Revelstoke is quickly becoming one of the best places to go mountain biking in British Columbia. With awesome lift-assisted downhill mountain biking at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Mount Macpherson (a huge area for mountain biking near Revelstoke), there are tons of reasons to mountain bike in Revelstoke.
But not all of Revelstoke’s mountain biking trails are white-knuckle, high-adrenaline rushes, in fact there are lots of fun & easy Revelstoke mountain biking trails.
Our kids have been loving their mountain biking lessons in Canmore, Alberta, so we wanted to find a Canadian destination with lots of easy mountain biking trails. In fact, going on a family mountain biking trip was the primary reason we decided to visit Revelstoke with kids.
Whether you are new to mountain biking, visiting Revelstoke with kids or looking for an adaptive trail, there is sure to be an easy mountain biking trail in Revelstoke perfect for you. During our trip to Revelstoke, we tried every easy mountain bike trail we could find. As it turns out, there’s lots of excellent easy mountain biking trails in Revelstoke!
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3 Easy Mountain Biking Areas Near Revelstoke
1. Mount Macpherson Mountain Biking Trails
There are a lot of excellent places to go mountain biking with kids in Revelstoke, but the best place to go is the Mount Macpherson Recreational Trails. Located just across the Upper Arrow Lake from Revelstoke, there are plenty of easy mountain biking trails for beginners and kids to enjoy.
Mount Macpherson is a huge mountain biking area, but the best spot to find easy mountain biking trails for kids is parking lot 3, where you’ll find kid-friendly trails such as Miller Time and the training runs.
2. Mount Revelstoke National Park Mountain Biking Trails
Mount Macpherson may be the best place to go mountain biking in Revelstoke with kids, but it’s not the only place to go. Just a few minutes north of Revelstoke, Mount Revelstoke National park has several easy mountain bike trails suitable for kids or beginner mountain bikers.
3. Revelstoke Mountain Resort
We stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel situated at the base of Revelstoke Mountain Resort during our week in Revelstoke. Our room had an awesome view of the summertime ski hill, allowing us to watch the mountain coaster as well as all the downhill mountain bikers finishing their rides.
We’re too new to mountain biking to try the intermediate and expert lift-assisted mountain biking trails at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, but the good news is that they are nearly done construction of a new beginner downhill mountain biking trail!
8 Best Easy Mountain Biking Trails in Revelstoke
It’s hard to make a list of the best easy mountain biking trails in Revelstoke as the trails have such different characteristics. Rather than list these easy Revelstoke mountain biking trails in order of best to worst, we list them in order of difficulty, starting with the easiest mountain biking trail first, then getting increasingly difficult.
1. Beaver Lodge Kids’ Bike Park (Mount Revelstoke National Park)
A super-fun new addition to the Mount Revelstoke National Park mountain biking trails is the Beaver Lodge Kids’ Bike Park. This bike skills park near Revelstoke is built for smaller kids (aged 5 & under) who will love exploring the fun trails on their bikes.
There are a series of short bike trails throughout the Beaver Lodge Kids’ Bike Park with many kid-friendly bike features built in, such as a large tunnel to ride through, a dragonfly teeter-totter, or a snails tail spiral track.
When the kids are done biking at the Beaver Lodge Kids’ Bike Park, there are picnic tables next to the pump track to enjoy a little snack.
If your kids like a little potty humor (as ours do), the outhouses have posters containing fun facts about animal poop.
Beaver Lodge Kids’ Bike Park Location
2. Mount Macpherson Training Loops
A great reason for kids or beginner mountain bikers to go to Mount Macpherson is their series of training trails. Located next to the Miller Time trailhead at parking lot 3, mountain bikers of all skill levels can practice on their choice of a beginner mountain biking trail, 2 intermediate blue trails and an expert black diamond trail to test and improve their mountain biking skills.
The Mount Macpherson training loop for beginner mountain bikers is called the Green Grasshopper Trail, which features a few small bumps and a gentle turn to practice on, with no protruding rocks on the trail.
The two intermediate training loops at Mount Macpherson are the Blue Heron Trail, which lets mountain bikers practice going down little steps and small protruding rocks, and the Blue Bird Trail which has a few big bumps with a small berm to practice turns on.
The expert Mount Macpherson Black Bear Trail is a very steep hill with an option to practice a gap jump (roughly 5′ long).
