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Stephanie Thomas and Tim Young navigate a switchback Friday on the new Arrow Trail. The new route, which begins at the Phillips Canyon trailhead, was completed two weeks ago through a massive Boy Scout volunteer effort. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / MICHAEL PEARLMAN

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Less than two weeks after its completion, the new Arrow trail on Teton Pass is already receiving an enthusiastic thumbs up from Jackson’s mountain-biking community.

On Saturday, mountain bikers Dave Byers, Jannine Witte and Tracey Petervary were among those riding the new route. The group pedaled up Old Pass Road from Wilson before crossing the highway and tackling the Arrow trail as an out-and-back ride before continuing up the pass to tackle the Black Canyon descent. All three were impressed by the layout and quality of the ride.

“I love the Boy Scouts!” Byers said midway through the return trip, while Witte simply called the route “awesome.”

Petervary enjoyed the trail so much that she returned Sunday to ride it again. Wilson Backcountry Sports owner Andy Olpin says the route is his new favorite trail on the pass.

The smooth seven-mile stretch of singletrack was constructed by the Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scouts national honor society, during a week-long stretch of work that began July 26 and concluded Aug. 2. But the design of the Arrow trail began last fall and continued early this summer, when Teton Pass trails coordinator Chris Peck and Harlan Hottenstein flagged the route with mountain bikers in mind. The multiuse route is also open to hikers and eventually connects with the Phillips Canyon trail, a popular singletrack descent to Fish Creek Road.

In the weeks before the Scouts arrived, Peck and Walt Berling prepared the trail, using chain saws to cut logs that blocked the route and building a log bridge over a creek. Berling credited Peck for refusing to compromise on the quality of the new trail and putting the trail experience first.

“Never was the question asked, ‘Would it be easier to do this?’ It was always what would be best to ride,” Berling said. “Chris put his all into this project.”

The Arrow trail begins just a few hundred feet from the Phillips Canyon trailhead on Teton Pass, winding along the east side of the Bonneville Power Authority road. Just before it crosses to the west side of the BPA road, the new Phillips Ridge trail, still under construction, branches off to the right. When completed, the Phillips Ridge trail will offer an additional singletrack option that will follow the ridge and eventually connect two segments of the BPA road with a series of massive switchbacks, while offering spectacular views looking east over the valley.

The Arrow trail fulfills designers’ hopes for a singletrack route suitable for intermediate riders. It climbs gently from the trailhead and utilizes wide switchbacks reminiscent of those found on the Ferrins trail off Snow King but easier to navigate. Though the trail has seen relatively little cyclist traffic so far, the soil on the Arrow trail is already well packed.

The route contains some of the best elements of two popular trails in the greater Snow King area: the comfortable curves of the Putt Putt trail and the shade of the Hagen trail, while lacking the blind corners of the former and the rocks on the latter. Good sight lines and a smooth surface are also features that make it attractive to trail runners.

“As a runner, I’m always looking for new trail routes, and this one is amazing,” said Stephanie Thomas, development director for Friends of Pathways.

The final two miles of the Arrow trail wind through dense forest, at times running only a few hundred feet below the original trail, which is still open to hikers and equestrians. There are no sustained, grueling climbs but several sections where high-speed riding is possible.

The Arrow trail is the latest step toward the realization of a 2004 trail plan for Teton Pass, a project that was undertaken after increasing use and illegal trail construction were fueling conflicts between cyclists, hikers and equestrians in the area. Forest Service officials held a series of public meetings to develop the plan, which identified appropriate uses for specific trails in the area. During the past four years, improvements to existing trails have been undertaken each summer to prevent erosion and satisfy the needs of all users.

The trail building group Teton Freedom Riders has invested hundreds of man-hours in constructing Jimmy’s Mom, Lithium and the Parallel trails to add features that downhill mountain bikers seek, while the Order of the Arrow also helped complete the History trail, a multi-use trail that runs from the top of the pass to the bottom.