With skilled mountain biking rapidly growing in popularity comes the need for safe, sustainable and progressive areas. That’s when bike parks come in.
What are Bike Parks?
Bike parks provide family-recreational activities for off-road and mountain bikers. These places can provide managed skill courses for beginners and even expert bikers alike. Bike parks are also great places to unwind and relax after a long-tiring week with your friends. For everyone who wishes to venture into this health-friendly activity, here’s a list of the most popular bike parks that will guarantee a satisfying ride.
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Mammoth, CA
When downhill mountain biking was in its early years, Mammoth was its birthplace. The Mammoth bike park is considered to be one of the oldest mountain bike parks in the US. Some of the most daring mountain bikers venture to Mammoth Lake to join The Mammoth Kamikaze, the fastest downhill mountain bike race in the world.
Mammoth Bike Park is located in Eastern Sierra in Southern California and has a base which sits at 7,953ft. It boasts a high alpine of 11,053ft. They offer over 80 miles of single-track for riders at any skills level which includes beginner, cross-country and downhill riders.
Trails: 45
Day pass: $45
Season pass: adult passes start at $349
Website: https://www.mammothmountain.com/summer/bike-park-overview/mammoth-bike-park/mammoth-bike-park
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Big Bear, CA
Big Bear is home to Southern California’s best lift-served bike park. With a wide network of well-maintained trails and terrains, riders of different levels and skills are guaranteed to have the best riding experience here. They also offer lessons for all ages and have rental packages available to everybody. If you want to experience an extensive network of xc and downhill trails, this place is definitely great to practice and improve your abilities. Big Bear bike park is also a sure place for the family to chill and enjoy.
Peak: 8,805ft
Base: 7,140ft
Trails: 9
Seasons pass: starts at $299
Website: https://www.bigbearmountainresort.com/summer/mountain-biking/mountain-biking/downhill-bike-park
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Alyeska, AK
Another lift-accessed downhill bike park is located in Alyeska, Alaska. It features a variety of trails for every rider of different ability. Lessons such as Introductory mountain-biking and beginner mountain-biking terrain are available.
Over the years, Alyeska has brought their A game by improving their facilities from having only one lift for three trails and 500 vertical feet to 7 lifts hosting over 15 trails and 2,500 trails. Probably one of the best features of this bike park is the picturesque views of the mountains and oceans.
Peak: 2,500ft
Trails: 76
Website: https://www.alyeskaresort.com/mountain/downhill-mountain-biking
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Keystone, CO
The Keystone bike park welcomes all riders with their professionally-maintained terrain. They feature base-area skills park for beginners and intermediate riders and technical rock gardens, drops, and high-speed for a more challenging downhill ride.
Their dedicated trail crew continues to make upgrades and improvement to their facilities. Among one of the recent updates is the chairlift bike trays. They have also improved their skills parks, making it bigger and better. Riders will sure find a lot of new berns, jumps, and features throughout the park as they continue to maintain existing trails and add new exciting ones.
Peak: 11,640 feet
Base: 9,280 feet
Trails: 55
Website: http://www.keystoneresort.com/activities/mountain-biking.aspx
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Canyons, UT
Canyon bike park is every seasoned rider’s all-time favorite bike park in the country. It is located in Park City, Utah. Park City has an extensive network of biking trails, including the famous Wasatch Crest trail among others.
The site offers all kinds of services from bike rentals to bike repairs. The Canyons bike park offers non-stop fun to all types of riders. They don’t just offer berms and jumps but mandatory gaps and drops as well. For riders who prefer wood, they also offer wooden features and bridges.
Peak: 9, 990 feet
Base: 6,800 feet
Trails: 7
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Highland, NH
Highland bike park is packed with different kinds of features ranging from several riding zones such as two dirt jump parks, two skills parks, the Ayr Bag and the Slopestyle Course that are all scattered around the base area. This bike park has made a reputation for itself by providing courses and lessons that allow beginner riders to progress with the help of dedicated and professional instructors. For such a small mountain, its fun-filled activities have done a great job in making sure that riders and visitors get to have a memorable and exciting day.
Highland, located in Northfield New Hampshire, is solely dedicated to mountain biking only which means that its season starts early in the spring and finishes later in the fall.
Peak: 1,497 feet
Base: 870 feet
Trails: 23
Seasons pass: $389
Website: https://www.highlandmountain.com/explore-highland/park-info/skills-and-jump-park-zone/
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Mountain Creek, NJ
Surely one of the top-class mountain bike parks in the east coast is Mountain Creek bike park. It has some of the best, well-maintained trails in New Jersey. When you want to try other exciting terrains, they have over 40 custom built bike trails for beginners and advanced riders. And for technical rides, there are a lot of wooden features. This great trail variety means a lot of fun to be had for all levels. Included in their services are freeride terrains and race courses.
Mountain Creek bike park is located in Vernon New Jersey. It is only about an hour and a half away from New York. It is advisable to go there after it rains as the trails can be a little too challenging. Experience their lift-access downhill ride with a ton of features, but make sure to bring pads and other protective gears to avoid scarring for life.
Peak: 1,480 feet
Base: 440 feet
Trails: 50
Website: https://www.mountaincreek.com/bike-park
It’s no question that biking is one of the most popular outdoor activities because of its widespread and well-documented health benefits. Whether your biking for all the health reasons, or strengthening bonds with friends and family, or just simply trying to have fun by trying out some daredevil stunts, there are places across the country where all these are possible.
Happy biking!