Let’s consider the Bend of the future: With even more locals and tourists looking to access singletrack mountain biking, hiking, trail running and primo dog walking territory within a 15-minute drive from the nearest brewery, areas like Phil’s Trailhead will become even more popular than today.
But when these recreators arrive at Phil’s Trailhead, what will they find?
Under a new Forest Service plan, it probably won’t be a parking space. The Forest Service is currently taking public comment on a plan that would eliminate about 50 of the current parking spaces now available at Phil’s. The goal? To better manage the parking lot.
This makes no sense to us; anticipating greater use and popularity by restricting access?
Already on a busy weekend day, well more than 100 cars descend on the parking lot, with visistors parking on bushes or lining the Forest Service road leading to the trailhead. While we applaud the Forest Service for smartly addressing some concerns—like installing a new double-vaulted toilet—the parking portion of its plan is shortsighted.
The proposed design is a response to plans shot down in the past, including one that would have created a three-acre-plus project with a total of 120 parking spaces. Under that plan, more than 50 large pine trees would have been removed.
While the new plan only removes several trees, it would only cover about an acre of land—simply not enough to adequately meet the demands at Phil’s Trailhead.
What’s more, the Forest Service is missing an opportunity to create a vision for the entire Skyliners Road corridor. As Bend’s popularity grows, more people will want to access the extensive trail system from any and every pullout on the way to Tumalo Falls.
In creating a too-small lot at Phil’s, the Forest Service is just kicking the problems—including sanitation issues and disturbance to vegetation—down the road. The right answer here is to put the brakes on this new plan and go back to the drawing board.
There is still time to hold at least one or two meetings to identify a community vision around what the Skyliners Road corridor should look like. That vision could include a campground, multiple parking lots and the paving of other Forest Service roads.
Deschutes County won’t repave Skyliners for at least another year. This section of road, and this trail network, are tied into the future of Bend’s recreational tourism scene. Let’s take a moment now so that we don’t blow this one for the future. In the meantime, here’s the BOOT!
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2013.
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There is a name for places with large amounts of parking, lighting and camping. It’s called a Walmart parking lot. But unlike Walmart the purpose of MTB trails is not to bring lots of people together for a concentrated shopping experience. It is to disperse people out onto various trails so they may enjoy an outdoor experience.
So, it makes no sense to concentrate a large number of users simply to then have to try to figure out a way to disperse them again. I’m all in favor of a modest improvements to the trailhead at Phil’s. Beyond that however any further expansion should be at other locations. Additional trailheads can be added or improved as necessary. An further advantage is that the facilities can be better tailored to the specific uses common to that location and the trails in that vicinity.
You’ve got your $3000 bike, you’ve got your jersey, you’ve got your pack with your hydration bladder overflowing with gear, and you can’t wait to get super radical on Phil’s Trail. You throw all your gear into your gas-guzzling pickup truck and drive the two and a half miles to the trailhead and you arrive and WTF why is it so fucking crowded? Arrggghhhh. Your bike is a vehicle, ride your fucking bike to the bike trail and if you don’t have the endurance to ride the short distance to the trailhead then sign up for a spin class until you do.
No Bend local should ever drive to Phil’s trail head.
Ride your bike to the damn trailhead! I live way out by Tumalo, and it is still less than 30 minutes each way. Not a big deal at all…..
Before you guys had the use of this land, we dirt bikers had it… now we can’t access it at all. You think YOU got problems!
The trails out there already get too much use, they’re crowded, especially on a weekend. The FS builds a big new lot, it will just put even more pressure on the trails. And I keep waiting to see a little stand put up where the Forest Service will expect us to put our daily fees. Why do you equate more pavement with progress? Let’s just turn Phil’s Trail into “Disneyland CO” and make a water ride, too….and along with the big truck out there renting bikes, let’s have a few concession stands. And then maybe a little shop to sell cool biking clothes. And just a small pub…Or, we could just leave it alone! We keep having to go further and further away from town to find a little peace and quiet, and that’s not progress.