The four Mount Macpherson mountain biking training trails are all reasonably short and converge to a single trail which then loops back to the beginning, allowing beginners or kids to practice these fun mountain biking trails over and over.
Mount Macpherson training loops location
3. 23 Connector Trail (Mount Revelstoke National Park)
The 23 Connector trail is a short 1.4 km double-track trail that runs from Mount Revelstoke National Park to the Nakusp-Mica Creek Highway (Highway23). The trail starts along a wide road but soon turns into a wide and smooth trail. Starting in Mount Revelstoke National Park this easy mountain biking trail is all downhill and ends at the highway across from the Basecamp Resort.
This is, of course, only an easy Revelstoke mountain biking trail in the downhill direction. We managed a one-way downhill mountain bike ride by having one parent cycle 23 Connector with the kids, while the other parent took the car to Basecamp. For kids, the 23 Connector is an easy, fun downhill ride.
For anyone staying at Basecamp in Revelstoke, this would be a convenient (albeit uphill) way to get up to the Mount Revelstoke national park.
4. Miller Time (Mount Macpherson)
The best easy mountain biking trail for beginners at Mount Macpherson is Miller Time, which is a short 1km mountain biking trail through a magical evergreen forest along a creek. The Miller Time easy mountain bike trail is well groomed with only small rocks and no roots protruding from the dirt.
Miller Time is a reasonably flat Revelstoke mountain biking trail for beginners. Miller Time only has one notable valley with a short downhill section followed by a short hill back up. These easy hills are good practice for beginners and should be within the capabilities of most beginner mountain bikers. Be sure to try riding Miller Time in both directions to vary your experience.
Miller Time is a new Mount Macpherson mountain biking trail, designed for not just beginner mountain bikers, but adaptive mountain bikes too. In fact, Miller Time is named after local mountain biker Chris Miller, who rides a recumbent adaptive mountain bike.
5. Soren Sorenson Mountain Bike Trail (Mount Revelstoke National Park)
The main mountain biking trail in Mount Revelstoke National Park is the 2km Soren Sorenson trail which departs from the Nels Nelsen Historic Area.
The Soren Sorenson mountain biking trail is a short loop through a beautiful dense forest on the lower slopes of Mount Revelstoke. For added beauty, the trail also crosses a bridge over a mountain stream on both directions.
This easy Revelstoke mountain biking trail is well groomed with very few rocks or roots protruding from the dirt. It’s also a reasonably flat mountain biking trail, with just 21m of elevation gain to contend with.
If you are into the intermediate mountain biking trails around Revelstoke, you can take the longer 5km Soren Sorenson Loop. This 3km extension of the easy 2km loop has a few difficult sections which are not suitable for beginner mountain bikers. These challenges include a few steep hills (up and down) with significant embedded rocks on the trail, and a steep uphill on loose gravel trail.
If you are capable, the intermediate Soren Sorenson mountain biking loop is a lot of fun, but if you or your kids are still learning to mountain bike, the 2km easy mountain biking trail is a lot of fun and is well worth the trip to Mount Revelstoke National Park.
Soren Sorenson Trail Map (2km)
6. Beaver Lake Road > Dusty Beaver (Mount Macpherson)
Our kids struggled a bit when we tried to mountain bike from Eager Beaver to Dusty Beaver (#7 below), so we tried a different variation and found it was an easier way for the kids to enjoy the “Beaver trails” at Mount Macpherson.
We rode our mountain bikes from parking lot 3 up Beaver Lake Road to the far end of the Dusty Beaver trail. The incline on Beaver Lake Road was more gentle and steady, making it easier for our kids to manage.
Including a break at the small, but scenic Beaver Lake halfway up also helps with energy levels. Beaver Lake is a fun stop for kids to look for frogs near the lily pads. We visited Beaver Lake twice and saw a decent sized frog on our second visit.
Speaking of frogs, as you pass the lake, keep your eyes peeled on Beaver Lake Road for tiny little frogs – we saw hundreds of them crossing the road as we biked past!
From Beaver Lake Road, we rode the Dusty Beaver mountain biking trail downhill back to the parking lot, which was a lot easier and more fun mountain bike ride for everyone.
If you or your kids are not strong mountain bikers, but are ready for a little more challenge, we recommend you bike up Beaver Lake Road to the far end of the Dusty Beaver mountain biking trail.
