Bear Mor's Winter Base Camp: The Rec Park on North Fourth Street and a Greenway Trail Proposed Across From Pinecrest Road
This winter, two changes are in progress on North Fourth Street, close to Bear Mor Ridge. The Recreation Department playground has been closed since Oct. 5 to make way for a new one. At the Town Board's Oct. 15 meeting, the Highlands Greenway also presented a proposed trail running north on North Fourth Street to Little Bear Pen Road and on toward Sherwood Forest Road.
For a household on Big Bear Pen, this part of town works as a winter base. It has an indoor pool, a gym, a fitness center that members can use around the clock, and trailheads that connect to walks across town. Over the next few months, the trails and play areas around it will be changing too.
The Highlands Civic Center sits inside the Recreation Park at 600 North Fourth Street. It houses the Parks and Recreation Department offices, a gymnasium, meeting rooms and the fitness center. The department's posted hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Sunday afternoons are short, and in a mountain winter that matters. The town's answer is 24-hour access, available to anyone with a fitness membership of one month or longer. A one-day pass gets you in during staffed hours. A monthly membership lets you work out after 9 p.m. on a weekday or before the doors open on a Sunday morning, so the monthly tier is where the facility becomes useful any time of day.
The town's Information & Activities page posts the fitness center fees as two rates for each term. Pool-with-fitness and court fees are listed separately:
| Access | Day | Month | Three Months | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fitness Center, two posted rates | $8 or $20 | $45 or $75 | $100 or $140 | $200 or $300 |
| Pool with Fitness, individual | $11 | $65 | $140 | $345 |
| Pool with Fitness, family | $25 | $105 | $230 | $605 |
| Tennis and Pickleball | $2 | $20 | $50 | $150 per player |
There is also a six-month court pass at $90 and a one-week fitness pass at $25 or $40. The Recreation Department, at 828-526-3556, can tell you which fitness rate applies to your household.
A November weekday at the Recreation Park follows a steady schedule. This is the program as listed in The Highlander's Oct. 22 recreation bulletin, with the pool times the town posts:
Two parts of that schedule are especially useful in winter. The department has six outdoor pickleball courts and three indoor ones, and play moves into the gym when the weather turns, if the gym is free. Open play has a few posted rules. Road-side players serve first, court play is limited to one game when others are waiting, and the back left court is the challenge court for higher-skilled players.
The pool stays open year-round, with limits. The town says a lifeguard shortage restricts weekday use to lap swim, water aerobics and adults over 18, with limited public swim on weekends. Public swim runs Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m., and the schedule may shift with lifeguard availability. For questions, the pool's direct line is 828-526-1595.
If you've walked through the Recreation Park lately, you'll have noticed the playground is closed. The town closed it effective Oct. 5, 2026, to prepare for the new playground.
The project has been in town minutes for a year. At its Nov. 20, 2025 meeting, the Board of Commissioners selected the playground company Kompan for negotiations on an ADA-accessible playground built for wheelchair users. The Town cited a $1.6 million goal, with about $1.56 million committed at the time. In the Jan. 15, 2026 minutes, Commissioner Weller reported meeting with Kompan. The estimate had risen to $1.66 million, and he hoped to bring a guaranteed maximum price to the Board in February. The October closure is the first visible sign of that work. For families with grandchildren visiting over the holidays, the playground is off the list this season. The pool's weekend public swim hours and the gym remain.
The second change is still a proposal. According to The Highlander's report on the Oct. 15 Board meeting, Highlands Greenway Vice President Jim Ward presented a route that would begin across from the Pinecrest Road entrance on North Fourth Street. It would head north to Little Bear Pen Road and follow that road to the hairpin turn. From there it would cross and continue along the right side of North Fourth Street out of town, ending near the entrance to Sherwood Forest Road. Hikers could return to town by way of Sherwood Forest Road and the Kelsey Trail.
Ward also described the woods along the route, as The Highlander reported:
"There is some really nice loop potential there and some beautiful woods in that area. There are a lot of big rock cliffs up there, so we're going to have at least a spur trail in that area for people to enjoy."
There is a sidewalk on the left side of North Fourth Street but none on the right, where the entrance is proposed. Ward asked the town to choose between building a new sidewalk on the right side and adding a crosswalk from the existing one. He said the sidewalk would be 400 feet long and that trail users could park along Poplar Street. Mayor Patrick Taylor raised concerns about sight distance for drivers coming into town, and Commissioner Amy Patterson called the sidewalk "the better, safe option."
The Town's meeting calendar lists a Board of Commissioners workshop at 6 p.m. and a regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026. Agendas are posted on the Town of Highlands meetings page.
The proposed trail matters to Bear Mor because of the trails it would connect to, several of them close to the community.
Together, these trails make the Recreation Park a starting point for walks south to Mill Creek and Mirror Lake, while the Kelsey Trail and the Big Bear Pen route sit closer to home. If the Board approves the North Fourth Street route with either the 400-foot sidewalk or a crosswalk, a loop through the woods and rock cliffs north toward Little Bear Pen Road would be added to the same network. The Greenway's own description of its interconnected trail network already lists Big Bear Pen and Kelsey.
For now, the Recreation Park is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, the lap lanes open at 6 a.m., and the Rec Park Trail starts at the park.
At Michaud Rauers Group, we follow the town projects that shape daily life around Bear Mor, from the new playground at the Recreation Park to the Greenway's proposed northern loop. If you're weighing how changes on North Fourth Street could affect your home's value, we'd welcome the chance to talk with you. Schedule a Complimentary Luxury Listing Consultation, and we'll walk you through what's moving and what it means for your property.
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