9B Trails gives updates on projects

9B Trails has been working hard to create public trails for mountain biking, hiking, horseback riders and cross country skiers throughout Boundary County.

Tess Rae, president and treasurer of 9B Trails, spoke at a recent Rotary Club meeting to update members on the trail group's progress, as well as future plans, making it clear that this was a labor of love for her.

“It was important to me,” she said. “When I had little ones, we never had a place to really ride bikes, walk or do anything because as you know, we just got sidewalks a couple years ago.”

She noticed other towns like Sandpoint had trails for similar purposes, and she wanted that for Boundary County. From there, 9B Trails was born.

9B Trails, a nonprofit organization, began in 2018. Since then, they’ve raised more than $160,000. Those funds have been used to purchase a mini excavator, tools, a Snowdog (a standup groomer designed to groom single track, narrow trails) to create trails for cross country skiers, new trail excavation and parking lots.

Their goal is to create 23.2 miles of new trails across three trail systems by 2022. Those trail systems include Paradise Valley, Enchanted Forest, Riverside Park and the Mudslide Trail.

“Trails typically cost $10,000 per mile but we’ve been able to get it to $5,000 per mile,” Rae said. “The reason we’ve been able to do that is we use our excavator and […] then pay for an excavator operator.”

They began their work in Paradise Valley along Kootenai Trail Road going up Peterson Hill, where they have 11 miles of trails planned on the 640 acres of state land.

9B Trails added 5.4 miles of trails in 2019, the first mountain biking trails in Boundary County.

In 2020, they put in a 70-by-200-foot parking lot, trail signs, continued excavation work into 2021 and purchased a Snowdog. They also installed information kiosks for mountain bikers and partnered with KG&T Septic, which donated portable toilets to the project.

Rae also shared their plans for the spring of 2022, which include an additional 4.9 miles of trails, benches, signage and a trail counter to gather data about who is using the trails.

The Enchanted Forest trail system in the Cow Creek area. They’ve secured a 60-year lease for the 1,100 acres for public use with 30 miles of trails currently designed.

To date they have added a parking lot off Hoot Owl Road, excavated 6.7 miles of trails and added mountain biking kiosks.

Plans for this fall will add an additional 1.5 miles of trails, a second, more accessible parking lot, more signage and another kiosk.

Rae finished her presentation with plans for the Riverside Park trail system. In the spring of 2021, 9B Trails received a grant for $74,800 from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.

Plans for this project include a 2-mile trail, benches, kiosks, signage, fitness stations, a disc golf course and other needed improvements. They’ve been working with the Boundary County Museum so the signage includes interesting and educational information about the area.

Rae stressed that they have been trying to spend all funds locally. “That’s really important to me,” she said. “I want to see the money stay local.”

“Community support and awareness,” is vital to the organization, said Rae, and encouraged those who want to volunteer to contact them.

Go to https://9btrails.org/ for more information or to support these projects.