What Happens When Trail Builder Mag Starts to Grow Up?
Over the past few months, I have been learning how to find my pace. Not the pace of putting out fires or scrambling to keep up, but the steady rhythm of building something that is starting to take on a life of its own.
If you have been following along, you already know that Trail Builder Magazine is a small and growing operation. Right now, it is just me producing the online content, writing most of the online articles, and shaping the voice and direction of the publication between print issues.
I am not saying that to earn sympathy. I am saying it because transparency matters in a community like ours. I love this work. And I want you to understand what is happening behind the scenes as we grow.
One of the things I have noticed as the magazine has evolved is that the print side and the digital side are developing two different identities. Our print magazine is becoming a home for a diverse and global range of voices. The upcoming issue is a milestone for us, because every feature was written by someone living outside the United States. Canada. Spain. Australia. Germany. The fact that trail builders around the world want to write for us is something I do not take lightly. It tells me this community is larger, more creative, and more connected than many realize.
The online side of Trail Builder Magazine is growing, too, but it grows in a different way. I come from the world of digital media, communications, and writing about rural economic development, as well as freelance photography. Those are the topics that naturally come out of me when I sit down to write.
I am not the best person to teach you how to build a sick berm. We have better people for that, and they are showing up in our print magazine, where we can give them space, attention, and full-page spreads. What I can offer you online is something else. Perspective on the bigger picture. How trail building intersects with community, storytelling, tourism, and local economies. How digital strategy shapes public support. How to communicate your value to the people who need to hear it.
In other words, this magazine grows the same way a trail system grows. Bit by bit. Builder by builder. Region by region. And every addition changes the whole.
There is one more milestone worth mentioning. The next print issue is completely ad-free. That was made possible because our subscriptions are growing. I am grateful for that support. It does not mean I am turning my back on advertisers. Far from it. Brands that want to reach trail builders are essential to what we are building together. But this time, for the first time, we did not have to rely on ads to fill the pages. Subscriptions gave us the freedom to focus on the stories and the people doing the work.
This is the part I want you to hear. The more our subscription base grows, the more we can expand what we cover. More topics. More writers. More regional perspectives. More online articles. More print features. More of the content you keep telling me you want. Growth creates possibility. Possibility creates momentum. And momentum is exactly what I am feeling right now.
Trail Builder Magazine is becoming the platform I always hoped for. A place where voices from around the world contribute. A place where the builders are seen, valued, and celebrated. A place that is slowly moving from a solo project toward a shared one.
Thanks for being here. Thanks for reading. And thanks for believing in what we are building.
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag and the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon.
