THE PEOPLE

In Da House Trail Crew

Sometime around the late 1990's the Bike Club "In Da House" assumed trail operations. Lead by Steve Rodriguez, they endeavored maintenance and built a few more miles of trails. Maintenance was grueling, and the vegetation grew so aggressively that the park was only open to riders for 4 months out of the year.

According to some of the members of that era the story goes: "we just loved riding and racing at the park and we wanted to be there all the time; so we would go and cut and build. In the pre-cellphone-social media world we lived in, it was the funnest thing we could do".

In Da House operated as stewards of the Trails until 2007.

Brothers Stephen and Frank LaRue assumed Trail operations in 2008, implementing most of the layout the park is in today, most notably the "Dry Loop" which allows the park to be ridden during Summer months. Other trails created included the Gold Mines skills area, Chupacabra Trail, Golden Gate, Razorback, and the Paintball Loop. The concept of keeping the trail open year-round required a unique approach which came to be referred to as the "Dog Park" layout. This layout required extensive green areas and access roads interlaced between the trails. This would allow for machinery to enter into the deepest areas of the trail to perform maintenance and build-outs year-round.

It was around this time when Miami-Dade County got involved along with Commissioner Steve Bovo, who helped add some key improvements such as the paved road leading to the trailhead, paved parking lot as well showers, and washing stations.

LaRue Brothers

As of 2020, Amelia Earhart Mountain Bike Trails are fully permitted and approved, as part of the official Miami-Dade County Master Plan.

Antonio Suarez ATBC

Tony assumed stewardship operations of the MTB Trails in June of 2020. Having taken part in the year-long recovery after Hurricane Irma (2017) he understood the needs of the park in terms of vegetation control and trail maintenance.

Aside from trail improvements Tony also launched initiatives in the creation of a website with an image repository of current and past riders and volunteers along with the social media ecosystem (facebook and instagram) to properly engage the community in South Florida and beyond.

Notable changes include drainage improvements throughout the park, all new and additional signage in many locations just to name a few.