Welcome to my guide for riding in western Canada! I am not an expert, but I certainly had a life-changing trip traveling through the Canadian southwest this summer. Throughout my years of being in the mountain biking world, I have made connections to people in every single town that I have visited. Those friends gave my family and me recommendations that made our short time in the Canadian Rockies incredibly enjoyable.
My overall take:
1-The Canadian Rockies are so much more scenic than the lower Rockies - Sorry Colorado!
2-The entire drive from Fernie-Canmore-Revelstoke-Whistler-Vancouver is stunning.
3-The food is great everywhere - we didn’t have a meal we didn’t like.
4-There are not many people (except Banff and Whistler)
5-A mountain bike with a dropper is a must, all of the riding is much steeper than my hometown of Park City.
6-130 mm travel isn’t quite enough - 160mm with a slack head angle would make riding much more enjoyable
7-Canada trail ratings are very different from Utah’s. A blue trail in Canada can be as hard as our black trails. Their black trails are like our double black trails and so much steeper than anything we have in our mountains.
8-Canada is similar to New Zealand and Brevard, North Carolina: they build great downhill trails and don’t worry so much about the climbing trails. A lot of the uphill trails are just steep dirt roads. Park City is really unique with it’s dedication to building nice single track to climb.
These towns are listed by order of our visit, which was approximately east to west.
Fernie:
Breakfast-Big Bang Bagels-freshest bagels in Canada. I am still letting a few sesame seeds linger in my fanny pack as a reminder of how delicious they were.
Coffee- Rooftop Coffee Roasters-they have fresh Beignets!
Dinner - Nevados - excellent, higher-end Mexican. Great service and atmosphere.
Stay-Best Western Fernie Lodge
Ride #1 - Montane Blue Trail network and be sure to hit the trail named Uprooted
Ride #2-Lazy Lizard to Snow Lodge, Stove Trail and Dem Bones
Hike-Castle Rock
Overall opinion of Fernie: loved the relaxed vibe and views. It’s like Park City 30 years ago and Durango 20 years ago. Enough cute shops and restaurants to make it interesting, but not too many tourists. This is high on our list for revisiting winter and summer.
Kimberly:
Food- The only restaurant we visited was the Bean Tree Cafe
Stay-The Larix: recently remodeled with mountain chic design, great outdoor seating.
Ride and / or drive out to the Bootleg Trails. Bring a small grill for making dinner after you ride. There is a fire pit and bathrooms there. You might need bug spray, depending on the time of year. You need to shuttle to get to the best trails at Bootleg. The most “fun” one is Snowmexican. The views from the top are stunning.
You can shuttle half way up and hit Nimby. These trails are typically ridden with a full face helmet and knee pads. A slacked out bike with 160mm travel would be really fun on these trails (and most of the trails in western Canada). Find my IG post about these trails here.
You can climb from the parking lot of bootleg on Unicorn Hunting, but it only takes you 3/4 of the way up. These trails were made for descending, not so much for climbing.
There are also trails you can pedal to from town. We heard that Magic Line is fun.
Our friend that makes the Women in the Mountains jerseys (Kazoom cycling) lives there and showed us the trails. If you can ride double black diamond trails in Park City, I will connect you with him when you visit. He’ll show you the gnarliest trails!
Overall opinion of Kimberly-quiet town, basically no tourists, with a few cute shops in the 2 block downtown area. Nice hotel. We will visit again.
Canmore
Breakfast-Uprising Bake Shop-you can sit outside.
Dinner-Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co & Cabeza Grande-you can sit outside.
Ice cream-Old School Bus Ice Cream (the line is always long, fun summer vibes).
Bike shop-Bicycle Cafe-you can get socks or a t-shirt with their logo (reappropriated Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album art - sound waves from a dying star). This is where my local friends get their bikes maintained.
Ride - easy to access the Canmore Nordic Center Trails from most places in town. Be sure to ride: EKG, The Odyssey, Long Road to Ruin, Sponge Bob. My IG post of Canmore can be found here.
Stay -Solara Resort
Overall opinion of Canmore. Lots of fun restaurants, large pedestrian-only shopping and downtown area for walking around. More tourists than Fernie, but nothing compared to the volume of tourists in Banff. We’d love to go back to ski the nordic trails, they were built for the 1988 Olympics and look like a blast.
Banff
We stayed in Canmore, but if the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff is available, stay there! You just have to plan in advance. The Banff Aspen Lodge also looked really nice, we had lunch at the hotel’s restaurant, White Bark, after riding.
Ride-Park next to the Tunnel Mountain Reservoir and ride a very chill loop to give you big views is the Coastline and the Tunnel Mountain Campground Loop. For really fun flow ride down Star Wars and back up Return of the Jedi. For a more challenging ride, check out Topp Notch. IG post about these rides here. We rode with our friend, the President of the PMBIA. He runs an enduro program for teens in Banff.
