Bill Ryan/The Gazette Austin Steo, executive director of Trail Conservancy, Inc. tells how a ridre could chose to go over or around a large rock on the new mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake in Emmitsburg.

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Bill Ryan/The Gazette Austin Steo, executive director of Trail Conservancy, Inc. tells how a ridre could chose to go over or around a large rock on the new mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake in Emmitsburg.
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Bill Ryan/The Gazette Austin Steo, executive director of Trail Conservancy, Inc. says that some rocks in a stream will have to be moved to make a safe mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake in Emmitsburg.
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Bill Ryan/The Gazette Austin Steo, executive director of Trail Conservancy, Inc. says that some rocks in a stream will have to be moved to make a safe mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake in Emmitsburg.
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Bill Ryan/The Gazette The town of Emmitsburg is planning a mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake. Organizers have been busy this week flagging the area to be prepared for work.

Bill Ryan/The Gazette Austin Steo, executive director of Trail Conservancy, Inc. tells how a ridre could chose to go over or around a large rock on the new mountain bike path near Rainbow Lake in Emmitsburg.

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An Emmitsburg trail system project seven years in the making is finally starting to show signs of physical progress, according to town Commissioner Tim O’Donnell.

O’Donnell has only been a commissioner for about a year and a half, but he has served the town through committees for six-and-a-half years, he said.

While he was still a member of the Parks and Recreation Committee, he and other members pitched a proposal to the town board. It included building a system of hiking and biking trails beginning near Rainbow Lake off of Hampton Valley Road.

“A number of meetings ago the town accepted a design and approved flagging of the [initial] trail,” O’Donnell said.

The town is working with a nonprofit group called Trail Conservancy, Inc., “whose mission is to provide assistance in developing, building and maintaining natural-surface trails using sustainable design principles that minimize negative effects on the environment,” according to the organization’s website.

Austin Steo, executive director and founder of the group, said it began offering its services to the town earlier this year. Lately, Steo has been working to flag and clear the trail route, readying it for construction. The beginner loop, which is about between a mile and a mile-and-a-half long, will be the first one built, he said.

Others that have aided the town in its efforts include the Frederick Bicycle Coalition, Wheel Base bike shop in Frederick and Gettysburg Bicycle & Fitness, O’Donnell said.

He noted that one his goals is to eventually create 15 to 25 total miles of trail throughout the area. Another is to have the trails connect to Mount St. Mary’s University and to downtown Emmitsburg through Community Park.

O’Donnell expects that the town will discuss moving forward with construction of the Rainbow Lake trail soon.

In the meantime, he and Steo are busy looking for grants to fund the project.

“I'm trying to cost the town as little as possible on this,” O’Donnell said. Although an exact estimate is not available, O’Donnell said he does not expect the cost of the initial portion of the project to be steep.

According to Mayor James E. Hoover, the town has not alloted any funding for the project, although the current board generally supports the idea of a trail system.

Hoover intends to tour the flagged loop before the board discusses its approval. While the beginners trail may very well be relatively close to completion, he thinks the construction of the rest of the system will probably take several years to complete. When he put together a task force to look into the feasibility of a large trail system a few years ago, cost estimates exceeded $200,000, he said.

cpomeroy@gazette.net