Mountain biking at Eno River State Park?

Eno River State Park, that linear strip of greenspace flanking its namesake river through much of Orange and Durham counties, has long been considered a bastion of hiking — and hiking alone. But a potential land acquisition within the next year could open the park to mountain biking and, possibly, horseback riding.

Someday, we maybe seeing this sight from atop a two-wheeler.

"It's in our draft General Management Plan," Dave Cook said this afternoon. The GMP sets forth the direction of the park and improvements to be made. Technically, it's supposed to be updated every five years. The last GMP done for Eno River was in 1997, says Cook. And it wasn't approved by the state Division of Parks and Recreation until 2003.

Don't expect to be riding your Yeti along the Eno just yet, though. Several things must fall into place for riding to become a reality. For starters, the park needs to grow. In 2003, the park — with the help of the Eno River Association — grew by 815 acres with the addition of the DuBose family tract. Turns out the family has another 1,000 acres the ERA and the park would like. That tract adjoins the previous purchase, which is in the Fews Ford area of the park, and extends down to U.S. 70.

"We've been having an informal conversation with the family for about a year," Klugh Jordan, Director of Land Protection with the association said this afternoon. She expects some sort of agreement to be reached for at least part of that land within a year.

If and when the land is bought, the proposal for mountain biking in the General Management Plan must still be approved (and remember, the last one took six years). There's a raft of folks who must bless the plan, Cook says, and getting their various approvals can take a while. Cook says the park also would need a couple of smaller tracts for the mountain biking plan to work.

The mere tease of singletrack has mountain bikers ready to ride the Eno. "I've already gotten a call from a mountain bike club offering to do the trails," Cook said.

If and when the time comes to build trail, you can bet Cook will be calling them back.