You Can Learn to Build Trails!

Back in 2005 your Singletrack Advocates Steering Committee learned to build sustainable trails in training sessions sponsored by Alaska Trails. Here’s your opportunity to learn the art of trail building! Thanks to Steve Cleary for letting us know about this class:

Alaska Trails Upcoming Trainings

Mike Shields will teach a two-day course in Anchorage. Mike is a retired National Park Service Chief of Maintenance with exceptional trail experience in seven western parks - including Denali - and has been teaching this class and others since 1972.

Trail Design and Layout – Monday, May 20th and Tuesday May 21st at the BP Energy Center
This course will incorporate the Advanced Turns Module as well.

These interactive advanced modules are a continuing education lesson for natural resource professionals and technicians who have been through Alaska Trails' Introduction to Sustainable Trails 101 training*.  These advanced classes are designed to acquaint the trainee with a rational process for establishing the design standards for any given trail, the best approach to routing and laying out the trail on the ground, and the risks associated with deviating from that approach. Emphasis is given to "reading the ground" to assess its suitability for any particular type of trail or use. Half of the day will be in class and half in the field.  Please come dressed to spend part of each day in the field.

2-day Course fee: Non-Profit - $250, Agency/Government - $370, For-Profit - $500
(Minimum 8 participants)

*If necessary, for students of the above class, a separate Introduction to Sustainable Trails 101 course can be given the Friday or Sunday evening prior to the above advanced courses depending on student availability.  There is a separate $50 fee for this class. 

To register for a course, schedule a training course or to obtain more information, please contact ALASKA TRAILS at 907-334-8049 or office@alaska-trails.org.
 
For more information on the courses, visit the Alaska Trails website.

You Make Singletrack Happen!

It's hard to believe that April is winding down, but your friends at Singletrack Advocates have been busy getting ready for the upcoming dirt-riding and trail-building season. Before the season begins, we want to thank each of you for supporting our recent fundraising efforts.

In early April, we had two successful evenings of fundraising - the Mountain Bike Film and Music Festival - during which we raised... wait for it... over $27,000! We could not have done it without the folks at TapRoot who came to us with the offer to host the event; without steering committee members who stepped to organize the event; without the sponsors* who offered fantastic auction items; or without you, our supporters, who attended one or both nights. Thank you!

To top it off, the week after the fundraiser, we received word that the Anchorage Park Foundation has awarded us a grant in the amount of $20,000! Combined, these funds put us nearly a third of the way to our fundraising goal for building the North Phase of the Kincaid Singletracks.

So far, we've had lots of community support to assure that the project happens. Earlier this month, approximately 50 supporters attended the Parks & Recreation meeting where Lee Bolling presented our project to the P&R board. Next month, on Thursday, May 9, we'll be on the agenda again as the commission hears public testimony and makes the decision on whether to approve our plan.

We'd like to thank all of you for your continued support and ask that you set aside May 9 as your evening to tell Parks & Recreation that you support more singletrack trails in Kincaid Park. The meeting will be at the Spenard Rec Center, beginning at 6 p.m. See you there!

More of this, please!

*Please support our generous sponsors who donated products to the auction:
Alyeska Hotel
The Star Lookout
Paramount Cycles
Giant Bicycles
Speedway Cycles
Alaska Appraisal & Consulting Group
Bicycle Shop
Skinny Raven
AMH
REI
Trek Concept Store
Scott Clendaniel
Dallas Wildeve
Bloomsbury Blooms
Gina Edwards
Siciliano Photography
Snow City/Spenard Roadhouse
Ginger
Samurai Cereal
Mighty Bikes
Sevigny Studios
Kittywake Designs

Additional thanks go to the bands that played each evening: Firefly, Super Belfry String Collective, Alaska Gypsies and Midtown Revival. Local musicians supporting local trails.

Mark your Calendars

Singletrack Advocates would like to thank all our supporters for making last week's fundraiser at the Tap Root a wild success!! Auction donors, auction bidders, table purchasers, people who bought tickets and who put money in the Trail Fund jar. Volunteers. Thank you! You are making trails happen in Anchorage! But there's more to this than just the fundraising.

You've donated money, now come lend your support!

The other important way you can support building more trails is to attend TWO of the upcoming Parks & Recreation Commission meetings. On Thursday, April 11th Lee Bolling (your Thursday night Tap Root MC) will present the Kincaid North Trail Project to the commission members. This is an information item on the agenda. Public testimony will not be taken, but we need to fill the room to show the commission that we want more trails.

The second meeting is on May 9th and includes time for public testimony. Following public testimony, the commission will vote on the project. We definitely need you there to speak up in support of the trails!

Parks and Recreation Commission Meetings
Thursdays April 11 and May 9
6:00 p.m. at the Spenard Rec. Center

Please come! We really need you!


photo by Amanda Prevel-Ramos

Fundraiser Time!

