Yeah bud! This was cool to wake up to. Love the drone shots. Stoked that this is finally going to open! Thanks for the shoutout dude. Had a blast riding with everyone that day. So fun to session it and I hope people love it! I noticed there’s no sling on that arm! 🤙🏻
I was just there and it was closed 😭 such a bummer. Looking forward to it next year!! Any idea if it will be open before the end of the season? Might have to make one last trip!!
No idea. I was pretty certain that it would open this season. Sounds like some kind of remaining issue between the city and the DNR. But who knows 🤷♂️.
Such a great looking skills area, and it’s at the perfect location being atop the Tioga party loop so once you’re feeling pretty good about sending it you can choose your descent down any one of the fan favorites like greenway rough rider, thrillseeker, flying carpe diem, Rukavina’s, Ghostplane, etc. The trail layout at Tioga is the best in the state, and they have some of the best trails in the state period. I will say that skills parks are a good thing though. Even the rinkydink ones we have in the cities. They still impart skills to the kids and new jacks in general. Plus they promote sessionability and decrease traffic jams on the trails so I’m all for em. The new one at Carver Lake Park seems great for introductory skills.
Skills parks are absolutely important, and we definitely need more of them of all sizes! The Carver one is super cool, and is always full, and I love the layout! I think it’s pretty telling when we have 100 miles of trails in the metro and only 1 what I would call purpose built modern skills park. It’s kind of us taking a shot at ourselves. We can do better right?
@@adambuck6977 Collectively we can do better yeah but you dudes over at Pathfinder are doing more than your share 👍🏼 Hopefully things like gofundmes for trails become more commonplace in the future, I have zero idea what it’s like working with different parks and land managers but I feel like funding, feedback and proof of support for builds would be more visible and maybe more easily attained. Then put up stretch goals for steep, rocky and rooty tech segments to see who’s really about that life 😆
I agree with both of you that skills parks are important, even small ones. We need more of them but we need them to be better. Not everything needs to be at the level of the pathfinder playground but it's nice something of that level being built in MN. Carver is another example of a good one. And yes it's important to provide places for new and beginner rides, but if there is one thing that is not lacking in the Twin Cities metro trail system it's places that cater to new or beginner riders. Based on some posts on Facebook and other places on the internet I know this isn't a universal belief.
@@KrisYahner Yeah, totally agree that beginners have more than enough places to ride right now. Also, the more advanced and challenging a trail is the better the retention, volunteer base, etc. Lebanon Hills and Battle Creek are probably the most challenging MORC trails and their Packed parking lots prove the popularity. Salem Hills and Terrace Oaks? Not so much. We definitely need more challenging riding due to an explosion in the size of the community and many people having already ridden higher level stuff up in the Iron Range and North Shore areas. Trail layout, more technical downhill artificial or not, better skills parks, etc.
@@adambuck6977 Couldn't agree more. The metro area needs more options for skills building. The MORC metro trails are top notch for pedaling. But there are limited opportunities for progression on jumps and drops. Would love it if there were more opportunities to put Pathfinder to work around the metro!
Another solid video! Love the drone shots and 3rd person shots. Great overview and nice seeing a different shot of Ridin Dirt other than POV haha! Killer work and hope recovery is going well!
Great video, I almost forgot about this addition. It’ll be sweet to have the Cruzer Kettle, Winze, and now this localized. I was stoked to ride the Cruzer last year and now this! Good times ahead.
Kristofer Yahner haha, right! Thanks for clarifying that very large misjudgment on my part. It’s been a long couple of weeks out in Montana and Bellingham. Nevertheless this will be a blast to ride and a great addition to Tioga; An already awesome trail center.
Wait till you see the new Mahnomen North (Morroco) stuff coming this year at Cuyuna. I walked Drawpoint, the first trail to be opening for a spring check. Yeah... Its different than what you think of as "Cuyuna".
I completely agree with you on skill parks, especially around the metro. I will say that Lake Marion opened their skills area late last summer, and I found that it does a good job of offering rollable features, and at the same time, those same features offer low risk options to begin stretching your skills. This area in Tioga looks great though: it resembles a trail, and I assume it's fairly easy to loop, whereas Lake Marion is a smallish oval.
I haven’t had a chance to check out the skills area at Lake Marion yet. I’ll have to get over there to check it out. Generally it feels like the terrible skills parks are a thing of the past. Carver is a good example of this. It skews heavily to the green but it fits the character of the trail.
@@KrisYahner don't expect to get blown away, but it is a great start to being able to provide trail features that cater to all skill levels while providing a medium to level up.
So this skills park looks awesome. I look forward to riding it this year. I have to say it is pretty lame the land managers seem to keep these closed after completion. Hopefully they will maintain them too.
You'd have a lot of fun up there Brian! Yeah, it's unfortunate when trails don't open but there are always lots of stakeholders with sometimes differing agendas involved so it gets complicated. I'm just happy that it's opening now.
Your opinions are spot on, Kris. I really like the "optional" stuff that Tioga is building - plenty of stuff to pedal, but also more gravity options than most other MN destinations.
Do you know if they have or are planning a basecamp style resort similar to Red Rider, Roam, or True north?? I want to plan a trip up there and want to find an optimal place to stay.
I don’t know of any projects like that in the works but it would surprise me if someone was working on it. There is a cool remodeled motel in Grand Rapids. Can’t think of the name of it at the moment.
