Carvins Cove Trail Plan - Roanoke

Carvins Cove Natural Preserve
2010 Trails Management Plan
Connect the main parking lot to songbird via a western route. Connect the end of Buck (at the
road) to a loop around the private parcels on the west and back to the parking lot. This would
make a nice beginner loop (but would have two road crossings). The freeride area could be
made "official" if the trail impact is low and the site is well designed. Possibly connect Gauntlet
to Araminta/Hemlock Tunnel. Conect Buck to Hi-dee-hoe halfway up. Connect The Trough to
the Gauntlet halfway up. Make a "hiking only" trail from the parking lot up to the AT.
from Schoolhouse back to Boat Dock
The Cove has a great opportunity in building additional trails; I believe the 13,000 can support
it. The location of the these trails would of course need to be closely looked at as far as
sustainability but both sides of the mountain and the lower area have huge potential that needs
to be tapped.
It would be good to get some trails on the east side of the cove. This would allow quicker
access to trails from the boat launch parking lot. I would suggest intermediate trails that are
low to rolling with some short climbs.
2. How many miles of trail should the Cove have?
As much of the "newer" sustainable trail that the land allows and keeps user conflict at a
minimum.
Hmm...I'm not sure how many miles there are now, but I think total trail miles would have to be
tempered with volunteer\maintenance hours available.
Planning for new trails which reflects a theme of preserving the isolated feeling one gets when
on the trails, rather than using some arbitrary total number of miles of trails.
I think we will have sufficient mileage.
The more the merrier. It spreads the users out and avoids congestion at peak use times.
"unlimited" - I doubt that that word could ever be over applied.
Don’t really know, but a little more would be nice. There is a danger of getting more trails than
can be effectively maintained (especially those that are hard to get to the cut out deadfalls)
50 (about 10 more than now)
enough for some dedicated equine trails so I won’t have to ride in horse poop and mud
I would like to see another trail off the top of the mountain, either side is fine. There is lots of
room between hideho and bucks, as well between trough and gauntlet. I would like this trail to
be multi-use, however built with bicycles in mind. We currently have a section
(trough expert) built with bicycles in mind and it's been a huge hit! Anyone could have access
to this trail, but I'd like to have something that is built for bicycle use. We need a trail where
people in this area and specifically up and coming youngsters can really tune their skills to help
compete at the race level and get the youth excited about riding bicycles. Childhood obesity is
a huge problem for our society and we need to help fight it anyway we can. Having exciting
riding spots and riding community is something that will bring kids in as well as adults.
I don't think there is a magic number and it already has an excellent layout as far as mileage is
concerned. I believe that most everyone will agree, they don't want it over littered with
Appendix D - 2