Lake Louise-you’ll need to book a shuttle through the Parks Canada website. You have to set up an account first, then reserve the shuttle. If there isn’t a reservation for the time you want, you can still book the shuttle, then show up early and they take people (who have reservations for that day) on first come, first serve basis. So if you want to see that lake in the morning, but don’t get a reservation until 2:00, you can still show up at 9:00 AM and wait in line to get there earlier. There were a lot of people on the shore of the Lake, but hardly any in the lake. So we rented a canoe on the spot (no reservation required) and paddled to the other end. With 2 people paddling, it took 30 minutes and we had the far end of the lake to ourselves. You can bring your own paddle boards up there as well. When you are at the far end of the lake, you are closer to the glacier and it is stunning. IG post about Lake Louise here.
Mount Norquay is another great place to visit (we missed it). You can take the gondola up and eat at the Cliffhouse Bistro.
Overall opinion of Banff-incredible scenery, looks like the photos! Gorgeous rock formations and stunning peaks all around. The town center has tons of shops and restaurants. Prepare for more tourists in Banff than other places.
Golden
We only had time to stop and say hello to our friend, the Executive Director of the PMBIA. He owns Higher Ground Sports that has a built in coffee bar. Highly recommend stopping in, it’s a great shop!
The surrounding mountains look phenomenal for riding. Kicking Horse Resort has a lot of riding options. There is also a network of trails on the opposite side of town that you can shuttle that are epic! (We will be back to ride those ones!)
Revelstoke
La Baguette-no competition, best croissant ever!
Taco Club-the place to be at dinner time-outdoor seating. Every mountain biker eats there, do it!
Mount Macpherson Trails-not a lot of vertical here, but really fun, punchy climbs through lush green forest. The scenery reminded us of New Zealand. Bug spray highly recommended.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort- is just beyond! The newly built trail: Fifty Six Twenty is rumored to be the longest flow trail ever built, running a full vertical drop of 5,620 feet. The whole time you are riding, you are also taking in the views of the Columbia River (the 4th largest watershed in North America). You load your bike with you in the gondola which is a special treat (pretty awkward)! We rode lots of laps with some trail variations and of course, ate lunch at the top that included poutine. 10/10 would return to ride 5620, over and over. It’s similar to the Park City’s Tidal Wave, but much steeper berms and 6 times longer. We couldn’t get enough!
Frisby Ridge still had snow on it in mid-July, but we heard from multiple people that it’s a must-ride. One of the recommendations we received was to ride it in the late afternoon so you are not passing lots of uphill traffic on your way down.
Boulder Mountain has trails that are nice loamy trails that you can shuttle on. Our friends from Kimberly rode there and saw a grey wolf!
Heli-biking in Revelstoke is the most cost effective in Canada. It was about half the price of heli-biking in Whistler. It was worth it just for the views on the way to the ride. Flying through glacier covered peaks in truly unbeatable. You can be dropped off on Frisby Ridge or Martha’s Creek. IG posts about the helicopter ride then mountain bike ride.
Martha’s Creek is where we saw the mama and baby bear. I highly recommend getting some education about what to do in case of a bear encounter (details in my IG post). Know the difference between a Black Bear and a Grizzly Bear and know how to handle each situation. Bug spray is necessary on these trails. This is a very steep, rooty trail.
Swim in the Columbia River- Martha Creek Provincial Park has a nice swimming beach, and you are above the dam, so there isn’t any current. It was the perfect dip after riding Martha Creek. We heard of a rope swing on the other side of the river, closer to the Boulder Mountain Trails. You’ll have to ask a local where to find it!
Stay: Fairfield Inn- recently built. Big, clean rooms. We stayed here 4 nights and never got bored of Revelstoke.
Overall opinion of Revelstoke-fun downtown area, lots of places to eat, nice variety of trails. We can’s wait to ski there.
Kamloops
We only stopped at the Fresh St. Market here. It was the nicest grocery store that we found in Canada, super cute with so many options. Kamloops has Idaho/Utah/Wyoming scenery, meaning more desert than mountains.
Whistler
Into the Mystic (lower) to Into the Mystic (upper), On the Rocks, Lord of the Squirrels. Gorgeous riding, this also felt like New Zealand. Lush greenery, steep climbing.
Whistler Bike Park; Bring your Epic Pass to walk the Skybridge for free.
The Bike Park pass is seperate from than the Epic Pass, so you’ll need to buy one.
If you are going to rent a bike, do so pretty far in advance, they are not available 1-2 days in advance.
If your bike has 140 mm or less travel, it would really be worth renting a bigger travel bike. I had a 130 mm trail bike and it was fine, but a bigger bike would be way more fun (this it true for basically every trail I rode). Also plan to wear kneed pads and a full face helmet. 95% of the riders wear a full face helmet.
Stay: Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa or an AirBnb and stay for a week or two!
Overall opinion of Whistler: biggest and arguably the best bike park in North America. The trail network is so extensive and has a huge variety of terrain. The resort center feels like Vail or any other large resort area. Lots of shops and restaurants. Quite crowded. Lift lines were 10-30 minutes long. Fun swimming holes in the valley.
If I had to sum up my Canada experience in one word it would be “WOW!” The views from the road, not just the trails, elicited “wows” from everyone in the car; huge mountain vistas, enormous green rivers, so many trees… We will be back!