Mountain Biking
Are you looking for ideas for your next mountain bike adventure? Below you will find ideas for places to take your next campervan rental.
Bike Parks
A Wandervan Campervan is a great way to explore the area Bike Parks! There are some amazing parks out there and each one is unique offering a different experience. We only rank those parks that we have specifically ridden the lifts at recently. As we visit more bike parks we will added them into our ranking system. Our ranking system is based on the green to single black offerings at each bike park.
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Never a hard decision to make, Whistler is the gold standard for bike parks. There is more terrain at Whistler than at any other bike park.They are focused on progression. There are trails for everyone on the mountain. Crank-it-up is the best place to start for any first timer. Top of the world is a must do if you are there in the summer. Be aware that August is the dustiest month at Whistler.
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Northstar is the closest experience to Whistler we have found so far. It is best to ride the park early in the season or after the park has received rain since some trails can get dusty. Live Wire is a classic flow trail, but Northstar also has loads of old school DH trails to get your gnar on.
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Coming in at number 3 is Grand Targee resort. While the mountain does not have a large trail system it does have a couple really quality trails along with no lift lines and a laid back feel. Near the base of the mountain is Otter Slide which has massive, perfect berms. Farther up the mountain the Bullwinkle trail is fast and flowy. Rock Garden is the longest black diamond trail with plenty of gnar and large jumps.
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Mt Bachelor, just outside of Bend, Oregon has made some amazing improvements over the past couple of years and really turned the mountain into a true bike park. The Lava Flow trail is the main trail at the park with lots of great flow. Once Lava Flow exits the lava field area the berms and jumps get large and very fun. The Rattlesnake trail, a single black, has a very cool feature made of out concrete pavers that feel like a bike sling shot and was worth a lot of grins.
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Tamarack finally reopened in 2016 after being closed for a long time due the real estate crash. The trails at Tamarack are a blast an we are glad to have it reopened. It is best to ride this park in the early season since it can get dusty. The best part about this park is how easy they make it to ride with different skill levels. Super G is the main intermediate trail that runs right down the heart of the mountain, but off Super G there are numerous single black diamond options. This means you can break off and challenge yourself and then join back up with the group on Super G.
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You will find the longest descent in the lower 48 states here so be prepared for some long runs. There are some great intermediate and black diamond trails on the mountain and the length of the runs will defiantly wear you out. At the bottom of the runs you do have a 1.5 mile ride on a paved bike path so make sure you save some energy to get back to the base area. There were some nice filters on the black diamond trails to help ensure the correct riders were on the trails. It was also nice to have the option to ride some black diamond trails and then meet back up with the group on the intermediate trails.
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Big Sky has made some big changes lately and move away from just being the bike park with super gnarly DH runs. Off the Ram Charge Lift there are now some great flow trails that will put a grin on anyone's face. The gnarly DH trails are still available too, just be prepared for changing some flat tires. There is a great deal of sharp shale rock that tends to eat tires so be prepared with spare tubes and tires.
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Sun Valley has made some huge changes recently and there are some actual lift served trails as opposed to just cross country trails. All of the trails on the mountain are targeted at riders with enduro style bikes, so leave your DH bike at home for your next visit. The two main bike park specific trails are Saddle-Up and Lupine. Both of them are fun for a couple of laps. Then be sure to hit up the old Warm Springs trail for some classic Sun Valley singletrack.
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Brundage has come a long way since a couple of years ago. You still have the classic singletrack trail Elk Meadows and then the DH trail Hidden Valley. While both trails are fun it is very hard to progress from Elk Meadows to being able to ride Hidden Valley. The Growler trail which is intermediate was being work on a lot this summer so this should provide a better progression for 2017. Hidden Valley has some large mandatory air sections so be prepared.
