Use of 'rails to trails' still growing

Linda Wilson Fuoco

The use and popularity of "rails to trails" continues to grow -- even in the winter -- as evidenced by animal paw prints, human footprints and bicycle tire imprints on the snow-covered Montour Trail.

Last year in the snowy winter months, increasing numbers of cross-country skiers joined hikers, bikers and joggers along the airport segment of the recreational pathway, which follows the former Montour Railroad freight line through Robinson, Moon, North Fayette and Findlay.

Motorized vehicles are banned on the trail, but there have always been occasional sightings and complaints about snowmobiles, ATVs, four-wheeled quad runners and dirt bikes.

Earlier this month, trail users and volunteers who maintain the trail were heartened to hear that two violators had been caught and fined $300 each for violating that rule.

Paula Meddings, a member of Houston council in Washington County, made a report Dec. 20 to the Cecil Friends Group of trail volunteers.

While walking her dog one day last year on the Hendersonville segment of the trail, she said she was almost run down by two people on motorized vehicles -- one on a quad and one on a dirt bike.

She snapped a photo on her cell phone and called 911. Cecil police Officer Charles Herdman told her he used her pictures at the hearing where the offenders were convicted and fined.

"In years past, we used to see people riding snowmobiles on the trails," said Tim Killmeyer of Robinson, vice present of the Airport Area Friends of the Trail. "They got the message," he said, and stopped riding on trails, but people riding dirt bikes and ATVs still cause occasional problems.

The real fear is that walkers and joggers will be hit or injured, Mr. Killmeyer said. A second concern is that the nubby treads on the tires of motorized vehicles tear up the finely-crushed limestone trail surface.

"Police are responsive" to complaints about motorized vehicles, he said. "They've caught a few in Moon and Findlay."

Police respond to calls and complaints, but the motorized vehicles are generally gone by the time officers arrive.

Because many off-duty officers use the trails for their own recreation, they've been able to see offenders firsthand -- and catch them.

The list of prohibited vehicles is longer than some people realize. Electric bicycles, which are growing in popularity, are not allowed on the trails, Mr. Killmeyer said.

"We've seen them out there" along with motorized scooters, including Segway electric scooters.

The only motorized apparatus allowed on the trails are electric wheelchairs and the "mobility scooters" that some elderly and impaired people use instead of wheelchairs, Mr. Killmeyer said.

Cross-country skiers are a welcome addition to the trail mix, but could use some help from other trail patrons, Mr. Killmeyer said.

"It would really help" if people kept themselves and their dogs out of the tracks laid down by cross-country skiers, he said.

"It's very hard to blaze a cross-country track. If no one walks on it, it only gets better," said Mr. Killmeyer, who took up the sport in recent years.

"Skiers spend an hour or more" tamping down tracks on the trail, expecting to glide smoothly on the way back "and then there comes a family of four" walking in the tamped down snow, ruining the ski trail.

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Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10364/1114149-57.stm

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