Zach Rabeler

Age: 33
Residence: Chestertown
Family: Wife, Kate
Profession: Trail Builder, Owner of Wilderness Property Management
Sports: Mountain Biking, Skiing, Running
Extra: Ski Patrol at Gore Mountain  

By Josh Clevenstine

Zach Rabeler grew up in Oneonta, where he developed a fondness for mountain biking and trail work. When he moved to further north in 2013 to attend SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, Zach noticed how few purpose-built mountain bike trails existed in the area. Here he was living in the foothills of the Adirondack Park and most places to mountain bike were old logging roads and hiking trails. In 2014 this all started to change when the Town of Queensbury committed to building singletrack trails at Gurney Lane Recreation Area – this was the same year that Zach happened to start an internship at trail builder Wilderness Property Management.

Zach got involved with WPM through the SUNY Adirondack Adventure Sports program. Part of the two-year course required an internship, which owner Steve Ovitt was nice enough to accept him for. During this four-week internship, Zach worked on the trails at the Ski Bowl in North Creek. The following winter, while skiing at Gore, Steve offered him a job for the next season.

Over time, Zach had to work his way from developing the physical stamina needed to manually cut trails for eight hours a day, to learning how each individual trail ages over time, to then learning the business side of the build. What does the customer want? How do you deliver what they are requesting with the budget they have setup? All these things took time and were learned under Steve’s tutelage.

It’s evident to Zach that the North Creek Ski Bowl trails are a special place for him. His first assignment as an intern was building the Alternative trail – aptly named because he kept bugging Steve to add alternate “rock roll” lines. Worth noting is the love Zach has for the Ski Bowl’s crown jewel, The Long Trail. He says it’s his favorite trail and took a period of four years in segments of one to two months to complete. The memories of the build are relived during each ride. 

As time went on during the days of working for Wilderness Property Management, Zach started to realize that any other career simply wouldn’t suffice. Steve picked up on this and started to ask about handing the business to his protege. This began to shift his mindset as a worker because he was no longer “just showing up for a project.” As the head of a company, he would be dealing firsthand with everything that leads up to that first day of construction. Some projects can take up to a year or longer from concept to construction. Not lost on Zach was that many riders would tie WPM trails to their builders. The praise and critiques were powerful motivators to do the job and do it well. 

Zach wants WPM’s reputation to be one that Steve Ovitt and he have pursued for years, as local communities deserve to have trail systems that inspire both kids and adults to get out into nature and enjoy themselves. To put smiles on their faces and separate themselves from the difficulties of everyday life. To continue to build trails that make people feel positive about their riding and hopefully get people to communicate without a computer or phone screen in the way. As Zach says, “By targeting the majority of riders and not just advanced to expert level users, we can continue to get the next generation of riders involved in the sport.” For Zach, few things beat seeing parents out with their kids on their balance bikes, having a great time on a trail that he had a part in building. 

Ideally, Zach wants each WPM trail network to have its own unique feel that attracts riders to each trail system, while still having people feel good about their ride. These goals are mostly dictated both by the design of the system and the area’s topography and geology. There are some pieces of ground that simply are not best suited for novice-level trails – think Brant Lake Bike Park on Bartonville Mountain – and some that are perfect for all riders – Rush Pond, adjacent to Gurney Lane in Queensbury. Typically though, WPM will start any build with trails suited for all levels of riders and then go back to add more niche advanced trails – if the customer so chooses.

WPM is one of a solid handful of trail building networks in the Adirondacks. For the most part, each have settled into the regions that they primarily operate in. Backslope Trails, primarily operates in the High Peaks region and is known for building the UCI World Cup XC and downhill tracks along with fun flowing jump lines like Green Jacket at Craig Wood. There is Blue Line Trail Design, builders of the trails at McCauley in Old Forge and Wheelerville in Caroga.

Along with these companies, there are great volunteer organizations in and around the Adirondacks that build and maintain local trail networks like Upper Hudson Trails Alliance in North Creek and Chestertown, Barkeater Trails Alliance in the High Peaks, Adirondack Foothills Trails Alliance in the southwestern Adirondacks, and Saratoga Mountain Bike Association in the Capital-Saratoga Region. As a reminder, these organizations are all sustained by donations and volunteer hours, both of which they can always use more of. They are incredible assets to our trail communities. If anyone wants to get involved, spend a day volunteering. You will learn so much and have a great time doing it. 

