Our local trails help make Anchorage an incredible place to live. Organizations like the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage and Singletrack Advocates deserve your support to build and maintain these trails.
As the ADN recently reported, trail user numbers have shot up in the last few years and Anchorageites are taking to the trails by storm to socialize and exercise! There is nothing better than running into friends on the Mize Loop at Kincaid Park or on Jeff’s Whoop Whoop at Hillside Park. It drives home the feeling of being connected to a community of trail lovers. In terms of trails, I can’t think of another city to compare with Anchorage. How many cities of Anchorage’s size have the hundreds of miles of trails in municipal parks and green belts that we do? And we don’t just have paved trails, we have cross-country ski, singletrack, and view-worthy hiking trails.
Along with the welcomed increased number of trail users, higher sales of skis and bikes show that people are not just getting outside, they are expanding the activities they do. State and municipal budgets never keep up with the needs of trail users, and while I hope this changes in the future, at present it is these nonprofits that build and maintain Anchorage’s trails.
Many similar trail systems in the U.S. pay for the maintenance of their trails by charging for day or seasonal use similar to a downhill ski area. Anchorage’s nonprofits remove that fee structure and replace it with donations and memberships and our beautiful trails will only continue to be there when users like us give.Our local nonprofits call upon conscientious trail users to donate or become members. We, the trail users of Anchorage, can decide to support the things that matter to us most.
— Tamra Kornfield
Anchorage
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