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New mountain biking trails get rainy opening in Valley
- Ellie Ruel
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
Thunder Mountain Bike Park builds off Under Thunder trail
By Ellie Ruel
Juneau Independent
Bikers of all ages splashed through the mud to try out the new features at Thunder Mountain Bike Park during its official opening celebration on Sunday.
“I think the jumps were really fun,” said Parker Heard, 8.
The project was a collaboration between the Juneau Mountain Bike Alliance, Juneau Parks and Recreation, and Trail Mix Inc. JMBA president Reid Harris said the park took about five years and hundreds of volunteer laborers.
“The valley really needed a place where kids could go riding because 75% of our population is right here and a lot of families with younger kids,” Harris said.
All eight new trails are fed by the existing Under Thunder trail. Harris said the community of mountain bikers originally found the area and experimented there since the crushed shale from Thunder Mountain was ideal for biking.
“You have to engineer the trails to handle a lot of water. It usually requires a lot of wood features to bridge, streams, chasms and other things like that,” he said. “Anywhere in Southeast it's a jungle — you got three feet of spruce roots and vegetation and stuff — so you actually get down to any kind of dirt that's actually good for building and holding a form. But right here it's just right on the surface and that pile replenishes itself every year.”
Harris said they started constructing trails without official approval, but the city asked them to pause and formally organize. They formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and signed a memorandum of understanding, moving forward with construction about five years later.
“Now we have a place that has a lot to offer our community,” said Deputy Mayor Greg Smith in a speech before the ribbon cutting. “A place with a good, healthy, positive outlook and activity. It's a place where you can build friendships and build skills.”
Harris said JMBA has run into issues with motorcycle riders using the trail and damaging it as well as endangering other riders. Pedestrians and motorized vehicles are banned on the bike park trails.
“The surfaces are not hardened for motor use. They get torn up, and it's actual structural problems, and we can't be out here working right now, 'cause there's so much use happening,” Harris said.
He noted it’s a life and safety issue for the motorized riders as well, since most of the jumps and features are designed for use at 15-25 miles per hour.
The total cost was about $320,000, mainly funded by the Juneau Community Foundation and Rasmuson Foundation grants, according to Harris. He said the group brought in contractor Gene Paasch to professionally develop the trails with progressive levels, matched to difficulty.
“It’s to help you learn to be a better mountain biker, like, you know, those of us that build these trails might just do black trails that are left to our own devices, 'cause that's what we like to ride,” Harris said. “But we want everyone else to learn to ride, also, so you need things like Dream Zone, Woody, the kids, and adaptables And then once you get comfortable on these you can start to step up to the blue trails, just two of those. We try to kind of split it evenly, three greens, two blue, three black.”
Some of the trails sport names like “Bob Gnarly” and “In the Gnome of Love.”
“There's a progression of the trails that goes about as high as you want to go when it comes to bike skills,” said Phil Moser. “But it's really nice to see that that's always an option that you don't have to do. There's always an alternative, there's always an opportunity to be creative about how you get down, you can be as safe or as up-in-the-air as you want to be.”
Moser said he’s been mountain biking around Juneau for years and now his sister’s children are getting into the sport.
Many of the young riders were enthused by the muddy conditions, with Hollis Shanley, 6, saying it was his favorite part. His younger brother Logan concurred, adding that “jumping in the air” was also fun.
“Their dad bikes a lot, so they’re supported,” said Christina Shanley. “They’re pretty comfortable on this trail, the beginner trail.”
Cordova Pleasants brought her two children to celebrate and explore the new trails.
“We've been here already, but we're here to celebrate and we'll find out more,” she said. “They're amazing. I'm from here, so I never had any of this at all, so to have this for my kids, I like it a lot.”
• Contact Ellie Ruel at ellie.ruel@juneauindependent.com.
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