Connected
to Nature

Outdoor Recreation Hub and Trail Network Project

Rooted in Community

50 Miles of Trails Connecting Rib Mountain to Greater Wausau

The recreation hub and trails plan is an ambitious vision to connect residents and visitors of the Rib Mountain and Greater Wausau area to the region’s natural beauty through a thoughtfully developed network of trails for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking. At its heart, the plan leverages the unique landscape in and around Rib Mountain State Park. Together, the state park and neighboring private lands will support nearly 50 miles of interconnected trails — including over 20 miles designed specifically for mountain bike-optimized experiences. To round out the network trail development will enhance existing hiking routes, a new offering of shared-use trails, and create a community path looping around the southern, western, and northern slopes of the park.

Project Timing

Trail Plan

Planning, Designing, Permitting

Establish all necessary plans and permits while designing around the landscape of Rib Mountain.

2025

Gravity Trail Build

Build 5.5 miles of the gravity trails (50% on private lands), soft opening late summer or early fall.

2026

10 - 12 Mile Gravity Zone

Build out the 10-12 mile gravity zone and begin to build the traditional shared-use and cross-country mountain bike trails

2027

Base Area, Bike Park, More Trails

Discussions are ongoing regarding specific timing of Base Area, Bike Park, additional trails on State Park lands, and connection to Nine Mile.

2028

Partnerships

Kocourek Trailhead LLC (KTH) is working closely with numerous partners through many aspects of the project, primarily the WI DNR via land use agreements that allow trail construction on public lands and memorandum of understanding covering roles/responsibilities of managing and maintaining trails on public lands.

Operations

The focus of KTH’s operations will be from entering the private lands, parking at the site, utilizing the trailhead facilities (food/bev, retail, bike shop, event space) to experiencing the bike park (pump track, skills trails, freeride trails, and more TBD), and up to the “Gravity Zone” of 10-12 miles of sessionable trail experiences. As mentioned earlier, 4.85 miles of this zone will be on private lands with the remainder on WI DNR State Park lands.

Maintenance

KTH will have an Operations and Maintenance plan that will outline operational hours, duties, emergency action plan (EAP), event planning, event schedule, daily/weekly/monthly/annual trail and facility inspections, accident response and accident location tracking, and daily/weekly/monthly/annual maintenance actions.

Staffing

KTH will expand staffing to have a full-time trail maintenance manager with seasonal maintenance staff, a bike patrol (like ski patrol, a clinic/triage space in the base area building(s), programming/event/social media manager, and facilities manager. The food/beverage, bike shop, and other programming inside the building(s) will be leased out where staffing will be managed by those leasing spaces.

Events

KTH does not plan on hosting high attendance “coordinated events” and programs during Phase 1. Gatherings will be limited to a groundbreaking event, casual group rides and hikes, and up to 2 local bike race team practices and/or skill building clinics per season. Gatherings will be less than 75 participants; the groundbreaking event may have up to 100 attendees.

Phase 1 Plans

Phase 1 for the purpose of the Village of Rib Mountain Site Plan review is defined by the 2026-27 trail construction and basic trailhead facility support components.