A growing network of purpose-built trails is giving riders another reason to explore Alberta’s Northern Rockies.
Words :: Bob Covey
“Dropping!”
The metallic whir of a chainset echoes through a lush pine forest. Around a wide berm, lynx-like and poised to leap, Hinton mountain biker Adam Carling pops into view. His bright, smiling eyes scan the loamy soil ahead of him, then there is a pupil-dilating tension as his tires lift away from the earth. Next a thrilling silence as man and machine carry through the frictionless air, then a satisfying thump as the vessel lands on both wheels into a steep runout.
“JEEEE-ZUZ!” I holler, laughing at the ease my new riding buddy has just sent himself into outer space.
“It looks scarier than it is,” he replies graciously.
Looks are deceiving, I acknowledge, because before today, I thought I had Hinton’s mountain biking scene pretty much figured out.
Narrator’s voice: He didn’t.
Hand up! As a resident of Jasper, I’ve been guilty of casting premature judgement on our sister community, too often overlooking Hinton and, as a result, perennially under-appreciating the absolute bounty of wilderness opportunities that exist in Alberta’s Northern Rockies. Now, as I follow Carling down machine-built trails the likes of which a national park could never, I think I’m starting to get it.
“Hinton, you’ve done it again, you underrated beauty!” I yodel.
For more than 20 years, the Hinton Mountain Bike Association has quietly gone about its work, building out a complex web of trails and a fine skills park in and around the Happy Creek Network and connecting about 30km of challenging, mostly singletrack trails in a large block of land on Hinton’s northeast side. In two decades of living near-ish to this circuit, I’d become somewhat familiar with this zone, but until this summer, I had yet to experience what renowned Alberta trail builders Jay Hoots and Nathan Froehler had created on Bighorn Ridge.
Today, Bighorn Ridge is recognized as the crown jewel of the Hinton MTB networks, accessed via a 10-minute drive down Robb Road.
If I was worried about taking my minivan on the FSR, I had similar reservations about how my cross-country MTB would perform on Bighorn’s fatter features. But in both instances, Carling put me at ease.
“They put lime down [to harden the road surface], your van will be fine,” Adam told me earlier that day. Then, as we pedalled our bikes up the historic pack trail, originally hewn by the Dominion of Canada Forestry Service in the early 1900s, I could see trail builders have created a network that offers opportunities for all cyclists, no matter what they’re riding.
As we pedalled our bikes up the historic pack trail, originally hewn by the Dominion of Canada Forestry Service in the early 1900s, I could see trail builders have created a network that offers opportunities for all cyclists, no matter what they’re riding.
“Whatever I build, I try to make sure it accommodates a wide range of skills,” Froehler tells me from a job site near another underrated MTB destination, Nordegg, Alberta.
Related content from ML:
Bighorn’s Blowdown Flowdown is a mix of singletrack, technical features, berms, jumps and fast flow while Shiver Me Timbers is a intermediate hybrid, with “a little rock and root sprinkled in to add spice,” according to Froehler. But the network’s pièce de resistance is Green Dragon, a “loamy, tight, techie trail through a really cool forest, and a throwback to the hand-built style I loved growing up,” Froehler says. Jasper riders I surveyed agree.
“Green Dragon might be the best downhill trail in Alberta,” veteran Jasper rider Craig Walsh opines.
For now, I’ll have to take Walsh’s word for it, as Carling has to be at work in an hour and we won’t have time to ascend the remaining kilometres to reach the top. Considering the climb trail to get there is “ridiculously steep in spots,” according to Froehler, I’m happy to take a rain check and head back into town.
As I sip a silky cold brew coffee from the local’s favourite gathering place, The Old Grind, I ask owner Carl how summer in Hinton has been. Over the August long weekend, Hinton was hopping, Carl says, with visitors taking advantage of the community’s easy access to the wider Northern Rockies—particularly when nearby Jasper National Park is full to the brim with visitors.
“We get Jasper’s overflow,” he laughs. “Which is just the way we like it.”
In other words, even through the height of summer, Hinton retains its uncrowded, unspoiled feel. That means no crowds, plenty of parking at local trailheads and the opportunity to enjoy untamed wilderness in near solitude. For groups, sports teams and folks planning weddings or conventions, Hinton is a headache-free option to book larger hotel blocks and facilitate organized travel.
Even through the height of summer, Hinton retains its uncrowded, unspoiled feel.
And for mountain bikers, Bighorn Ridge is another reason to make Hinton the destination, rather than simply the place you pass through on the way to somewhere else. With a growing network of purpose-built trails, big terrain and plenty of room to explore, it’s clear there’s more happening here than I’d given this underrated Northern Rockies community credit for.
I came looking for a new place to ride. I left wondering what else I’d been missing.
Presented in partnership with Northern Hinton Rockies.
