Speed-demon riders will soon be able to bomb what may be some of the steepest routes in Humboldt County when the new mountain biking trails on the Hoopa Valley Reservation are finished.

Part of a year-long partnership between the Mountain Bike Tribal Trail Alliance (MBTTA) and the Hoopa Valley Tribe, seven trails will be built on the reservation, totaling about eight miles in length. 

One has been completed. The trails in the McKinleyville Community Forest tend to drop about 200 feet in a mile — this one plummets 1,300 feet in a mile down the side of Big Hill. The other six will be about as steep or even steeper. 

The MBTTA and the Hoopa Valley Tribe are looking for volunteers, both Native and not, to help clear the trails. It’s not incredibly difficult work; Shaun Fyfe, leader of the MBTTA’s partnership with the tribe, said he and one other person managed to clear the first trail in a day. 

Fyfe and the Hoopa Valley Tribe hope that building these trails provide some much-needed recreational opportunities for the youth on the reservation. Trail work is rewarding, Fyfe said, and riding the trails is even more fun. 

“We want to have the trails close to home for that local community,” Fyfe said. “Having the local Native youth have trails that they’re building, that they’ll have ownership of, that they’ll be able to ride and share with other [youth from surrounding areas]…We can share our trails we’ve developed together…It’s really rewarding for the trail builders, because the work is easy to see, and the reward is immediate.”