Long on imagination but short on specifics, in part because any ultimate design would be shaped by the community, Friends of the High Line envisions a second-story promenade as part of the national Rails-to-Trails network, taking perhaps a decade and $40 million to build.
Now, rather than seeking to tear down the 1.45-mile railroad viaduct, known as the High Line, New York City has asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to grant a certificate of interim trail use, which would preserve the route as a distinctly urban stretch in the national rails-to-trails network.
"But with the more powerful engines, they're operating much faster, and they just sort of dominate the trail network.
The most extensive trail network within two hours of the city is further north, in the Shawangunk Mountains.
Yet no matter how much technology is involved in planning a ski trail network, the actual construction of the trails remains a low-tech enterprise.
One is Colorado's Copper Mountain, which after a two-year trial period opened its entire trail network to bikers this season.
Mr. Grannis said that some environmental groups have already expressed opposition to the expanded trail network, but that the project would benefit the five rural towns.
Fresh buffalo and eland tracks crisscrossed our path through one of the most wild and remote sections of the mountain's trail network.
Through the efforts of organized walking associations, recreational walkers have established a sizeable trail network of their own in cities and rural areas.
Unlike many of the original ski trails, which were wide, straight cuts through the trees, the new trail network wove narrower trails through the forest to blend into the vegetation.
They said they had already ridden more than 10 miles on a trip connecting over 15 miles of Ahmanson trails to a trail network of hundreds of miles in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