Over the last 10 years, trail styles have changed a bit, from more old school trails with tighter corners to more machine built flow trails that let you maintain your speed and get into a flow state. This is due to progress in trail building techniques and from mountain bike technology development – both have helped WPM learn how to manage more people than ever participating in the sport. A great example of this multiyear learning curve is Gurney Lane and Rush Pond. Rush Pond was the perfect opportunity to take what WPM learned while machine building trails like Rogue Extension, E-20, and Tango, and implement it into the newer Rush Pond trail system. A larger expanse of property allowed for longer and more contiguous trail experiences. 

The impact of places like Gurney Lane has helped grow mountain biking in the region the last 10 years. A great example is Rogue Extension. Zach felt it embodied a trail where a novice rider can flow down the trail at moderate speed, going over the rollers and having good time. As that same rider’s skill progresses, they find out that with more bike handling skills, these gentle rollers turn into doubles that can be jumped, or rollers that they can try to “manual” between features. (To manual is to transition to an attack position after landing, preloading your body weight, and punching your hips rearward to unweight the front wheel. This lets you carry momentum over flat gaps, small roots, and holes without losing speed to braking.)

Zach also mentioned that Queensbury’s commitment to sustainable recreation and the community has been awesome. The trails, along with appropriate facilities – including the Rick’s Bike Shop Outpost at Gurney Lane – and nearby access to the Northway and local communities, have contributed to success of the Gurney Lane and Rush Pond trail system.

Speaking of riding, where does the professional trail builder ride? If Zach is looking to ride trails he did not build. Traveling north takes him to Craig Wood Trails in Lake Placid, East Branch Community Trails in Keene, or Otis Mountain in Elizabethtown. Going south brings him to Kalabus Perry County Forest and Daniels Road State Forest trail systems in Saratoga County. This said, Zach did mention that he tries to ride the trail systems that WPM has built on a weekly basis. It helps that he’s a short drive (and sometimes ride) away from most of these networks. Alternating between Gurney/Rush Pond, Brant Lake Bike Park, and the Ski Bowl in North Creek always keeps the riding exciting and diverse while allowing him to keep an eye on trail conditions.

Some of these networks have some impressively fun downhills and I couldn’t help but ask which was his favorite. Zach said that despite his favorite overall trail being the Long Trail in North Creek, his  favorite downhill will always be Stairway to Heaven in Brant Lake – it’s an intense experience on a technical trail.

Zach is busy with WPM, including trail development at Dynamite Hill in Chestertown, and hopefully more trails at Mt. Sabattis in Long Lake. He thanks Steve Ovitt, the previous WPM owner who’s still a friend and mentor. Zach credits his parents for their support of an unorthodox career choice, and his wife Kate Kuklinski, who’s his rock.

Zach mentioned that it was Clint McCarthy, the director of the Adventure Sports Program at SUNY Adirondack who pushed him to get serious about life. His previous coworker, Frank, always kept job sites fun. With a chuckle, Zach credits Upper Hudson Trail Alliance’s Ed Orr for being the biggest critic and biggest supporter of WPM trails, and UHTA president Drew Cappabianca for supporting future trail projects. Cheers to Queensbury Parks and Rec’s Steve Lovering for knowing years ago what mountain bike trails could bring to the town. Zach also said that landowner and trail supporter Will Aldrich helped foster belief in himself. And of course, WPM’s one employee, fellow trail builder and friend Jake Ganley, who stayed on through the transfer of the business.

Josh Clevenstine is a truck driving Adirondack folk musician and trail/comm director for SMBA. When not ripping around on his bike, you may find him strumming his guitar at venues in the Capital Region and Adirondacks. For gig and streaming info, visit: joshclevenstine.com. This profile is adapted from a story in the 2026-27 edition of RideOn! magazine, a southern Adirondacks MTB trail guide, published in June.