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DETROIT LAKES, Minn. - Of all the features that will be unveiled when Detroit Mountain Recreation Area opens its new hiking and biking trails today, Tony Schmitz is most excited about Big Bertha.
That's the name of a giant berm, or steep sloping turn on a bike trail, that's constructed out of wood panels and is the biggest of its kind in the region. Just a photo of the structure garnered more likes than the recreation area has ever seen on its Facebook page.
"Nothing around here like that," said Schmitz, whose title is "trails boss."
Big Bertha is one of many features that will tempt mountain bikers to Detroit Mountain, just east of downtown Detroit Lakes, this summer. The downhill bike trails, which range from a quarter- to a half-mile long, are studded with mandatory drops, skinny ladder bridges, rock gardens and an over-under feature in which one trail goes above another on an 8-foot-high bridge on stilts.
There are four miles of undulating cross-country trails in a nearby wooded area, with built-in mini hills, for biking or hiking.
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"Depending on how you link those trails, you can stretch that into as many as seven miles of riding, just doing combinations of different ride loops," said General Manager Jeff Staley. "The cross-country flow trails are just so much fun, it's like a roller coaster effect."
A shop will have bikes available for rent-$35 to $45 a day for adult bikes, $15 to $25 a day for toddler and child bikes, plus cheaper rates for hourly, half-day or weekday rentals. You can also bring your own bike and pay $5 a day per biker, or $5 per car of hikers.
Schmitz estimated the trails, which have been under construction since last July, cost $500,000, including several that will open later this summer. Two of those are downhill bike trails; another is a switchback that visitors can hike up on weekdays or bike down on weekends when the ski lift is running.
Staley said the recreation area has a "very loose projection to have about 10,000 summer visitors" this year, but that's hard to estimate.
"We're a little bit unique in offering four-season recreation," he said. "Not many ski areas do that, and there's just not a lot of information out there as to total visits."
Schmitz, for one, has his eyes set on Detroit Mountain becoming an International Mountain Biking Association ride center, a status that comes in bronze, silver or gold. There are only 27 in the world. If Detroit Mountain acquires the 300 acres its board is already considering and finishes a corridor to the nearby county-owned Mountain View trails, he thinks it's possible.
"We had a great ski season, so, you know, that's our No. 1 thing, this is just to carry us throughout, but this could potentially be just as big if not bigger than ski once we're fully built out," Schmitz said. "We don't have a lot of mileage, we're vertically challenged, but what we did put in is a high-quality, fun-riding trail."
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Visit detroitmountain.com for information on pricing, hours and a grand opening July 11.
