An innovative trail project is currently in the works in Anchorage, Alaska. This new trail, currently being referred to as the “Service Singletrack” but still technically unnamed, is set to open sometime this summer.
“This little new loop that they built out at the bottom [of the Hillside trail system], they tried something new,” said Carl Battreall, Trail Manager for Singletrack Advocates. “Essentially, instead of a trail just being this blue, black, green, whatever, they tried to make a trail that [has] multiple lines on the whole trail.” This type of trail design has never been tried in Anchorage before and will offer local mountain bikers a totally new ride flavor.
Once the full vision is realized, the Service Singletrack will be a six-mile trail, but only about three miles will open during the summer of 2024, according to Battreall. Service Singletrack will connect to the existing Hillside trail system and will be located below the Hillside jump trails. Above the Hillside trails is the Hemlock Burn trail, itself a 6-mile downhill. By connecting all of these segments, mountain bikers will eventually have a descent of massive proportions right on the edge of the city of Anchorage.
When we spoke with Battreall, the Service Singletrack had been reviewed twice by the municipality, and it was hoped that the trails would open in the next few weeks. “The muni was kind of like, ‘I don’t know what to do with it,'” said Battreall. “So it’s been done for a while, but the municipality just had to consult lawyers and other people and look at other parts of the trail and be like, ‘well, this is new for us.'”
As of the time of this writing, those two weeks had already come and gone. We followed up with Martin Miller, the Project Lead for Service Singletrack with Singletrack Advocates to get the status of the approval.
“We’re working with the municipality on some closeout items before the trails can open,” said Miller. “You can never tell what’s going to get approved until it’s final, and we don’t have final approval yet. But so far, we have not had to make any significant modifications that impact the character of the trail.” Hopefully, final approval will come through very soon.
The mountain bike scene in Anchorage is exploding, as evidenced by the new trails that just opened in Russian Jack Springs Park. When I visited Anchorage in 2022, I spoke with local riders who raved about how the mountain bike scene has absolutely transformed within the last 10 years — and especially within the past five. That trend doesn’t show any signs of stopping.
Update: As of Friday, August 9th, the first loop is now open.
