So  far only 35 out of over a 100 people have completed the survey I posted.
Thanks to you if you have already done it. Please take a minute to do this if
you have not. I will complete it Friday night, and report on the results in the
coming week.

Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

Hello Chris and welcome to the fold, yes you will be bombarded by this listserve
as it is our main communication line.
It was a pleasure to meet you and glad to help as much as I can.

My opinion is the more trials the better, we need more diversity. As for how
much use it will get is anyone's guess, it will all hinge on access and
construction. There was an attempt several years ago for trail at the KOA on 17
outside Mount Pleasant, I helped with some of the construction and it saw some
use but finally died I believe, someone correct me if I am wrong. I believe
access issues were a problem along with trying to charge a fee.
You ask about liability. Of course we operate as a public land use facility and
Liability is assumed by the user. Private land is another issue, you would need
a system of having everyone that uses the trails to sign a wavier of some sort
and that still does not insure that you would be safe for litigation in the
event of a serious injury. Check out the International Mountain Biking
Association website
http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_issues/land_liability.html

There are also other resources there that might answer questions you have.

Rider usage has been studied here in the past using trip counters. Figures from
2007 and 2008 showed we averaged over 500 hits per month, highest being around
800 a month to lowest being 300, so we get a lot of use. I estimate that there
are around 50 dedicated riders that ride here and put in a lot of miles. I can
count on about 20 people to help with maintenance.

You might try contacting the Palmetto Cycling Coalition
http://www.pccsc.net/
They deal primarily with road riders, but might have some advice.
Coastal Cyclist http://www.coastalcyclists.org/ They are the local road bike
group and I believe they have some lawyers in their fold.

Ask what the people on this group think, a lot of them live in MT P and would
probably welcome a place to ride close to home. A challenging course would do
well here with stunts and technical challenges. That is where the liability
issue come into play.

I suggest you sit down and come up with a proposal, get some mapping and lay out
an idea, talk to the legal people an d go from there.
  I will tell you from my past 11 years of building and maintaining trail, it is
a full time job that your only reward will be the satisfaction that you get from
making other people happy and giving them a resource that is in short supply.
Occasionally some one leaves you a six pack of good beer.

Hope this helps
Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

-----Original Message-----
From: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of tullmann4
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 22:58
To: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks] Marrington Trails



Hi there. My name is Chris Tullmann. I met you out at the parking lot the other
day. I found the site and the group. Looks like the yahoo groups is more active
then the forum site (registered for that also). Thanks for the info.

I have a few questions that came up today that I thought you might be able to
help me with. I have found a property owner that may let me build some trails on
his property. Property is in Mt. Pleasant. Looks like about 100 acres available.
Just wondering what the interest would be in more trails in the area.
Do you know how many people use Marrington Plantation trails? Number of people
that get annual passes maybe? Or number of people that you see that come out for
volunteer days (usually figure 4 times as many use the trails)?
Any idea how the liability works for the trails? Property owner wants to get an
idea of what his liability will be if he lets me build trails. Guessing it might
be different with the government owned property.

Let me know if you have anyone else in mind that I may be able to pick their
brain. Or feel free to pass on my info to them.

Thank you.
Hope to see you out on the trails sometime soon.
Chris

843-856-0670 - home
207-712-2671 - cell
chris@... <mailto:chris%40tullmann.org>

Your Welcome
I am easy to find
On Nov 17, 2009, at 12:15 PM, joel wrote:

> Don,
> I, for one, simply want to say THANK YOU....Just let me know where
> to send
> the beer!
>
> I can't wait to check out the new challenge!
>
> Cheers,
> Joel
>
>

Thank you to all that takes the time to vote. Please forward to any friends or family

Greg

Don,
   I, for one, simply want to say THANK YOU....Just let me know where to send
the beer!

I can't wait to check out the new challenge!

Cheers,
Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Watts, Don
CTR NWSCHS 092
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:12 PM
To: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks] Info

In reference to the Blue Trail...I  have just finished blowing off the
debris on this trail. It really could use some traffic, as some of you old
timers will recall, this used to be the original trail...this is where it
all started. It is a little rough with roots but is really a nice ride.

