in Quarry Ridge (Moderator: schrader)

Guys, some of you may remember me as Mac from back in the olden days of WORBA.  I was the WORBA president when we closed down WORBA and rolled the chapters up into IMBA, so it's been a while.  I think I worked with the initial QR guys with the city of Fitchburg.

At any rate, I live right across the highway from QR and I'm real pleased with how it's turned out.  There is a Madison city park up the right (north of 18) called Quarry Cove park.  A lot of it is wooded.  I spoke with Zac Brandon years ago when he was still an alder and he had been open to MTB development in the park given the proximity of QR.  I was wondering what you guys thought about broaching the subject with Madison again given the popularity/success of QR.

I don't know the park or the area real well. But it seems to be what we need more of: smaller "pocket parks" with trails in the larger metro area. A lot of good stuff can be done in places like this as Quarry Ridge, Seminole, and Quarry Park have proven. Of course spreading them out around the metro area would be nice as well, but having three close to each other would also have the advantages of linking them for a larger riding experience.

On another note, good to hear from you Mac!

Is this the land towards Hyvee/Target? I drive through there on my way to QR and often thought it would make good MTB use.

Are you are interested in leading the effort? CORP has a lot going on, it might be hard to find someone that isn't already doing something else.

Sorry for the massive delay in responding.  Yeah, there are two wooded areas I've got my eye on.  One is on the west side of Fitchrona between the Pointe apartments and the top of the hill.  At the top of the ridge this is a city park.  I don't know how far down the hill the park land goes.  As far as I know, there is nothing planned for the wooded area of the park (there is a grassy area at the top of the hill with playground equipment).  Across Fitchrona there's a big bluff between Hyvee and Nesbitt.  That's Fitchburg, I think, and I don't know if that land is privately owned or city owned.  We'd have to chat with the city I guess.
If the Madison part of CORP has contacts in parks in Madison and Fitchburg, I'm happy to reach out and see what could be done for some pocket trails in these areas to link up with QR.

Here's a map of the public land north of Quarry Ridge. Looks like about ~7 acres of potential trail terrain in the Quarry Cove Park and Orchard Pointe Natural Area.  Both areas are in the City of Fitchburg. You could try talking with Anna, the City Forester, to see if there is a plan for these areas and if trail building is allowed in the plan.  608-270-4289