Last week the guy who wrote the bill creating the Pine Mountain Trail State Park introduced a bill that would kill it.
It'd be ironic if there were any possibility the bill could be passed and enforced. But there isn't and here's why.
The Pine Mountain Linear State Trail is a vapor. Yes, there really is a trail...or trails...that run from Elkhorn City up and down the spine of the Pine Ridge all the way to Pineville. But only a small percentage of the trail runs through land the park department actually controls. There has never been any money in the state park's budget for the Pine Mountain Trail.
Let's take the section near and dear to our hearts from Elkhorn City to Pound Gap, known as the Birch Knob section. 61% of that section of the "Kentucky State Park" is in National Forest in Virginia. National Forest rules on ATV's are clear. They'll take them AND give you $1000 ticket.
Every part of the trail actually IN Kentucky on the Birch Knob section is on private property. Hikers and anyone else on that property would be tresspassing if there wasn't an easement agreement between the property owner and the Pine Mountain Trail Conference.
Every single agreement stipulates no motorized vehicles. Some call for foot traffic only while some allow horseback riders and bicycles.
These weren't the terms of the PMTC, but the landowners. A state law cannot change that.
Senator Jones' record of supporting outdoor tourism in our area is outstanding. He should be supporting economic activity through ATV riding opportunities, too. This area needs more places ATV lovers can get out and ride, make no mistake.
Personally, I'd like to see a compromise allowing local residents to access land in the Kentucky portion of Breaks Park with ATV's. The old road that runs into Potter Flats and up over the mountain could be permit controlled.
This is ancestral land for many locals and restricting the only way some of them can access it just isn't right. 97% of ATV riders on that property are not making a mess. All the ill will that has sprung up between EC residents and local tourism efforts recently are rooted in this issue.
But attempting to converge the PMT with ATV's is a bad idea. It is an unworkable idea. It's puzzling that Senator Jones wouldn't have seen that. And maybe he did. Maybe this is a way to get the state to take more ownership of the Pine Mountain Trail or to find more ATV opportunities.
We'll give him a mulligan this time.
It takes time for trail systems to get widely known, whether they're in the state park system or not. It took generations for the Appalachian Trail to become heavily used. In a relatively short time, the Pine Mountain Trail has garnered a national reputation for high quality, difficult hiking. That's why it was adopted into the Great Eastern Trail system and why it is the home of the only 100 mile trail race in the state...mostly.
If it becomes an ATV course, those things go away. Instead of ruining something good, let's find more usable trails for all user groups so Elkhorn's Trail Town designation includes everybody and doesn't end in it's infancy.