Trail Updates 2025-2026
By Matt
2025 Recap: Weathering the Storms at Back River Bike Park
With the 2026 trail building season fast approaching, it’s high time for an update on how things went at the future Back River Bike Park over the last year. To put it bluntly: 2025 was a bit of a rollercoaster. While we are still on track with our overall roadmap, we didn't quite hit the mileage we hoped for. Here’s the breakdown of the highs, the lows, and the mud in between (as well what you can expect in 2026).
Will working away on the climb trail - Our Mini-X has more than paid for itself, already.
A Year of Extremes: Rain vs. Drought
Our progress in 2025 was largely dictated by the whims of Mother Nature.
- The Big Soak: The spring and early summer brought an incredible amount of rain. This made the access road nearly impassable and delayed us getting heavy equipment, like the excavator, into position.
- The Big Dry: Just as we found our rhythm, the taps turned off completely. Unprecedented droughts led to provincial forestry bans to prevent fires. Even though it's our own land, we chose to stay out of the woods to ensure the safety of the entire area.
The land was so dry that the leaves began to change colour and fall as early as late August...
Quality Over Quantity: The Climb Trail
It might sound crazy to hear that we only completed 500 meters of trail this season, but there's a method to the madness. We are currently focused on the Climb Trail—the most critical piece of the entire network.
- Make or Break: If a climb trail is too difficult or poorly built, people won't want to come back. We need this to be perfect.
- Phase 1 Complete: We have finished the first of three stages. It features three beautiful bridges, incredible switchbacks, and a comfortable and sustainable grade that offers respite when needed.
- Unique Terrain: Our land is quite narrow—two plots (PIDs) running parallel up the fall line. This means we can't just zigzag everywhere and be done with it; we have to be surgical with our planning to save space for the descents. Taking extra time to plan the trail is well worth it, in the long run.
The Climb Trail is looking fantastic, so far!
The 2026 Hurdle: The Access Road
One issue that we no longer have the luxury of time avoiding is the access road. Since purchasing the land in 2023, the road has eroded significantly, causing multiple issues for us going forward.
- The Erosion Problem: Without proper ditching, the road itself has become the water runoff.
- The Impact: It’s no longer bikeable and most vehicles can't make it to the top. Fixing this is a priority, as we need that road to get tools and machinery to our build sites, as well for shuttling when we do open to the public.
This issue is something that will take a sizable investment to fix. We are going to have to either find funding, or make some insignificant sacrifices to be able to afford to do it on our own.
Looking Ahead: Unlocking the Park
Our primary goal for 2026 is to finish the Climb Trail all the way to the intended trailhead. Once that’s done, we believe the rest of the land will "unlock," allowing the remaining trails to fall into place much faster.
We’re also excited about our section-based design. Unlike traditional ski-hill parks where you have to go from the very bottom to the very top, our network will allow riders to session specific sections. Whether you want a quick lower lap or to grind out the technical upper trails, you’ll have the flexibility to ride your way. This will be something that we will elaborate more on this season as we continue to post updates to the network.
We can't wait to get back out there and eventually open these trails to our friends, family, and the community. We were stoked to be able to host a group run last summer to help stomp in some sections of trail that desperately needed it, and we very much want to do the same with bikes this coming season…… That being said, NO DIG, NO RIDE!..
Sure, it’s a slogan that has taken on an elitist/exclusive nature in recent years, but we mean it in the best way possible. Afterall, many hands make light work, and we absolutely plan to open these trails to the public when the time is right. However, in order to make that happen, we need as much help as we can. If you want to help us trail build we would LOVE to have you. No experience is required, just show up and be ready to invest some sweat equity. Not only will you get an awesome workout, but you’ll be able to ride our trails before the general public, and you’ll feel great knowing that you are building something for the community that will hopefully last forever.
Interested? Send us a message on our instagram @backriver.bike
