{"id":2052055,"date":"2026-07-20T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2052055"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:29:00","slug":"why-squamish-wants-visiting-mountain-bikers-to-help-pay-for-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2052055","title":{"rendered":"Why Squamish wants visiting mountain bikers to help pay for trails"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
Photo: OneUp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even without filtering out lift-access bike parks like Whistler, AI software still puts Squamish, BC, as a top \u201cmountain bike destination\u201d in the world \u2013 fifth on the list, to be exact. Trails like Half Nelson, Full Nelson, and In-N-Out Burger are often featured on popular brands\u2019 and professional riders\u2019 social media channels.<\/p>\n

And all that riding, and all those visitors, takes a significant toll on the area\u2019s trails. So, Tourism Squamish and the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association<\/a> (SORCA) have teamed up and are asking visitors to help foot the bill.<\/p>\n

More than half of the trail users are visitors<\/h2>\n

\u201cSquamish\u2019s trail network recorded more than 100,000 mountain-bike rider days between May and October 2023,\u201d Lesley Weeks, Executive Director for Tourism Squamish, shared with Singletracks via email. \u201cApproximately half of that use, about 57,000 rider days, was attributed to visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Weeks mentioned that the shared data came from a 2023 study conducted by SORCA and specifically targeted mountain bikers. The study also found that 84% of mountain bikers visiting Squamish came for just that \u2014 to mountain bike. Riding the trails wasn\u2019t just another activity they would do on their vacation; rather, the trails were<\/em> the vacation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is important to note, however, that \u201crider days\u201d were tracked and not \u201cunique visits.\u201d This means that a visitor spending a week in Squamish, riding five of those days, counts for five rides, not just one visit. So, \u201c57,000 rider days\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily mean 57,000 individual mountain biking visitors \u2014 obviously, we\u2019re all going to hit the trails more than once on a Squamish trip.<\/p>\n

Regardless, 57,000 rider days attributed to out-of-towners is significant. It means that during the six-month window when SORCA conducted the study, more than half of the mountain bikers were from elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And all that trail use equals dollars. \u201cTrail maintenance, including SORCA\u2019s trail crew, related expenses, and contractor projects, costs approximately $400,000 per year,\u201d Ian Lowe, Executive Director of SORCA, told us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that was just the finance side. Lowe also shared that SORCA\u2019s trail crew puts in roughly 6,000 hours of work into Squamish\u2019s trails annually. On top of that, they also coordinate an additional 2,200 hours of volunteer dig days. Combined, that is nearly one solid year of nonstop maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m already spending a bunch of money here\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n

Yes, that is true, and it isn\u2019t lost on Tourism Squamish or SORCA. Visitors coming for the trails are also paying for a place to stay and patronizing local restaurants and shops. Without a doubt, that money helps Squamish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t an insignificant amount of money, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2023, mountain bike visitors generated roughly $26 million in local spending and supported \u201cabout 184 local jobs.\u201d Coffee shops, breweries, bike shops, restaurants, and lodging all benefited from mountain bike tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201cVisitor spending is extremely important. It supports local businesses, employment, and the broader Squamish economy,\u201d Weeks explained. \u201cThe important distinction is that those dollars don\u2019t automatically flow to trail maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Unless the owner or employees of an establishment are avid mountain bikers, sales of coffee, scones, beers, and pizza don\u2019t necessarily trickle down to trail maintenance. Weeks said that they hope visiting mountain bikers will see a donation to the trails as \u201ccomplementary to local visitor spending, not a replacement for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Love of the Trails\u00a0<\/h2>\n

To help with that six-figure sting, Tourism Squamish and SORCA are asking you, Squamish singletrack sojourner, to do your part on your next visit. To make donating easy, the groups introduced the For the Love of the Trails campaign, creating awareness and an easy way to contribute directly to the trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign grew out of ongoing conversations about the increasing pressure on Squamish\u2019s trail network and the need to create an easy, visible way for visiting riders to contribute directly to the trails they come here to enjoy,\u201d Weeks told us. \u201cAt its core, the campaign is about helping riders understand that while the trails are free to ride, they\u2019re not free to maintain. Trails require ongoing maintenance, drainage work, repairs, tools, planning, advocacy, and volunteer coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is no requirement to pay to ride Squamish\u2019s trails, they hope the campaign will begin to normalize the idea of giving back. And they are trying to make it as easy as possible for visitors to do so with links on websites<\/a>, social media platforms, and QR codes on trailhead signage.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Every little bit counts, with suggested one-time donations starting at $10 CAD, or about $7.13 USD. And as a part of the overall effort, Tourism Squamish will match the donations up to $10,000. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

\n

Related articles<\/h4>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\tjQuery(function() {
\n\t\t\t\t\tpostpayloads._c6304ea04cb0bfbd38b467e6ffb1c249 = {“ids”:”718839,701040,664354,683964″,”posts_per_page”:null,”offset”:0,”style”:”4up”};
\n\t\t\t\t\tpostcounter._c6304ea04cb0bfbd38b467e6ffb1c249 = {start: 0, step: 0, end: 0};
\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
British Columbia<\/a><\/div>\n
The Powerhouse Plunge, a Squamish original, is being rebuilt by the crew that first built it<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
British Columbia<\/a><\/div>\n
Biker survives mountain lion attack in Squamish after 20-minute standoff<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
British Columbia<\/a><\/div>\n
The Inside Story Behind Iconic Whistler MTB Trail Names\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
British Columbia<\/a><\/div>\n
A gnarly hand-built shuttle trail is set to open in a small British Columbia town in spring 2025<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: OneUp Even without filtering out lift-access bike parks like Whistler, AI software still puts Squamish, BC, as a top \u201cmountain bike destination\u201d in the world \u2013 fifth on the list, to be exact. Trails like Half Nelson, Full Nelson, and In-N-Out Burger are often featured on popular brands\u2019 and professional riders\u2019 social media channels. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-2052055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2052055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2052055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2052055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2052055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}