THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Drew Landis, founder and president of the Vermilion County Trail Alliance, talks about the biking and hiking trails planned for an 80-acre area west of Harrison Park in Danville.
DANVILLE — It’s been slow going for the Vermilion County Trail Alliance, with most work being behind the scenes, but plans remain in play for more local hiking and biking trails.
In July 2022, the nonprofit received approval from the Danville City Council to develop a 5-mile multi-use trail on city-owned land on the west side of Harrison Park.
The group is developing a destination of hiking and biking trails on about 80 acres that formerly housed a Girl Scouts camp. The bike park will be spread out through the woods with fun jumps and challenges, organizers said.
“It’s a little misleading. There’s going to be many different segments, and so if you do a loop, and it’s a mile or two, when you come back around to the beginning, you can choose a different way to go that is a whole new 2 miles,” said Drew Landis, a mountain-biking enthusiast who is founder and president of the trail alliance. “So, it just kind of depends. It’s like a build-your-own-adventure situation.”
Landis foresees community 5K races and other events being at the park.
“It’s been a couple years and that was all about getting the MOU (memorandum of understanding),” he said. “We had to form a group. We had to get insurance and become a nonprofit, the whole thing.”
He said this all started with some local residents who were involved with the mountain-bike trails at Kickapoo State Park nearby.
“It’s sort of a different opportunity. We want to expand a little bit beyond Kickapoo,” he said. “Vermilion County has all the natural resources that everybody from Champaign County loves to come use. So, we want to develop those a little more.”
He said the group thought maybe they’d go out with hand tools and dig easy trails in their spare time, and that was going pretty good for a while, but there’s been delays.
He said the project has become something way bigger than first intended.
“But it’s kind of a blessing in disguise. … All of that stuff that has to be done, all the permitting, all the plans, all that stuff,” he said. “It’s really great experience for doing this again and again and again and again.”
The group had hoped to have a grand opening this year. However, they do have a hand-built trail loop that shows some highlights, and a parking lot is installed off Hungry Hollow Road. They cleared what they could for the parking lot and the city donated the millings.
There are flag lines and plans for the trails.
Machine work on the trails is expected in the upcoming months. The builder will prep the corridor, then the trail alliance will rake and finish it.
This is a community project, and Landis said part of their mission is to develop these resources so that they benefit the whole community. Everyone can come enjoy them.
The group was awarded a grant from the International Mountain Bicycling Association to help with design services. The alliance has that plan and has taken it to a builder, who is working on a specific plan and trail map.
“So, actually I think we’re going to get some progress still this year,” Landis said.
They will be working on it under a mile at a time.
He said that doesn’t sound like a lot, but the way the property is, there are lots of segments that are less than a mile.
“You can actually get a lot done with a mile’s worth of wiggle room to play with,” he added.
Trails go both ways on the ridgeline, and there’s some infrastructure there that they don’t have to touch, he said. When the leaves are down on the top of the hill, you can see across the North Fork River valley area, and it’s gorgeous, Landis said.
They are trying to use the hill for elevation change. This will be more oriented toward going downhill, versus going cross-country like at Kickapoo, he said.
“That’s to counterbalance the experiences,” Landis said.
Someone will be able to ride at Kickapoo, stay overnight and then go to the fun, jumpy trail west of Harrison Park Golf Course.
Every time there is a new phase of the project, the trail alliance will be seeking more funding too.
There could be a disc-golf course and nature playscape for children to play on logs and boulders, not plastic playground equipment, he said. There could also potentially be an entry from the golf course side, which would allow for more parking and would be more convenient for those who live in Danville.
If this truly will be a bike park, as it’s very hilly, there’s opportunity for electric-bike rentals, Landis said.
There’s a lot of history of the property, too, which people could help with.
“There’s room for everybody,” he said. “Our expertise is really like the trail stuff. We need help with other things, if they are interested.”
Otherwise, it could just be another nice wild preserve, which he said is fine too.
Another potential location for trails is a 150-acre site south of Chateau Estates that was donated to the city. It has dramatic landscape too, next to Lake Vermilion, with lake views and steep ravines.
It’s one thing at a time, Landis said, adding that the trail alliance is all volunteer.
The group is trying to keep the ball rolling and has a Facebook page and website to keep up to date.
“There’s all kinds of ideas down the road, but it’s really a matter of this all is an exercise in showing people what’s possible and getting them enthused about it, too,” Landis added.
FOR COMPLETE ACCESS TO NEWS-GAZETTE STORY PLEASE GO TO https://www.news-gazette.com/news/harrison-park-west-trail-project-still-in-play/article_6cd4b514-5b17-11ef-a101-b7df39e41f3a.html
