On Tuesday, September 29, Ryan and Makai Taylor rode a dual run side by side through the new section of the Harshman Skate Park mountain bike skills park. A Star-News photographer caught the moment for the next day's paper. The Star-News called it a milestone for McCall's mountain bike scene: the first professionally designed and built jump lines in town.
The grand opening wasn't formal. The Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association, better known as CIMBA, set it for 5 to 7 p.m. at the skatepark and billed it as a laid-back evening with games and prizes.
Bring your SILLY (or Normal) bike, gear, water, snacks, and friends!
That line comes straight from CIMBA's event listing. Behind the lighthearted invitation is a longer story. In 2023, McCall's jump lines were planned for a different site near the airport. The Harshman opening is what riders have in hand today. City records also still carry a separate, bigger jump-line project, and it has no site yet.
The Airport Plan
In June 2023, Valley Lookout reported on CIMBA's proposal for the Flight Path Bike Park. It called for about five acres north of Deinhard Lane and McCall Airport, east of the paved city trail. The first concept included jump lines for several skill levels, built from wood and dirt, with a pump track saved for a later phase.
The plan was to build it locally. CIMBA was working with The Land Group Inc. and McCall Parks and Recreation. Dominick Guliuzza described an approach built on purchased jump ramps, volunteers, hired local workers and equipment, and help from high school students, without bringing in a national park builder. The stated goal was to break ground that summer and open by the end of summer 2025.
City Council records show how the plan moved forward and then stalled:
- June 29, 2023. Council approved a letter of intent to support and partner with CIMBA on the jump-line project.
- December 28, 2023. Council approved a declaration agreement with CIMBA.
- August 22, 2024. Council took up the "discovery of aviation land use designation associated with Mountain Bike Jump Line Project." It directed staff to look into Riverfront Park as a site for a community jump facility and to draft possible language about the land use.
The city's records don't explain what the aviation designation required or which agency would have to sign off. They show the airport site running into a land-use problem roughly a year before the planned 2025 opening, and they show Council looking for another location.
Where That Search Stands
Riverfront Park was never formally ruled out. The city's August 2026 agenda-bill report still lists the item as "Incomplete - Investigate Riverfront Park." The city's own reports also disagree about the item's status. The 2025 version reads "Denied with Direction," and the 2026 versions read "Continued." Both record the instruction to investigate Riverfront Park.
In the meantime, CIMBA's work went to Harshman, a park the city already runs. Harshman sits on Idaho Street, and the city lists restrooms at the combined Skate Park and Mountain Bike Skills Park. Using it meant building next to an existing skatepark, on land the city already treats as recreation space.
The two sources describe the new work a little differently. CIMBA's listing calls it the "new Harshman Pump track expansion." The Star-News calls it jump lines. Most of the Star-News story sits behind a paywall, and no other public source gives a feature list, skill ratings, the builder, or a final cost. The surest way to find out what's there is to ride it.
A Bigger Project With No Site
Harshman doesn't close out the jump-line story. The city's Capital Improvement Plan and Development Impact Fee Study, dated August 13, 2026, includes a line item called "CIMBA - Mtn. Bike Jump Lines." The entry doesn't name a location. Here is how it compares with nearby items in the same 10-year parks plan:
| Project in McCall's 10-Year Parks CIP | Years | Total Cost | Impact Fee Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIMBA - Mtn. Bike Jump Lines | 2027-2034 | $1,000,000 | $200,000 |
| Riverfront Park | 2027-2032 | $1,060,000 | $440,000 |
| Riverfront Park Public Trail System | 2031-2034 | $190,960 | $173,600 |
| Harshman Skate Park Renovation | 2032 | $123,000 | $0 |
The jump-line entry costs almost as much as the whole Riverfront Park development line, and growth-related impact fees would cover only a fifth of it. The other $800,000 falls under "other funding," which the study defines as the General Fund, the Recreation Fund, grants and public-private partnerships. For a sense of scale, Harshman's own renovation line is $123,000 and isn't scheduled until 2032.
Smaller amounts are already moving. On April 30, 2026, Council approved a two-year extension of a $23,800 FY25 Local Option Tax award to CIMBA. The money goes toward mountain bike park and facility improvements in coordination with City Parks, and the extension runs through September 30, 2027. The agenda bill doesn't say whether that money went into the Harshman expansion.
Taken together, the records show two separate projects. One is a skills park expansion on Idaho Street that opened this week. The other is a $1 million jump-line project with no site, scheduled somewhere between 2027 and 2034, with most of its funding still to be found. If you have kids learning to ride or you want a quick evening session, Harshman is the jump line McCall has right now, and the record doesn't promise another one soon.
The Rest of the Season, From Idaho Street Up the Hill
October is when CIMBA turns from building to winter prep. Its volunteers have a dig day set for Tuesday, October 6, on Brundage to Bear Basin. The goal is tread work to "put the trail to bed for winter." An earlier session on September 19 had the same goal, and volunteers met at the corrals lot off Forest Road 451.
The trail they're maintaining is also a fairly recent addition. Brundage reported that B2BB opened in 2023 as a 6.3-mile machine-built trail connecting Brundage and Bear Basin. Progressive Trail Design and Dirt Candy Designs each led sections, and CIMBA volunteers worked alongside Brundage's trail crew. B2BB also opened the same summer the Flight Path plan was announced. One project got its trail in 2023, and the other got its jump lines three years later at a different site.
A fall loop around town could look like this:
- After work on a weekday: laps on the new section at Harshman on Idaho Street, with restrooms on site.
- Tuesday, October 6: a few hours of tread work on B2BB with CIMBA before the snow arrives.
- Any dry weekend left: a ride on B2BB from the corrals lot off Forest Road 451, the same trail volunteers are getting ready for winter.
The city hasn't published a posted schedule for Harshman's hours or winter access, so check with McCall Parks and Recreation before planning around the skills park after the first snow.
The bigger jump-line project will come back to Council when the city decides where it goes and how to raise the other $800,000. Riverfront Park is still the only alternate site the city has on record as under investigation.
At Two Rivers Real Estate Company, we track projects like this because a five-minute ride to the jump lines or a short drive to a trailhead shapes everyday life in McCall. If you want to know how close a property is to Harshman or the Brundage and Bear Basin trails, or which park projects the city has scheduled nearby, we're glad to go through it with you. Work With Us.
