in Quarry Park (Moderators: Rich, ddacko11)

Hi,
There are new neighborhood and City plans that include possible improvements to Quarry Park (near Hilldale). The idea is to make it a better place for birds and for its human users, including mountain bikers. Can I ask you guys what you'd like to see there?  Here's a few questions that occur to me:

About how often do you bike there?

Have any of you made a map of the park showing its trails, or could you? That would be really helpful.

Do you have names for the features of the park that are important to bikers? Can you map them?

I understand the trails are maintained by volunteers-- do you work on them?

What's the ideal sort of trail for mountain bikers, and how close does Quarry Park come to being ideal? What changes would you want to make in the trails?  Is there any place you'd like more bumps? or a jump?  Could you send me a map and a sketch of what you'd like?

Do you use the two big fireplaces? What can we do to make them safer and more comfortable and easier to keep clean? The city might move big stones into a circle for people to sit on; anything else?

How about the open spaces, the grassy areas? Should they be cleared of the trees that are moving in on them?

How do you feel about public art and a welcome sign or informational display? What should it look like and what should it say?

How about a little shallow pool to catch and keep rainwater for birds and dogs?

What's the best way for all users of the park to enjoy it without bothering each other? That means bikers, hikers, picnic parties, bird-watchers, dog-walkers, parents and kids, and everybody else.

Any input you or any of your members have time to give could be really helpful at this stage. Many thanks!

And thanks too for all you guys do to keep the place clean and pretty and interesting for all of us.

Stef

Stef,

What is your affiliation with QP?  I was at the last Rocky Bluff NA meeting, and have volunteered to be a part of the soon to be formed Friends of QP.  Were you one of the other interested people?

Having lived near and ridden at the Park for a dozen or so years, I would offer that the park has two major selling points.  One is that is is close.  The other is that the city has been very laissez-faire about what gets built there.

The people who ride and work on the trails tend to be younger, and as a result, transient.  This means that some years (this being one) the trail gets 'found' by some riders who do alot of work.  Then they get a job or into school somewhere else, and it might be neglected for a couple years.  Eventually, it gets found again.  Because of its size, riders who aren't into jumping tend to use it as a ride of last resort, if at all, since in an hour you will have covered all the trail multiple times.  It is a great place to ride with kids, though, because here is plenty of easy terrain and they tend not to be fast enough to get bored.

If I were to speak for all the folks who ride there, which might not be wise, I would say that we are wary of change.  We work with many different land managers, and the freedom to design and build as one pleases that exists at QP is rare, but it seems to work here, so why mess with it?  However, I have heard that the city is working on Master Plans for all the parks, and am not sure the current arrangement will survive that, so it is probably wise to consider some options.  It is hard to imagine a realistic improved arrangement.

That said, I don't think there would be any resistance to most of the upgrades (pools, fire-pits, signage, art) you mention.  Though I personally sort of like the unkempt wildness hidden right here in town.

To my knowledge there are no maps; it would be relatively easy to make one of the general loop, but the specifics sort of evolve over time depending on who is building and what is being neglected.

I have never had an unpleasant experience with another user, and my sense from the neighborhood meeting was that people thought the various users were getting along.  Perhaps there have been issues I haven't heard of, but it seems to me that the terrain of the park causes people to self-segregate (what is fun on a bike isn't much fun to walk, and vice-versa) and that in the areas of overlap, one just needs to be aware and respectful, and people generally are.

My expectation for the Friends group is to foster increased understanding and interaction between the various users, and to have some organized clean-up/ weed-pulling/ brush-trimming outings, but perhaps I am underestimating what I have volunteered for; it would not be the first time.

I'll let someone else describe the ideal mountain bike trail.

I would be happy to meet at the park and talk sometime.

Jon

Thanks Jon for your good thoughts!

I want to meet and join Friends of QP, but haven't connected yet. I've been a QP park volunteer for ten years or so, though doing nothing much for any part but my own nearby corner, and even there not much lately.  I was the only person who knew anything about this park at the recent bird sanctuary meeting, so led a little walkabout and talked about possibilities. I also LOVE the wilderness that it is, and just suggested ways to make all sorts of explorers feel legitimately welcome there, very much including the young people for whom this is one of the few safe wild spaces around. I would say we need to make it clearly okay to be there, but not so okay that it becomes a boring piece of the official system. For one thing, people need to feel it is their own discovery and their own home space so that they'll take personal responsibility for keeping it well-maintained.  The mountain bikers have done great things along these lines.  I suggested that big stones to sit on around the firepits would be natural enough and welcoming, as well as safely containing the fires, and I think it might also be good to make it clearly okay to cut down buckthorn and honeysuckle and invasive trees in the remaining grassy spaces, to save this bird habitat and pleasant prairie. Nothing more needed, to my mind, though apparently there is money to put in a piece of art! Maybe the big stones could be aesthetically arranged, with a plaque honoring the old stoneworkers?

I would be very pleased to meet you and hear more about what the Friends of QP have been thinking. You can write me at catbird25 at gmail dot com.  And do you want to contact the City official who bravely toured the park, as part of the discussion of planning for birds, art, and other park changes? This is Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator, address kwolf at cityofmadison dot com, phone 261-9134.