The good news: Prince William Forest Park is going to build a dedicated mountain bike trail (not a fire road).
The bad news: With all the storm damage and other projects, it isn't going to happen soon.
The backstory: The Potomac Appalachian Trail club took over trail maintenance duties about 3 years ago from the National Park Service after about 30 years of neglect on their part. The soil constitution of the park makes erosion a constant problem, plus the fact that NPS will close trails if vegetation grows to high (ticks), plus the backlog of projects we've been handed that NPS should've taken care of 20 years ago, PLUS all the storm damage so far this year (we have about 500 yards of trail that's been swallowed by Quantico Creek) means that we're up to our necks in work and won't be able to take on any new projects for some time.
What you can do about it: Join the PATC and volunteer(There is a fee, I think $20 per year). After you join, shoot me a PM and I'll give you the contact info for PATC's District Manager and Co-District Manager for the park*. With sufficient interest, we can set up a work crew to build the trail. Volunteering is also the best way to ensure that the trail is made the way you want it. The majority of the Trail Overseers in the park are not mountain bikers.
If you want to see the proposed trail, go to PWFP and park your vehicle in the very back of the Pine Grove Picnic Area parking lot, near the Visitor Center. You will see a small clearing. To the left of the clearing is a gravel road that leads to South Orenda Road. While on this gravel road, off to the right you'll see a series of red or orange flags going off into the woods. This is the proposed MTB trail. If you hit the brown split-rail fence, you've gone too far.
*Please DO NOT tell my District Managers that you heard about this from some dude on the Interweb claiming to be a Trail Overseer. I'm probably the only Overseer that rides, it won't be hard to figure out, and they will be pissed if they found out I recruited volunteers to build a new trail when we don't have enough volunteers to manage the trails that are already in existance. The unfortunate reality is that the club is mainly made up of hikers and building an MTB-only trail will never be a high priority. This is why I need your help to make it happen.
The bad news: With all the storm damage and other projects, it isn't going to happen soon.
The backstory: The Potomac Appalachian Trail club took over trail maintenance duties about 3 years ago from the National Park Service after about 30 years of neglect on their part. The soil constitution of the park makes erosion a constant problem, plus the fact that NPS will close trails if vegetation grows to high (ticks), plus the backlog of projects we've been handed that NPS should've taken care of 20 years ago, PLUS all the storm damage so far this year (we have about 500 yards of trail that's been swallowed by Quantico Creek) means that we're up to our necks in work and won't be able to take on any new projects for some time.
What you can do about it: Join the PATC and volunteer(There is a fee, I think $20 per year). After you join, shoot me a PM and I'll give you the contact info for PATC's District Manager and Co-District Manager for the park*. With sufficient interest, we can set up a work crew to build the trail. Volunteering is also the best way to ensure that the trail is made the way you want it. The majority of the Trail Overseers in the park are not mountain bikers.
If you want to see the proposed trail, go to PWFP and park your vehicle in the very back of the Pine Grove Picnic Area parking lot, near the Visitor Center. You will see a small clearing. To the left of the clearing is a gravel road that leads to South Orenda Road. While on this gravel road, off to the right you'll see a series of red or orange flags going off into the woods. This is the proposed MTB trail. If you hit the brown split-rail fence, you've gone too far.
*Please DO NOT tell my District Managers that you heard about this from some dude on the Interweb claiming to be a Trail Overseer. I'm probably the only Overseer that rides, it won't be hard to figure out, and they will be pissed if they found out I recruited volunteers to build a new trail when we don't have enough volunteers to manage the trails that are already in existance. The unfortunate reality is that the club is mainly made up of hikers and building an MTB-only trail will never be a high priority. This is why I need your help to make it happen.