COLUMBUS, Ga. - In north Columbus, 1,580 acres of state-owned forest along Lake Oliver hold nearly 30 miles of hand-built and machine-built trail that cost the public treasury nothing to construct. Standing Boy Trails, at 1701 Old River Road, is a Georgia state park on paper, a Columbus park by agreement and, in practice, a nonprofit-run preserve paid for by a $5 parking pass. Here is how it works and what it costs.

The land and how it got here

The Jordan Company transferred the Standing Boy property to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in the early 2000s in a part-gift, part-sale deal meant to preserve natural land along the Chattahoochee, according to the history page of Standing Boy, Inc., the nonprofit that runs the trails. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed an executive order creating Standing Boy Creek State Park on Jan. 21, 2004. With no money to develop it, the state parked the property under an interim wildlife management area designation, and it sat largely unused for more than a decade.

The push to build trails began around 2017, when Blake Melton took up an idea that mountain biker and trail builder Kevin Adams had been pressing for years, the nonprofit's history says. A privately funded state park master plan that called for an alpine slide, a splash pad, an RV park and a catering pavilion was rejected by residents who wanted the land left natural. After DNR Commissioner Mark Williams met with local supporters, the state approved a gravel-lot-and-trails plan instead, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chattahoochee Valley Area chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association and built a 30-car lot.

The first two trails, Primary Goods and Bimini, opened in the fall of 2019. Between 2017 and 2023 the community donated $2,500,000 and thousands of volunteer hours to build the system, with the Bradley-Turner Foundation pledging $100,000 before the organizers had a bank account to deposit it, according to the history page. Standing Boy, Inc. was later formed with Melton as chair and Hank Moore as secretary and treasurer.

Who runs it

A March 29, 2022, briefing to Columbus Council described the park as owned by the State of Georgia and operated by DNR, with a draft intergovernmental agreement under development that would make the city a party and let Standing Boy, Inc. manage the park and trails. The briefing listed the city's proposed responsibilities as standard law enforcement and emergency response plus help with grants, with no financial obligation. The current model was approved in late 2022 and took effect in 2023: DNR signed the intergovernmental agreement with the city, and the city signed a management agreement with the nonprofit.

The result is unusual for a state park. Georgia State Parks' own page for Standing Boy Creek says the property is managed by the City of Columbus through Standing Boy, Inc. and warns that a State Parks pass is not valid there. The nonprofit says it has sole responsibility for the trailheads and trail system, receives no government assistance and relies on the parking fee as its chief source of revenue.

By the numbers

The two listed hour ranges come from different agencies and do not match, so visitors should check standingboy.org before an early or late trip. The nonprofit's guide says a daily pass can be bought online, that the annual pass pays for itself at about 20 visits a year, and that anyone parking without a pass risks being towed. All of the fee goes to the nonprofit, the guide says.

Reading the trail map

Trails are color-coded like ski runs, with green the easiest, blue moderate and black the most difficult, and they come in three types: hiking-only, multiuse and gravity, which are downhill, bike-only runs. Old roadbeds, which the nonprofit calls troads, are signed as wide, flat walking routes, and some allow only uphill bike traffic. The green multiuse loops are directional by day, with walkers going one way and riders the other, so hikers do not have bikes coming up behind them.

The nonprofit's trail guide offers a progression. Hikers wanting a quieter experience on the blue and black trails are steered to Lonely Hunter and Tie Snake, while Chufi and Primus see the most bikes because they drop off the ridge near the trailhead. Riders are told to build an outer "teal" loop from Primary Goods, Bimini, Lonely Hunter, Primus and Viberations before graduating to Chufi, then to Tie Snake and Scrambled Dog as first black trails.

Wet weather closes the multiuse and gravity trails to everyone, hikers included, and the gate to the Biking Trailhead and overflow lot closes with them. Six trails designated as Finicky Trails, among them Lickety Split, Cyclone Gallop, The Bug, Swavey's, Sky Shark and Flyin' Shoes, stay closed longer after rain. The nonprofit says riding closed trails can cost a user an annual pass and a suspension from buying day passes.

Hunting and this month's dates

Standing Boy is still a hunting property in season. Georgia State Parks says quota hunts are held in fall and spring, all of them archery except a youth turkey hunt in spring, and the trails stay open during archery hunts. The nonprofit's site lists archery quota hunt dates of Nov. 13-15 and Dec. 4-6, following a Nov. 6-8 hunt, so trail users will share the woods with bowhunters this weekend.

The Chattahoochee Valley Area SORBA Trailfest is set for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the nonprofit's site. Weekly group rides meet in the upper lot at 3 p.m. Sundays and 6 p.m. Thursdays. Columbus Parks and Recreation takes park questions at 706-225-4685, and the nonprofit answers trail questions at [email protected].