Tucked away at the top of the Johnstown Inclined Plane, miles of new biking and hiking trails will officially open this weekend.
“These trails are really a gem right next to downtown Johnstown,” said Michael Cook. who works downtown.
The outdoors enthusiast needs a break from the office every now and then.
“I have an hour lunch and I would run up and down the trails over lunch. Over the course of about three years, I watched them fall into more and more of a state of disrepair,” said Cook.
That’s when Cook decided to raise $1,000 to fix up the trails and form the Vision 2025 Trails Capture Team. He also won a $1,000 Vision 2025 grant for the project.
“I wanted to do something that people downtown could use,” Cook said.
Thirty volunteers and nine months of manual later labor, the trails are finally complete.
“Here we are with mountain biking trails and cleaned up hiking trails,” said Cook.
He said it wouldn’t have been possible without dedicated volunteers, a few shovels and a vision.
“You have the ability to make change in your community, whether you want to do something small or big. This was a fairly big project for volunteers, but every little bit helps,” said Cook. “If there’s something you don’t like about your community, you have the ability to go out and change it.”
The grand opening starts at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, August 12.
There will be a guided community hike starting at 9 a.m., followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Inclined Plane Overlook at 10 a.m. and a downhill mountain bike race starting at 11:15 a.m. Then, at 2:30 p.m., there will be a reception and awards ceremony at Stone Bridge Brewing Company.
Volunteers still plan to fix bridges along the trails, add signs and are raising money with help from the Johnstown Rotary Club to install a bike maintenance station.