel, which had been in the Styles family for many decades, was donated to the county in 2022. Dawson County is now following through with the construction of multi-use hiking and biking trails.
Dawson County’s first bike-optimized trails are being built in Styles Park
The land, which is now known as “Styles Park,” will soon be home to the first bike-optimized trails in Dawson County. While nearby Dawson Forest technically has some bike-legal singletrack in it, the historic trails there are disjointed, hard to follow, and often rutted.
In contrast, the trails being built in Styles Park will be flowy, bike-optimized singletrack. While technically, the 4.5-mile singletrack loop is indeed multi-use, it’s being built with mountain bikes in mind.
“The trail is going to be mostly beginner-friendly, but not vanilla — kind of a flowing cross country trail,” said Steele. The trail will include plenty of “rollable features,” such as rollers and berms, but there won’t be any jumps.
In addition to the trail development at the park, Dawson County is constructing a trailhead facility with a gravel parking lot, restrooms, benches, and picnic tables.
Styles Park will be a massive boon to local youth mountain bikers, who currently have to travel to ride
Dawson County is home to a Georgia Cycling Association youth mountain biking team, and since the team’s founding in 2020, they’ve had to travel to neighboring counties to train. While many counties surrounding Dawson offer great trails, “we must travel outside of our beautiful county that has significant potential to not only provide our local team, who has been using other county trails since 2020, a trail system, but any other cyclist in our area an opportunity for an outlet for improving quality of life,” said Mark Legaspi, Programs Director for the Georgia Cycling Association and Head Coach of the Dawson County team. Legaspi was also on the original team that proposed the Styles Park trail plan to the county for approval.
Once Styles Park is complete, the local kids will have the perfect trail on which to practice and train. “We’re trying to build it in the same way that we would build other NICA trails, even though this wasn’t designated to be a NICA trail,” said Steele.
“We will have a place to call home and expose our county to the great sport of mountain biking,” Legaspi added.
“We, of course, focus on health and wellness in our development program, and having a trail in our own backyard can lead to more students on bikes,” Legaspi continued. “That has a far-reaching impact as that could result in family members [trying] out a sporting activity that can last a lifetime.”
A trail for Ms. Styles
In addition to the 4.5-mile singletrack loop, Tailored Trails is also building a 0.5-mile paved, ADA-accessible loop near the parking lot inspired by Ms. Styles. The residents of Dawson County want to give Styles a chance to experience the woodlands she donated, creating a lasting legacy for the Styles family and the residents of Dawson County.
Steele expects the trails to be finished by the beginning of June, with a grand opening in mid-June.
And, of course, Ms. Styles’ first “ride” on her trails.
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