New Russian Jack singletrack trails bring easier access to cyclists in East Anchorage

Taylor Salsbury and Konnor Kiddle stopped for a quick breather on Tuesday at Anchorage’s Russian Jack Springs Park, a brief stop in the midst of a fun-filled sunny afternoon.

The two friends were among the many dozens of bikers riding the new singletrack trails developed at the vast East Anchorage park.

The trails, located in a section of the park west of Boniface Parkway and north of Debarr Road, include about 3 miles of new riding area in total.

If early reviews are any indication, the trails will be a burgeoning favorite with bikers of all ages and skill levels. The pair of 10-year-olds do plenty of riding, but as residents of South Anchorage’s Bayshore neighborhood, there was little reason for them to travel north to find trails. That may change with the opening of the Russian Jack trails.

“The big jumps are super fun,” Salsbury said. “It’s a good section of the park to explore. ... you can just lap it over and over and practice different tricks.”

The Alaska Trails project was funded largely with a Recreational Trails Program grant through the state of Alaska as well as an Anchorage Park Foundation Challenge Grant funded by the Rasmuson Foundation.

Developing the trails has been more than a decade-long vision for Alaska Trails executive director Steve Cleary and Carl Battreall, the Alaska Trails project manager for the mountain bike project. Both were Eastside neighbors with young kids who used Russian Jack for skiing and other outdoor endeavors, so bike trails seemed like a natural fit.

An earlier attempt to install the trails wasn’t approved, but a new location north of DeBarr fit the city’s 2022 Master Plan for the park, and with much of the funding already in place, Fairbanks firm Happy Trails started building the trails in fall 2023.

The project brings to East Anchorage a style of trail that has generally only been available on the south and west sides of town, mostly at Kincaid Park and near the Hillside.

“There are a lot of cyclists on the east side of town,” Battreall said. “We all have to either ride a pretty long ways to get to any dirt trails or drive. I think everyone is pretty happy there’s something in town, and it’s accessible off paved path.”

Organizers point to that accessibility as a major benefit to the trails. Susan Sherman lives near Kincaid but she was Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening day of riding. An avid mountain biker, Sherman said having options in each part of town strengthens Anchorage’s outdoor activity ecosystem.

“It’s super cool to have trails in all the communities that are accessible to everyone,” she said. “I can ride my bike from my house to singletrack. It’s a huge quality of life thing for me so I’m happy to see that.”

Jesse Batac, 24, is a mountain bike rider who regularly makes trips to Hillside, Kincaid and even a rare trip to Alyeska.

“I love all the features,” he said of the new trails. “I think the length of the trails are perfect for doing sessions, you know, quick loops, nice jumps. It’s perfect.”

Sherman and others said singletrack and mountain biking is continuing to grow in Anchorage. Singletrack Advocates is developing new a new 6-mile loop that goes from Service High School to Hilltop. Russian Jack has schools in close proximity on all sides and area’s population density means the park is popular with a diversity of user groups.

“The park just has so many things going on,” Cleary said. “You know, you go by the skate park and the playground and the softball and the soccer. There’s running races there, skiing in the winter, and then on the other side, golf and the greenhouse. It just, it just goes on and on.”

Nicolette Dent, a park planner with the city’s Parks & Rec Department who worked on the project, said the vision for the 2022 Master Plan has put in place a template for groups like Alaska Trails to develop projects and secure funding. A bulk of the money for the project came from $187,328 Recreational Trails Program via the state of Alaska.

“Having these plans and getting the community to come to a consensus on development enables grant funding to be put to work and show results,” she said.

There were around 50 bikers joining community leaders at Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting with dozens more joining on the trails into the early evening. While there were plenty of groups of adults both young and old, there were a large number of families as well. Cleary said the fun quotient on the project rivals any that Alaska Trails has done recently.

“We work a lot on really fun hiking trails and I like to hike a lot, but the excitement that was there (Tuesday) is really hard to re-create on a hiking trail,” he said.

Like many other singletrack trails in Anchorage, the new Russian Jack lanes have some fun and referential titles.

Located near the old Girl Scout Day Camp, there are Thin Mint, Snickerdoodle, Do-Si-Do and Lemon Drop trails. There’s also Bootlegger, a nod to the park’s notorious namesake Jacob Marunenko. There’s even a trail named VHS, a reference to what excavating crews found in the area during construction.

Cleary said a maintenance plan for the trails are still being developed with the city but Alaska Trails plans to be involved going forward.

The trails should be popular with winter bikers as well, with easy connections to Chester Creek and the popular trails near APU, Goose Lake and University Lake.

“We’re hoping that all seasons there will be some fun biking to go with the skiing that goes on over there,” Cleary said.