05-06-2025
Someone Doesn't Want This Beloved Bike Park To Open - Here's How You Can Help
Someone Doesn't Want This Beloved Bike Park To Open - Here's How You Can Help originally appeared on BikeMag.
Panhandle Bike Ranch is a family-owned and operated bike park in Sagle, Idaho. With the help of a community of local trail builders, including the renowned Gravity Logic Trail Crew, the Kalbach family has been developing a network of world-class mountain bike trails that benefit the local community while also making this small town a destination for mountain bikers from around the world.
Widely recognized and respected for their efforts, the opening of the Panhandle Bike Ranch has been eagerly anticipated not just by locals but also by riders from all around the Northwest. However, as of June 4, 2025, a ruling has altogether revoked the permit that would have allowed the park to operate, just 10 days before it was set to open to the Bike Ranch broke the terrible news to fans on Instagram on June 4th, and in the caption, they offered more details about the decision to revoke a permit that had already been granted and approved over a year prior.
'We have some bad news for the fans of the Panhandle Bike Ranch. Judge Casey Simmons, a Kootenai County judge, has ruled that the Bonner County Commissioners did not provide enough evidence for some of the decisions they made when approving our family bike park County approved us as a recreation facility business over a year ago. An opposition group has been fighting against us, claiming that we are a resort, even though we have no lodging, restaurants, spas, or many other characteristics typically associated with a resort. Resorts are not allowed in our property zoning, so this opposition group has been using this false claim to try to stop our business.'
View the to see embedded media.
This decision to revoke the park's permit to operate as a recreational facility is based on falsehoods provided by the opposition group and is likely driven by some ill will towards what the park will mean for the locals in the area. Unfortunately, as mountain bikers and trail advocates will attest, this is not a rare occurrence. The caption of the Instagram post continues to offer more insight into what this all means for the bike park, and Panhandle has assured the community that they will not give up on this dream of bringing world-class mountain biking to the northern panhandle of Idaho.
'The end result of this decision is that our business is on hold until we can get another hearing with the Bonner County Commissioners. As of right now, we don't have a timeline for that an incredibly frustrating situation because we followed all of the rules, and this really just comes down to technicality nonsense between Bonner County and this judge. We're stuck in the middle not being able to open a business that we have invested millions of dollars into, not to mention over a year of intense work to try to open this business as quickly as we could for the community.'
The outpouring of support for Panhandle has been incredible so far, and the comments of support are flooding in. People are doing what they can to spread awareness of this issue, and here are some resources you can use to help out with this unfortunate issue.
While this is a really stupid position to be in just over a week before the planned opening of the park, there are actions that the community can take to help, the most effective of which is reaching out to the Bonner County Commissioners and letting them know that biking matters, the Panhandle Bike Ranch will significantly benefit the community and remind them how much trail access matters.
District 1 – Brian Domke(208)
District 2 – Asia Williams(208)
District 3 – Ron Korn(208)
General office:(208) 255-3630boccstaff@ story was originally reported by BikeMag on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