7. Eager Beaver > Beaver Tail > Dusty Beaver (Mount Macpherson)
The helpful folks at the Revelstoke Visitor Centre recommended the series of Beaver Trails at Mount Macpherson as good easy mountain biking trails near Revelstoke. From Mount Macpherson parking lot 3, we started with the Eager Beaver trail, to the Beaver Tail trail to the Dusty Beaver trail (which for simplicity we’ll collectively call the Dusty Beaver Trail).
All three of these Beaver trails at Mount Macpherson are rated “green trails” for beginner mountain bikers, but we must admit it was a struggle for our kids at first. The Dusty Beaver mountain biking trail is pretty short, clocking in at a one-way distance of 2.3km, but it’s almost all uphill on the way out, with many little hills that are quite steep.
Beginner mountain bikers or little kids may struggle with the uphill portion of the Dusty Beaver trail, especially when you throw in the natural undulations of the mountain biking trail along with rocks, roots and corners. Our kids were able to bike a lot of the uphill Dusty Beaver trail, but they also needed to walk their mountain bikes more than usual due to the spots where the incline was too much for them.
To be fair, our kids were pretty tired the first day we tried the Dusty Beaver trail, so perhaps with fresher legs, this easy Revelstoke mountain biking trail would have been less of a struggle.
After their hard work getting up the Dusty Beaver trail, the kids had much more fun going back down the trail, as it was almost all downhill and therefore much easier and fun.
The three-trail combo of the Dusty Beaver trail is a lot of fun, but it is the most challenging of the seven easy mountain biking trails near Revelstoke.
8. Salad Fingers (Revelstoke Mountain Resort)
For full disclosure, we did not ride the Salad Fingers beginner mountain bike trail at the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, but only because it was still under construction during our week in Revelstoke with our kids.
Coming in late August 2021, Salad Fingers will be the first lift-assisted downhill mountain biking trail for beginners at the Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The 4.5km beginner mountain bike trail will begin at the lower Revelation Gondola terminal and will gently wind its way back down to the mountain village, where it meets up with the 5620 trail.
We’re sad we just missed trying the new easy downhill mountain biking trail at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, but we’re looking forward to coming on another mountain biking trip to Revelstoke with our kids in the future!
Revelstoke Mountain Resort mountain biking trail map
Recommended Revelstoke Hotel for Mountain Bikers
Given we planned to do a lot of mountain biking in Revelstoke, BC, we elected to bring our own mountain bikes, rather than rent bikes. We love our mountain bikes, so finding a Revelstoke hotel with good security for our mountain bikes was important to us.
We were very happy to discover that the Sutton Place Hotel at the Revelstoke Mountain Resort had excellent secure bike storage. Not only is their bike storage inside its secure underground parking lot, it’s inside a secure bike storage room within the secure underground parking lot. That’s two levels of bike storage security!
As one of Revelstoke’s best hotels, there are a ton of reasons to stay at the Sutton Place Hotel. As mountain bikers, the main reason we chose to stay at the the Sutton Place Hotel was their excellent secure bike storage facilities (and to be honest, for its close proximity to the awesome mountain coaster too!)
Mountain Biking Gear
As people get into mountain biking, their need for mountain biking gear usually starts out modest. But as you get better at mountain biking, it’s tempting to start ‘gearing up’ as your skills improve.
If you are looking to add some mountain biking gear before you visit Revelstoke, BC, here are some good shopping links:
- Mountain bikes
- Mountain biking helmets
- Biking gloves
- Hydration packs for mountain biking
- Mountain biking shoes
- Bike locks
- Car bike racks
Easy Revelstoke Hikes
If you are looking for a variety of things to do in Revelstoke, BC, take a break from these easy mountain biking trails and check out these easy Revelstoke hiking trails. We alternated hiking and biking in Revelstoke and thoroughly enjoyed each activity!
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Dan Brewer is an intrepid family travel blogger with a passion for exploring the world's most captivating destinations. With 58 countries under his belt and a sense of wanderlust that knows no bounds, he has made it his life's mission to share his travel experiences and insights with fellow families who love to travel.
When Dan isn't traveling with his wife and kids, he's either out enjoying the Canadian Rockies he calls home or working on one of his three travel sites (Family Can Travel, Travel Banff Canada and Ultimate Sports Road Trip).