Welcome Bent Water as a '23 NEMBA Regional Sponsor

01/13/2025

The new Shaker Ridge Trails in Western Massachusetts will boast 25-30 miles of singletrack in Phase 1, with the grand vision calling for 60-100 miles of world-class mountain bike trails.

Over the past few years, we’ve written about wealthy private donors funding mountain bike trail development all across the USA. In fact, this trend is accelerating so quickly that it probably should have been included in our 2024 MTB trail trends article. The Waltons may be largely responsible for kickstarting this virtuous cycle, but now private individuals from Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, and beyond are investing their money in acquiring parcels of land and funding the construction of world-class mountain bike trails.

The latest location for such a privately-funded trail network? The Berkshires in Western Massachusetts.

Funding for Shaker Ridge began with private dollars, and now public grants are helping, too

The new trail system will be known as the “Shaker Ridge Trails,” and Phase 1 of the project will be built on a 570-acre parcel of land that was acquired by an anonymous private donor for $2 million, according to Deanna Smith, Project Director for Shaker Ridge. In addition, this philanthropist has also invested an additional $500,000 to get the Phase 1 trail build off the ground.