Sitting about 3-1/2 hours north of Las Vegas on the eastern edge of the state, and 3-1/2 hours west and south of Salt Lake City, Ely is definitely a mountain bike destination worth considering.
You may have heard about Ely. The Fears, Tears and Beers Mountain Bike Enduro claims to be the oldest enduro mountain bike race in America.
The Fears, Tears and Beers Mountain Bike Enduro claims to be the oldest enduro mountain bike race in America.
You also may have come across an online story or two about mountain biking in Ely. One article in pinkbike caught my eye, branding Ely as The New Riding Boom Town. The article claimed “Ely is in the midst of a transformation from railway and resource extraction-driven economies to being more reliant on recreation.”
Road trippin’ to Ely
Ever since I moved to the Greater Salt Lake region of Utah, I’ve been curious about Eastern Nevada. I’d never had the desire or need to visit the area, but now I had a good excuse.
In preparation for my trip, I did a Google Maps search for bike shops in Ely. There were none. So I began to have serious doubts about Ely being some sort of a boom town,
In preparation for my trip, I did a Google Maps search for bike shops. There were none.
When me and my best gal arrived in town, we didn’t see a lot of cars or trucks running about with bike racks loaded with bikes. What we saw mostly was older folks, semi–deserted casinos and tumbleweeds.
Despite all of this, I didn’t have a worry at all. We were here for the riding and I had seen the pictures on the Internet!
Mountain Bike trails in Ely, NV
Not seeing a lot of riders in town actually had the opposite effect on me. The fact that Ely is not overrun by mountain bikers and bike shops made me think Ely hadn’t really been discovered yet.
Ely offers five legitimate trail networks:
- Ice Plant Canyon Trails
- Cave Lake State Park Trails
- Ward Mountain Trails
- Squaw Peak Trails
- Sacramento Pass Trails
The trail networks range from in town to 30 minute drives. We only had two days to ride, so we only got to ride the Ice Plant Canyon and Cave Lake trails.
Ice Plant Canyon
The Ice Plant Canyon trail network about 5-10 minutes south of town—depending on what part pf town you depart from. Ice Plant Canyon is BLM land and there appears to be plenty of places to camp close to the trails
Trailforks came in handy because the trails aren’t marked very well. To be clear, there are markers, but not a lot of trail names.
Fortunately, we ran into four hombres who had just finished their ride and were hanging out at the trailhead just waiting to help out two wandering visitors.
We followed their recommendation. which was to ride up Ice Plant to Senior Moment, Lower Total BS to Total BS, then down Ice Plant with a detour on The Whoops—a flowy trail that frolics along an elaborate flood control ditch system that works its way down the canyon ridge.
Once you get off Ice Plant, the trails are tight and the soil is grippy. You’l ride mostly though Junipers with some scattered stands of shorter piñons
The afore-mentioned hombres mentioned they had shuttled up to the top, via Hwy 6. Shuttling would be a great option to extend your ride time.
Cave Lake Trails
Local literature cited Cave Lake trails as being the epitome of Ely’s riding scene. So on day two, we drove up to Cave Lake State Park to explore the trails.
I expected this to be a fee area, but it wasn’t. There were a few closed signs about but they seemed to pertain to a lake restoration project. Cave Lake State Park was not as hot and dry as Ice Plant, so there was a lot more vegetation. More pines, some sage, and vibrant greens with temperatures about 5º cooler.
Local literature cited Cave Lake trails as being the epitome of Ely’s riding scene.
It took us 25 minutes to get to the the Cave Overlook Loop trailhead from town, which sits at the south west end of the lake.
We were flying by the seats of our pants on choosing this start. I imagined viewing the lake as we climbed, but the lake was actually quite low. A splash of blue was still welcomed as we twisted and turned our up the trail.
True to what we’d heard, some of the traverses spanned some steep pitches. One member of our group was a beginner/intermediate rider and so she chose to hike-a-bike walk past the sketchier sections.
After a couple long east to west switchbacks, paralleling the lake, the trail turned south into a canyon and its ultimate junction with the High Roller connector. We rode to the top and did a nice loop on High Roller and Twisted Pines.
The ride back down was fast and the views were great.
In between the rides
After our Saturday morning ride, we showered, grabbed a late lunch, then checked out the Northern Nevada Train Museum. Afterwards, we took a 90-minute train ride from town up into the hills and up to the current mine.
After the train ride, we did a little driving tour and tried to imagine the life of a mining family back in the day. Ely has been mining since the early 1900s, when copper was discovered. Before that, it had been a stop along the old Pony Express.
The dining options in Ely are not so great to be honest. Racks Bar and Grill was the best we found and if you stick to beef and alcohol, you won’p’t be disappointed.
If you’re camping, it doesn’t matter. If you are hoteling it like we were, consider a room with a kitchenette and do your own thing.
After dinner we hit the hotel casino for cocktails and a bit of gambling. This ain’t Vegas and you won’t find dealers in the Ely casinos. It’s all digital slots and poker.
Is Ely the best place to mountain bike in Nevada?
Despite—or perhaps because of—the lack of amenities normally found in a tourist town, Ely was a fantastic weekend of riding. But is Ely the best place to mountain bike in Nevada? If you like old mining towns, high-desert riding and perhaps playing a bit of blackjack…the answer is yes.
We came for the riding and the trails did not disappoint. The local riders are also great and they were stoked to learn we had traveled far to check out the trails.
Go here if you’d like to read about other mountain bike destinations.
Nevada isn’t really known for mountain biking, but Ely is doing a great job putting the area on the map. Combined with the Caliente MTB Fest in mid-September, there are two very good reasons to take a mountain bike road trip to eastern Nevada.
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