On Saturday, April 2nd, NWTA & the community celebrated the grand opening of Metro’s 1st natural area with dedicated bike-only trails. Newell Creek Canyon Nature Park in Oregon City covers 236 acres of forest. Along with Newell Creek, dozens of smaller seasonal and spring-fed creeks run through the park. The park features 2.5 miles of hiking trails and nearly 2 miles of trails dedicated to mountain biking.
Before the day’s festivities began, we held our Green Gecko’s kids mountain bike skills clinic with Coach Elaine from Elaine B. Bikes and Volunteer Coach Nell. With the help of our Trek bike and helmet loaner fleet, they worked with an excited group ready to learn how to ride bikes off-road. Once they mastered the basics, they moved to the skills course specially constructed for the clinic. There each rider took turns tackling the challenges presented to them and were able to get immediate feedback from the coaches to try again. Once the clinic was completed, the group had the honor of riding through the opening ceremonies ribbon to officially open the park. Hooray!
A second smaller clinic started in the afternoon for those interested in learning more about riding bikes on trails. Kids were riding on the skills course until the very end. A testament to the part of our mission to create more recreational opportunities for mountain biking.
Other hosted activities during the event included tree plantings and nature play activities. Fun for all ages.
Thank you to our generous sponsor, Metropolis Cycles, for supporting this event by coming out to provide free bike repair services for the day. Many families and friends were out enjoying the park.
Thank you to our partner Metro and sponsors Project^, Elaine B. Bikes, and Trek Bicycles for supporting our efforts.