Mountain Bikes

There have been conflicts between bikers and/or hikers, equestrians and bird watchers on the Wissahickon trails. In order to ameliorate these tensions, a policy was formulated and implemented several years ago that allows the use of bicycles on a limited number of "shared use" trails. As part of this program, Fairmount Park installed trail signs and instituted a trail user registration program. A trail user permit is now required for all bikes using the upper trails in the Wissahickon. Get more information on obtaining a bike permit.

Additionally biking groups, such as the Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association (PMBA), work with Fairmount Park, FOW, and the public to improve maintenance of trails. Moreover, one of the central goals of FOW's Sustainable Trails Initiative is to redesign the trails system in order to achieve a more comfortable balance between different user groups.