Join us for a
Mountain Bike Film and Music Festival
at the Tap Root!
3300 Spenard Road, Anchorage

Open-seating tickets and Premium Tables can be purchased online HERE.

Thursday, APRIL 4TH
Doors open at 6:30 pm
7:00 – 9:00 pm Films and Auction:

Films:
Life Cycles, by Stance Films
Shorts program

Auction:
Fatback frame and fork
Lift access mt. biking and 1-night stay at the Hotel Alyeska
Giant XTC 29er complete
Plus many more items!

9:00 – 1:00 Live Music
Paul Anderson and Midtown Revival
Super Belfrey String Collective


Friday, APRIL 5TH
Doors open at 6:30 pm
7:00 – 9:00 pm Films and Auction:

Films:
Strength in Numbers, by Anthill Films
Shorts program

Auction:
Fatback frame and fork
6 nights at The Star Lookout on Maui
Plus many more items!

9:00 pm – 2:00 am Live Music:
Firefly
Alaska Gypsies
Milo Matthews

Join us as we raise funds to build Phase II of the Kincaid Singletrack Project.
Singletrack Advocates is a 501(c)3 Non-profit organization located in Anchorage, Alaska.

Photograph by Tim Woody.
Poster design by Leif Kahal.

Kincaid Singletrack Phase II

We're on our way to building Phase II of the Kincaid Park Singletrack! Last night the Sand Lake Community Council unanimously approved our proposal to build another six miles of trail, this time on the north side of Raspberry Road.

Proposed North Phase Kincaid Singletrack

Board member and project manager, Lee Bolling, gave a detailed presentation to the council and responded to residents' questions about moose, other wildlife and limits to park development.

Over a dozen Singletrack Advocates members and supporters attended, with some offering testimony and comments to counter some criticism. Maeve Nevins from Parks & Recreation was also there to offer support.

Next up: appear before the Parks & Recreation Commission.

Middle Fork Special-Use Permits

From Chugach State Park:

Fat Tire Winter Bikers,

Greetings from Chugach State Park. We have already started another winter of recreational activities and the following information clarifies where you can legally ride this winter.

As always the following trails are open year round by state regulation to biking:

11 AAC 20.050. Bicycles

(a) Except as provided in (b) of this section, the use of bicycles in Chugach State Park is allowed only in campgrounds, picnic areas, and in the following areas:

(1) Eklutna Lakeside Trail; (2) the gasline service road from Prospect Heights Trailhead to Indian Trailhead; (3) the Glen Alps Trail Head to Powerline Trail on the designated trail; (4) Bird Creek logging trails south of the Quartz Creek ford; (5) Peters Creek road from Malcom Drive to the state park motorized vehicle barrier; (6) Powerline Trail, including the access trail from the Prospect Heights Trailhead to the Powerline Trail; (7) Wolverine Bowl Trail from the Prospect Heights Trailhead to the overlook at the north end of the homestead roadbed; (8) Middle Fork Loop Trail from the intersection of the Near Point Trail to the south end of the homestead roadbed; (9) the 1D9 trail in the Eagle River Greenbelt; (10) a trail or area that is open to the use of snowmobiles under 11 AAC 20.040; (11) the South Fork Rim Trail, the Silver Fern Trail, the White Spruce Trail, and the Llama Trail of the Hillside Trail System; (12) the paved pathway along Turnagain Arm, from Indian Creek to the state park boundary at Girdwood. (b) The director may, by order, close a trail or area listed in (a) of this section to the use of bicycles to protect soils or vegetation; to reduce or eliminate user conflicts; or to further management of Chugach State Park. Closures under this section shall be posted at entrances to the affected trail or area.

This season (2012-13) the park will be issuing Special Use Permits that will enable winter fat tire bikers to ride on the Middle Fork Trail. The time permitted Fat Tire Bikes will be allowed on the Middle Fork trail will be December 1st to April 1st. The purpose of the special use permit is to allow for the park to try out new recreational activities in different areas and judge their impact on the resources.

To obtain a permit for the Middle Fork Trail you must email csp@alaska.gov. Include your name, address, and a good contact email. Within 4 business days, we will email you a permit that you need to affix to your bike so that it is visible and you are good to ride.

To distinguish between regular mountain bikes we have created a working definition for Fat Tire Bikes as follows. A Fat Tire Bike is defined as a self-propelled bicycle created for cycling on soft, unstable surfaces. The tire width is 3.5” or greater and tire pressure is less than 20 pounds per square inch ground pressure.

We ask that all winter riders observe permit requirements and park regulations.

Ride Safe,

Chugach State Park

New Kincaid Map!

Thanks to the folks at the Municipality of Anchorage, we have a new map of the Kincaid singletrack network, and it's suitable for printing and carrying with you on the trail. Click on the image above, or in our "Printable Documents" section in the upper-right corner of this page.