Wisconsin Resort Drops Bike Park due to Insurance Costs, Big Nevada Trail Network is in the Works

Trail Flow is a roundup of all the mountain bike trail related news of the week including new trail builds, advocacy, and planning. Do you have trail news? Email [email protected] for possible inclusion.

Wisconsin’s Little Switzerland closes bike park

The Little Switzerland Ski Area in Wisconsin has closed their bike park after being denied insurance coverage, according to an Instagram post from the park. The resort said “alternative insurance options would not make the park economically viable moving forward.”

Little Switzerland said they are donating usable trail features to the Heritage Trails County Park and they will lend support to the park however possible.

In follow-up comments to reader response, the park said they have a great relationship with their insurance company, which they did not disclose. They had an option for a higher premium applied to the entire business or they could insure the bike park separately. Little Switzerland also said their incident rate is significantly higher in mountain biking than it is in skiing.

“The hard reality is that this extra premium wipes out the small profit the bike park generated, while still exposing us to the risk of nuclear verdicts beyond our coverage. Unfortunately, the risk is not worth the reward,” said co-owner Rick Schmitz in the comment.

50-mile trail system south of Elko, Nevada in planning stages

The Lamoille Summit Trail System is a proposed development south of Elko, Nevada that’s received a few hundred thousand dollars in RTP planning and development funds. Twelve miles of singletrack have already been flagged, and the recent funding should help cover the cost of required environmental studies and flagging another 38 miles of trails.

Northern Michigan trail system gets clearer vision

In February, we wrote about a new trail system coming to Cheboygan County, Michigan and now we’re getting a few more details about how it will unravel. The nonprofit Little Traverse Conservancy is developing the trails on a forest reserve and will be built by Rock Solid Trail Contracting. The conservancy is planning over seven miles of trail and the area will be named the Melvin Family Hiking and Biking Trails after Mark Melvin, who helped preserve the land, according to Michigan Live. Construction is slated to begin this summer and it could open in the fall.

Anniston, AL trails officially open

Back in July we wrote about plans for 2.5 miles of singletrack at the Wiggins Community Center designed specifically for young riders. The trails are now complete, and a ribbon cutting is scheduled for today.

Central Oregon Trail Alliance raising funds to repair and improve trails, jumps

The Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA) has raised $15,000 toward needed repairs to trails and jumps at Phil’s trailhead in Bend. The work is slated to get underway this year, and the group is hoping to raise an additional $20-30K ensure completion of the project.