Ask six mountain bikers what the best trails in North America are and you’ll get six different answers. There’s so much variety in the landscapes found throughout the continent, you’re almost guaranteed to find something for every style of rider.
After intense tech on your trails? Check out Sedona. Looking to chill out with some epic flow? Vermont and New England have what you’re after. And of course, no list of the top mountain biking destinations is complete without mention of the legendary tracks found in Whistler.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro with plenty of experience sending it on epic drops or just getting into sport, here are the must-know MTB destinations of North America.
Whistler, B.C.: The Home of Freeride
Whistler is the spiritual home of freeride mountain biking and home to some of the best trails on the planet. In winter months, Whistler’s a go-to destination for skiers and snowboarders, but when things warm up, it’s the bike riders who dominate its slopes.
And it was in Whistler in the late 90s that these riders first started to use the mountain’s ski lifts to elevate the
MTB’s roots run deep in Whistler: in the winter, this ski hill is iconic for shredding the slopes. But it was here in the late 90s that riders first took their bikes up a ski lift and bombed down the mountain.
Runs like the A-line, with its rollercoaster of jumps and berms, eventually became some of the most recognizable and legendary in the sport.
This is also where you’ll find Crankworx, the biggest event on the freeride and slopestyle calendar. It combines downhill racing, slopestyle, dual slalom, and pump track into ten adrenaline-soaked days every summer.
Crankworx Whistler is where Darren Berrecloth threw his infamous 360 over a 60-foot road gap and cemented the sport in the minds of millions. If you want big mountain rides with roots going all the way back to the beginning, Whistler is non-negotiable.
Moab, Utah: Breathtaking Bare Rock
Moab is a grownup adventure sports playground, but the inclusion of mountain biking came about almost by accident. The famous Slickrock Trail was actually first proposed in 1969 as a motorcycle run.
By the 80s, mountain bikers discovered that the eroded sandstone trails were actually a perfect spot for them to ride. Rim Cyclery opened up shop to kit out bikers, and the rest is history.
Slickrock is still the trail to try. It’s a loop where much of the path is just painted lines across bare rock. It takes a little nerve and a lot of traction to conquer it. It’s not the only one, however. Porcupine Rim is close by, and it delivers one of the most iconic descents anywhere.
Drop in for a view of the Colorado River and all the glory of red rock canyon country. If you want something even bigger, a ride called the “Whole Enchilada” links the alpine forest at over 11,000 feet to the desert floor in a single 7,000-foot descent.
Moab isn’t about jumps or berms. It’s more about the raw terrain and the technical grit it takes to negotiate it on a bike.
Sedona, Arizona: Top Tech Trails
Take the slickrock obsession of Moab and crank up the exposure by 100% and you’ve got Sedona’s legendary trail systems. After technical features? Look no further.
All attention is on the “Triple H” runs: Hiline, Hangover, and the Hogs. These trails are no joke. Even the pros bow down to how technical they are, and how much care goes into riding them.
Hangover in particular is a viral spot that features a knife-edge section that runs along a rock formation 200 feet above the canyon floor. Needless to say, falling there could have dire consequences. It remains a world-class test of a rider’s skill.
If you’re coming through, schedule your trip for March, when the Sedona MTB Festival turns the town into a three-day celebration of mountain biking. There are shuttled group rides, demo bikes, and all the nervous energy that’s in the air the night before someone’s first Hangover attempt.
For beginners, Sedona is also a special place. Newer bikers can find easy desert cruising if they just want to chill, but there are rides at every skill level for those who want to move to the next level. It’s all in the same trail network. Warm up on Templeton and you can be white-knuckling the White Line by lunch.
Kingdom Trails, Vermont: Flow For Days
It’s time for some cool-down rides. When you’ve had enough exposed rock in the blistering sun, check out Kingdom Trails, tucked into the small town of East Burke in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. There, flow and craftsmanship are the draw.
The Kingdom Trails Association formed in 1994, growing out of a local bike shop. There, East Burke Sports is where John Worth and Vince Jacob started bringing together a handful of trails into something special. Their project grew from disconnected trails cut across a couple of properties into a network of more than 100 miles spread across nearly 100 private parcels.
It might be more impressive to bring that many community members together in a single project than to forge fun trails to ride, but the whole thing remains a remarkable feat.
Bike Magazine has called it the best mountain bike trail network in North America, and it’s easy to see why when you get there. The buttery singletrack winds through old-growth forest, while riders can enjoy wooden bridges over streams, and just enough elevation change to keep things interesting. You don’t really need a full downhill rig to ride it.
Well over 100,000 riders visit each year, which has turned East Burke from a sleepy farm town into a true mountain bike destination.
Crested Butte, Colorado
Crested Butte, like Whistler, is one of the places where the sport began to take hold decades ago. In 1976, riders from Crested Butte rode all the way to Aspen over the 12,700-foot Pearl Pass on fat-tire “klunkers.” Soon, they inspired a bunch of Marin County tinkerers to join them.
That ride became known as the Pearl Pass Tour, and many think of it as the world’s first organized mountain bike event. Seven years later, locals founded the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, which was the first mountain bike club in the country.
The Pearl Pass Tour eventually grew into Fat Tire Bike Week, and festivals across the nation followed its mighty example of how to do a mountain bike event right.
The riding is world class. Trail 401 is the crown jewel. It’s a high-alpine descent that takes riders through wildflower meadows that offer sweeping views of the Gothic Valley. Any list of the best mountain biking trails usually includes it. Riders will find more than 750 miles of singletrack that brings them across the wider Gunnison Valley.
Crested Butte gives people the choice of everything from mellow valley loops to grueling five-hour alpine epics, and it is proof that one of the birthplaces of mountain biking still has some of the best terrain in North America.
Bentonville, Arkansas
If the other destinations built their reputations over decades, Bentonville has pulled off a speedrun. In about fifteen years, the riders there have turned a small Ozark town into one of the fastest-growing mountain biking destinations in the country.
A lot of the credit goes to Tom and Steuart Walton, grandsons of Walmart founder Sam Walton. They’ve contributed tens of millions of dollars through the Walton Family Foundation into building out what’s now called the Oz Trails network, comprised of hundreds of miles of singletrack across Northwest Arkansas.
The Slaughter Pen Trails are awesome. Some of them were hand-cut by Tom Walton himself. They’re found near the downtown area, and they thread past art installations by the Crystal Bridges Museum.
A short pedal away, riders will find that the 300-acre Coler Mountain Bike Preserve delivers something closer to a bike park experience. The wooden “Hub” drops riders into multiple lines, including flow trails with banked turns and technical sections with rocks, drops, and gap jumps.
Outside Magazine has called Bentonville a genuine rival to some of the premier destinations on this list. High-quality mountain biking terrain can be built, not just discovered. With enough funding, pretty much anything is possible.
Finding Your Style
Each of the destinations covered offers something different to riders. Whistler is for folks who want jumps and lift service. Moab and Sedona are all about technical precision and a strong tolerance for exposure. Kingdom Trails is there to provide chill flow. Crested Butte offers high-alpine adventure (and some history). And Bentonville is new school construction for people who are ready for a fresh location.
Really, the only mistake you can make is picking just one.