There is also a new challenge on Phase 3 of the Foster Creek Loop.


Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

-----Original Message-----
From: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Watts, Don
CTR NWSCHS 092
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 8:00
To: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks] Info

Due to the recent extreme tides, Foster Creek is backing water in to some
places it normally does not, so be aware. One of the problem areas is the
bridge crossing prior to the Clay Pits, Yesterday it was completely
submerged. I would like to suggest that you use the Old Blue Blaze Trail
prior to the bridge and make your way around to the other side using that
route if the water has the trail covered in that area.

Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

In reference to the Blue Trail...I  have just finished blowing off the debris on
this trail. It really could use some traffic, as some of you old timers will
recall, this used to be the original trail...this is where it all started. It is
a little rough with roots but is really a nice ride.

There is also a new challenge on Phase 3 of the Foster Creek Loop.


Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

-----Original Message-----
From: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Watts, Don CTR
NWSCHS 092
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 8:00
To: Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks] Info

Due to the recent extreme tides, Foster Creek is backing water in to some places
it normally does not, so be aware. One of the problem areas is the bridge
crossing prior to the Clay Pits, Yesterday it was completely submerged. I would
like to suggest that you use the Old Blue Blaze Trail prior to the bridge and
make your way around to the other side using that route if the water has the
trail covered in that area.

Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

Due to the recent extreme tides, Foster Creek is backing water in to some places
it normally does not, so be aware. One of the problem areas is the bridge
crossing prior to the Clay Pits, Yesterday it was completely submerged. I would
like to suggest that you use the Old Blue Blaze Trail prior to the bridge and
make your way around to the other side using that route if the water has the
trail covered in that area.

Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)

Collin came by and aptly named our wet section of trail "The Nile" since the
Amazon is already taken.  Pictures are posted in the photos sectin

When we started out Saturday morning there was an abnormally high tide that left
the complete section of trail under water so we started rock armoring the higher
end and worked toward the bridge as the tide gradually went out.  We put down
all the concrete that we had moved to the low area beforehand and even brought
down another load from the parking area.  We got concrete down on about 75% of
the low section, filled in about half of that with gravel and still got back to
the parking lot before noon.  Thanks to Judy and Steve Ulmer for donating
concrete as well as Steve Michalski and Baucoms Grading for donating gravel

Thanks to the trail crew for coming out and lugging concrete and rock through
the mud and water:  Werner Wilhelm, Thomas Haines, Jon Haines, David Lonergan,
Jack Jolly, Tara Saracina,
AJ Saracina and Al Saracina.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Anybody up for a ride tomorrow afternoon??

REMINDER – TRAIL WORK DAY TOMORROW morning starting at 8:00.  Come whenever you
can.  Wear clothes and shoes that can get muddy and a pair of work gloves. 
Please let me know if you expect to come so I can bring enough coffee and
doughnuts.

--- In Low_Country_Fat_Tire_Freaks@yahoogroups.com, "jollyman" <sjolly@...>
wrote:
>
> The Chili Cook-off was a great success and we brought in $320 for trail
improvements.  Thanks to Don for his "Non Butt-hole Burning" venison chili entry
and thanks to Freaks who came out.
>
> Saturday morning we will start putting that money to good use.  We're going to
"rock armor" about 100 feet of trail that gets extremely wet at high tide.  We
will be using  broken concrete and gravel and we'll have the material moved out
to the wet area in advance so it's just a matter of laying out the concrete and
spreading gravel in the cracks.
>
> We'll start at 8:00 AM and work until abou noon on Saturday.  Coffee and
doughnuts will be provided.
>

I would ask that you take just a minute and answer the below survey for me.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=c9cPJ67BRhaQQoe_2f1Jmp3A_3d_3d

Don Watts
Natural Resources Technician
Naval Weapons Station Charleston
2316 Red Bank Rd. Bldg 36
Goose Creek, SC 29445
843-764-7951 Office
843-478-8663 Cell(Best)