Anchorage Daily News

Descending from Prospect Heights on the newly constructed but as-yet-unnamed trail built by SingleTrack Advocates on Wednesday, Rose Austin seemed to drift effortlessly. The trail dipped and turned with the terrain, blending in naturally, much as a stream or river etches itself into the landscape.

Austin's bike turned tight corners, banked high-sided curves and hopped over small obstacles with ease. The author of "Mountain Bike Anchorage" traveled less than 10 mph, gaining speed in some spots and slowing in others. All the while, she looked comfortable, though, as if this trail was made for riding.

In fact, it was.

SingleTrack Advocates, a local group working to preserve, build and maintain natural trails in Anchorage, is nearly finished with its $260,000-plus project of constructing about eight miles of singletrack mountain biking trails in Far North Bicentennial Park.

And while the trails all look inviting, only a one-mile section is open to the public. The others -- more than four miles of an advanced riding trail, and nearly three more miles of intermediate trail -- remain closed, adorned with yellow tape and signs with crossbones and skulls.

To those new to interpreting signs, this means stay off until finished.

Monique Anderson, municipal parks superintendent, said the original plan was for a grand opening of the new trails in late September to coincide with National Public Lands Day.

That has changed.

While the trails will be complete, park officials and SingleTrack Advocates members agreed that allowing the trails to firm up this winter and allow vegetation to grow back will help them long term.

One mile of trail is open because the finish work has been completed and it can handle the traffic. Still, the fewer riders this season -- especially given the wet conditions -- the better, she said.

Anchorage parks planner Holly Spoth-Torres said the trails are most vulnerable immediately after construction. And she knows it's hard for mountain bikers to resist new narrow-tread trails.

DON'T MESS TRAILS UP

The two trails are in the Southeast portion of the 4,000-acre park, bordering Chugach State Park. One is suited for intermediate-level riders. The other has technical challenges aimed at advanced riders.

Already riders have discovered the completed one-mile section of intermediate trail, and riders on a local online mountain bike forum (forums.mtbr.com, "Alaska" forum) are raving about it. Others have ridden sections of the trail still taped off and under construction, which has prompted criticism.

"These are our trails," Austin said. "It makes no sense to get on them and mess them up."

The project, funded by donations and grants, is one of the best-organized Bicentennial Park trail-building projects in years. Singletrack Advocates members wrote grants, worked with the municipality and consulted area biologists to find the best places for the trails.

They hired an Outside designer and contracted with a Fairbanks trail-builder. Both have spent the summer creating trails built to standards of the International Mountain Bicycling Association. That group, based in Colorado, is considered a leading voice in sustainable trail-building, particularly for mountain biking, which requires trails to be mostly dry to avoid terrain damage.

Spoth-Torres said she thinks it was time well spent.

"There are a lot of trails that exist in the park, but none of them have been designed to be sustainable," she said at a meeting earlier in the year. "This is a great project because it has been professionally planned."

The open section of trail is accessed from the Prospect Heights trail head off the Gasline Trail, or from the Hilltop Ski Area, two-tenths of a mile off the intersection of Upper Gasline and Spencer Loop.

HEAD DOWNHILL

Riding the trail from both directions provides very different experiences, but the best flow is the downhill route, from Prospect Heights down to the ski area.

Spoth-Torres noted that the trail is not signed yet and can get confusing where it intersects with the Llama Trail. Temporary signs will be put up for the winter, with the permanent ones going in in the spring.

Find Melissa DeVaughn online at adn.com/contact/mdevaughn or call 257-4482.

HELP INSTALL SIGNS

• Volunteers are needed to help install signposts and temporary signs on the new singletrack trails at Far North Bicentennial Park as part of National Public Lands Day. Meet 8:30 a.m. Sept. 27 at Hilltop Ski Area for muffins and coffee, and begin trail work at 9 a.m. Details? Contact Lisa Holzapfel at lisa_holzapfel@nps.gov or call 644-3586.

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