Yellow River Park mountain bike trails used to be good. Now there are rogue trails all over the place, bikers on equestrian trails and hikers on bike trails. Intersections every tenth of a mile, trail blazing that is misleading and hard to interpret. I was hoping for better, but that is not what I discovered during my ride last weekend.
This post is split into My Ride and My Recommendations, however, if you want to skip the reading part, scroll down to find the trail video that I made of my ride.
My Ride:
I went to Yellow River Park (YRP) for the first time this past weekend (1/26) to check out the trails that no one ever speaks about. Actually… that’s a lie. I tried the weekend before and didn’t get out of my car because I saw these trail closed signs. I was the only car in the parking lot so I wasn’t sure on the normal protocol and so I left. I did call Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation the Monday after asking why they were closed. Their response was that it was a mistake and the trails were open.
Now fast forward to last Saturday afternoon. I arrived ready to go, only to discover that the trail closed signs were still up.. SMH. But the parking lot was full with cars with bike racks and bikers gearing up, so I was able to look past the signs like everyone else.
I ended up parking in the bike parking lot, which was actually quite nice. There was ample parking, restrooms (that were open), changing stalls and a bulletin board with a giant trail map. The trails were looking promising..
Side note: The trail system is split into two sides by Juhan Road, riverside and creekside. As you can see below there are marked trails for biking, hiking, equestrian, and multi-use. In total for the marked trails on the map there is close to 12 miles among all four disciplines.
After taking one last look at the trail map, I took off down the gravel trail directly behind the restrooms, which access the riverside of the trails. Then I followed the trail across the wooden bridge and up to the first of many trail intersections I would encounter that day. From there I followed the bike trail until I turned off somewhere and found myself along the Yellow River after taking a trail that does not exist on the trail map.
Fun fact: The Yellow River also flows past the mountain bike trails at the Georgia International Horse Park. The river is also the headwaters for the Ocmulgee River.
Along that side of the river, I spent some time grabbing a few shots for my video on probably the best singletrack trail on that side of the trail system. The narrow trail parallels the river in the above photo, offers scenic views and flow. But after reviewing the trail map it seems that it was a horse trail? The wide doubletrack trail that also parallels this trail, I guess was the bike trail? Who knows..
Most of the trails on the riverside are doubletrack, thus leading to the confusion with the horse and hiking trails. I did talk to a couple in the parking lot after the ride and they mentioned the trails are not single use anymore. Darn.. if I knew that before, I could have relaxed a little and enjoyed all the trails.
The creekside seemed to contain more singletrack, but still contained many intersections that made it hard to follow the actual trails. I did take one line over there that was a fairly straight shot down from the highest point to the creek. You drop down multiple, what looked to be, old terrace steps till to get to a large boulder that you can roll over. That was unexpected and fun to ride.
After only riding probably half of the creekside, I jumped across the road to access the northern end of the park to take a look at the Yellow River. From there I hit a few more trails on the riverside and took some more video as the sun was about an hour from setting. I made it back to the parking lot, but got lost on the way there. I think I ended up taking the multi-use trail back to the parking lot. All in all, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. I’ll definitely go back just because of its proximity.
My Recommendations:
While out riding I thought of a few improvements that would drastically enhance the experience for all trail users. I hope in the near future these small changes can be implemented.
Rogue trails: Rogue trails are the biggest problem with the trail system at Yellow River Park. Compare Strava’s Heatmap of the trail system to the trail map. Look at all those extra trails that are not on the map. Those extra trails lead to a lot of confusion while out there. Now you have hundreds of extra intersections without adequate signage.
Now, compare Yellow River Park to Harbins Park below. See the difference. It is easy to follow the correct trail that you should be on because there isn’t a trail darting off in every direction, every tenth of a mile. I’m sure the age of Yellow River Park has a lot to do with it, but it could be easily fixed. Shut down the rogue trails and redefine the proper trail system.
Reduce unneeded intersections: Eliminating the rogue trails will drastically reduce the amount of intersections, thus increasing the natural flow. Per the Trail Assessment and Redevelopment Plan from 2012, the master plan accounted for 37 intersections, but the current trail system has over 220 intersections and over 20 miles of trails.
Better Blazing: If the trails are open to everyone, they need to republish the trail map and remove the designations. Then per the redevelopment plan there are multiple intersections with too many signs, 6 or more at most intersections. One intersection has 14 signs visible! Once the trails are rerouted or closed, trail blazing needs to be redone at all intersections and along the trail (like the AT).
There is a lot of potential for Yellow River Park hidden away by the rogue trails and lack of trail maintenance. Maybe this post or another individual will ignite the movement to improve the trail system. Thanks for taking the time to read my review. Below is the video that I shot during my time out there.
Have any other suggestions for Yellow River Park? Let me know down below.
-theBidon
I used to ride Yellow River a lot and it was a very popular trail system in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s before the county hired someone to redesign the system and add facilities. Many may disagree with me about this, but although the facilities are nice, the redesign took the fun out of the trial system and the popularity of the trail took a nose-dive. I don’t like going there much anymore, especially now that there are several other choices closer to me, such as the Horse Park, Southside Park, Dauset Trails, Cochran Mills, and South Rockdale Community Park. I agree with the title of your review, “Make Yellow River Park Trails Great Again.”