Banked turns, drops, skinnies, jumps, rock gardens, practice zones, slalom course, ... This place has so much to offer mountain bikers looking to have a great time and build their skills.
Highlights
- A whole lot of fun and challenge built into a fairly small area, perhaps a bit bigger than a football field.
- A variety of fun elements for a range of skill levels (though I wouldn’t recommend it for people that aren’t confident with biking basics).
- West Coast is a blast with a nice steady descent with bank turns and jumps with options for all skill levels.
- My boys and I were able to build our skills and confidence on the 3 different-sized drops in the “Foothills” area.
- Some very impressive stone work in spots to address drainage and overuse issues.
Lowlights
- There are some drainage and overuse issues that make this place slow to dry out after a rain. When we were there, it had been 3 days since the last rain and there were lots of muddy spots still.
- The “Hub Access” trail (for getting to the top) is stunningly dull. It is a hard, fairly steep and tiring climb with nothing fun to offer. Just a direct route to the top. Climbing shouldn’t just be an arduous process. My boys and I generally got to the top by taking “Colossus” from the East side of the park which provided a much more fun and interesting way to the top.
- The rock gardens here tend to consist of smallish, loose rocks, that aren’t nearly as much fun as what you’ll see on most trails in the area.
- There’s a lot of climbing involved for fairly short downhills that don’t last very long.
- East coast and the slalom tracks were quite rough and rutted when we were there which made them less fun than they could have been.
Getting There
Off 109 just a bit South of 44. Google will get you there easily.Links
- Official Site
- Good video about EMBP with some footage of riding the trails including a full run of West Coast.
Tags
This is yet another awesome place that make me jealous of kids today. We didn’t have anything like this back when I was a kid. It’s got so many thrilling features you can do…
Two bikers heading up Colossus on the left, a section of East Coast on the right. A biker heading up “Colossus” Practicing on the shortest drop in the Foothills Launching off the medium drop in the Foothills A roller coaster skinny in the Foothills A fun element in the “Foothills” Hitting a jump in the “Drop Zone” A long challenging “skinny” at North Shore A long challenging “skinny” at North Shore Big Jumps in “Wildcat Jumps” area A long challenging “skinny” at North Shore Heading down Rocky IV A skinny along “Colossus” Landing hills for a big jump on “East Coast” Some nice stone work along “Colossus” Boy rides down “East Coast”