Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
It was a beautiful, albeit windy, day Saturday in Marlinton for the grand opening celebration of the Monday Lick Trail System.
The pavilion at Stillwell Park was the staging area for those involved in the creation of the trail, as well as a starting point for mountain bikers who were eager to hit the trail system for the first time.
Tables were set up by the Monongahela National Forest District Ranger stations, Seneca State Forest, Nature’s Mountain Classroom, Mon Forest Towns, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, Cheat Mountain Salamanders and more as they celebrated the newest addition to Pocahontas County’s plethora of trails.
Saturday afternoon, those involved in the design, creation and completion of the trail shared their thoughts on the two-year project that, in their eyes, went rather smoothly and quickly.
The Monday Lick Trail System was created as part of the larger Snowshoe Highland Area Ride Center project which currently has a Silver IMBA – International Mountain Biking Association – classification.
Monday Lick was one of the plans to gain a gold classification in the future. With that in mind, the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, Monongahela National Forest, Mon Forest Towns and the town of Marlinton worked together to get the project through the stages of planning, implementing and dedication.
“October 30, 2023 was an important day in the town of Marlinton,” Mayor Sam Felton said in his opening. “That’s when most of this crew got together and we cut the ribbon for construction. I believe May 17, 2025 is going to be an even more important day than that because this trail literally can be a game changer for the economy in our area.”
Felton said he could talk about the project for hours but said he would instead yield the microphone to the others who were part of the project.
Retired CVB Executive Director Cara Rose, who was integral in the planning stages of the project, said she was happy to see all the hard work that went into the trail system had prevailed to create a new attraction in the county.
“What a momentous occasion for sure,” she said. “We couldn’t have done it without everybody collaborating. I will tell you that economic development – which I consider this project to be – it’s not easy. It is very, very hard, but our collaboration of partnerships made it look as easy as it possibly could be.
“I really, truly believe that one hundred percent,” she continued. “Our collaboration was built on two primary things – from the very beginning – a common vision and trust. When we walked into the room and we sat down at the table, and we said what we would do, everybody did what they said they would do. That was how we got to today.”
In reflecting on the project, Rose said she was amazed the project went as smoothly as it did and was successfully completed in record time.
“Monday Lick is that one great big project that we had way down the line and here we are today, meeting the timeline, which is really, really amazing that we’ve been able to keep with that timeline and be so successful,” she said. “This is going to set us up to become a gold ride center. It was ultimately what we were intending to do from the beginning.”
Following Rose was Snowshoe Mountain Resort Vice President of Mountain Operations Ken Gaitor – and Rose’s fiancé – who recalled a conversation about ride centers from 10 years ago with then COO Frank DeBerry.
“It was ten years ago almost to the month and I didn’t know what a ride center was,” Gaitor said. “He’s like, ‘don’t let the vision intimidate you. We’re going to get there.’ A year later, we started talking to Cara and she just took the ball and ran. We just kind of jumped in where we could. It was amazing.”
At that time, DeBerry predicted Snowshoe would become a gold ride center and now, it is one step closer with the opening of the Monday Lick Trail System.
“It’s hard to even think he had that vision,” Gaitor said. “It took me a year to process and think about how we could contribute. Luckily, Cara could just tell me how we could – and we did what she said.”
Gaitor also recognized the dedication and help that came from the forest service, without whom, the trail system wouldn’t exist.
“These people were just so amazing, the right people at the right time, came together,” he said. “As much success as this spells for us in the future – all the great things and the good times that people are going to have on this trail – I have to say that the very best part of all of this, for me, was meeting the love of my life.”
The forest service had several speakers, including recreation manager for the south zone Matt Edwards, Marlinton and White Sulphur District Ranger Jason Hattersly and Forest Supervisor Cindy Sandeno.
Edwards compared the event to a commencement celebration, saying the process of getting the trail system complete was like going through four years of school, toward the goal of graduating to a new adventure.
Hattersly, who became district manager after Sandeno, said he came into the project while it was in progress and was happy to pick up where Sandeno left off.
“[She] was the district manager at that time and was part of that early vision,” he said. “I got the fun part. I got to dig in the dirt.”
All joking aside, Hattersly said the trail system is an example of what can happen when organizations and individuals work together toward a common goal that will benefit the county and the state.
“Monday Lick Trail System is more than just a new place to ride and explore,” he said. “It’s a symbol of what we can do. It opens up new opportunities for adventure, it boosts our economy and connects people to the Monongahela National Forest.”
Sandeno, who didn’t plan to speak at the event, told about the early planning stages and how supportive the community was of the project.
“Typically, when you start the environmental analysis for a project, it takes a couple of years,” she said. “It’s a long process. We have to think about a lot of resources and with this project, I think we ended up finishing that environmental analysis in less than a year. It was one of the few projects on the Mon Forest that we had a lot of letters of support from the people who are sitting here today.
“From my perspective, this is one of the most awesome projects that I’ve ever been able to work on,” she continued. “I’ve got about twenty-five years as a federal servant and having a project where we can provide an amazing recreation opportunity for the public, where we can provide a connection to one of the communities within our forest, where we can connect to a state park to be able to get access to those trails and be able to hopefully change the face of economics in this area, is not something that we get to do every day.”
Sandeno left the Mon Forest for two years and when she returned, she was surprised to see that project was finished.
“This is a victory for all of us,” she said. “I left for two years, and I thought I’d come back and maybe they’ll have a mile or two constructed and the whole thing is pretty much done. That’s pretty special. It is something we can all be proud of and something we’re going to be able to enjoy and share for a long time.”
Also speaking were Region 4 Executive Director John Tuggle and Pocahontas County CVB Executive Director Chelsea Faulknier, who read a letter of congratulations from Bill Woodrum, senior program officer with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
The grand opening was part of a three-day weekend celebration full of activities, music and trail rides at Stillwell Park and on the Monday Lick Trail System.
