Mountain Biking

The first trails to melt off in the spring. Ice Plant Trail System offers several different loops and connectors on the foothills of Ward Mountain just outside of Downtown Ely. Easily accessible, trails offer mild to moderate climbs and fast flowy descents through Pinyon and Juniper.

Rides can be from 6 miles up to 13 miles depending on your route.  Make sure to check out the Slalom Run and The Whoops, both part of the Fears, Tears, and Beers Enduro Race. 

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Ride Season: April through November

There are over 20 miles of trails that meander through the sagebrush and pinyon-juniper forests of Ward Mountain. This is a well signed trail system with multiple access points including shuttle opportunities to allow riders to descend 2000 feet back into downtown Ely. Adnventure riding at its best. Trails can be narrow and rocky to buffed out and flowy. The South Trailhead managed by the U.S. Forest Service and accessed via the Ward Mountain Campground, is located on US 6, and is marked with a sign. 

Rides can be from 2 miles to 20 miles depending on your route. Make sure to check out G Loop, stage 1 in the Fears, Tears, and Beers Enduro Race. Also new trails like Rope Tow and Making Pancakes allow riders to connect to the Ice Plant Trails, as well as, the fast and rowdy Powderberry Divide Trail back to town. 

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Ride Season: May through October

White Pine County’s essential mountain bike experience. The trails within Cave Lake State park are some of the best mountain biking in the State of Nevada. This stacked loop is well designed to offer long but moderate climbs delivering you from lake level up into the mahogany forests and limestone cliffs that are the signature of the park. Descents are equally as long and flowy bringing you through 3 ecosystems back to the Lake. Cave Lake trails offer the most diversity of terrain to ride. Cave Lake State Park is 8 miles south of Ely on U.S. 93, turning onto Success Summit road (State route 486) and continuing east for 7 miles.

Rides can be from 3 miles to 12 miles depending on your route. The High Roller Trail will provide the best views of the area and the renowned Twisted Pines Trail will have you grinning from ear to ear the entire way down.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Ride Season: May through October

These trails are not for the faint of heart. Steep, loose, and rocky w/ many opportunities to get your tires off the ground describes the riding on this mountain. Rising up from Downtown Ely, Squaw Peak is accessed by a jeep road that can be climbed or shuttled. 

Rides can be from 7 miles to 12 miles depending on if you are climbing or shuttling. Riders looking to experience full pucker have to descend the infamous Whorehouse Hill Trail finishing in Downtown Ely.

Level: Advanced/Expert

Ride Season: March through November 

The recreation area is centrally located on the crest of the Snake Range near Great Basin National Park and Mt. Moriah Wilderness. A network of signed two-track roads and singletrack allows hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders and OHV enthusiasts a chance to explore some beautiful country and see some historic mining ruins. There are two single-track loops that explore the unique rock formations near the campground giving a  totally different experience from the trails in Ely. With surrounding peaks towering up to 13,000 feet, this trail system contains twisty technical fun across 2 rocky ridges with short climbs and descents.

The Sacramento Pass Recreation Area provides three trail loops of various lengths: 6.5 miles total. It also provides picnic tables, grills, shade structures, trash cans and restrooms at the trailhead. No potable water. Camping available in 10 sites with a 14-day limit.

The BLM trailhead is located along Highway 50 about 40 miles east of Ely or 15 miles west of the Utah border. Look for the sign on the south side of the highway.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Ride Season: March through November

The north side of Murry Summit is managed by the BLM and offers wide meandering trails with very little elevation gain or loss. Mostly winding through sage riders find short respite in the surrounding Pinyon and Juniper forests. As part of Ely’s cross country ski area, this trail system is best ridden in the winter when everything is groomed. Make the trip out in January to participate in the fat bike category of the Bristlecone Birkenbeiner.

Riders can make an easy 5 mile loop with less than 500 feet of climbing right from the parking area which has picnic and restroom facilities. 

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Ride Season: December through March

The Egan Crest Trail System provides recreation-seekers with 24 miles of varied terrain, from the rolling sagebrush flats to the higher elevations in pinyon and juniper forests. The trails consist of single-track and signed two-track roads and are open to hiking, mountain biking, equestrian, motorcycles and ATVs. Beautiful vistas await along the high points of the trail.

This is an official Bureau of Land Management trail system. Visitors will enjoy clearly marked trails, a manned kiosk at the trailhead and picnic facilities. Water is not available.

From Ely go west on Hwy 50. In about 7.5 miles you’ll see a sign for Egan Crest Recreation Area and some shade structures on your right. Turn here and park at the trailhead.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Ride Season: April through November

Steam trains have shuttled passengers throughout the west for over a century. So has the bicycle!  That glorious era of engineering is alive and well in Ely, Nevada at the Nevada Northern Railway National Historic Monument.  Trains run daily, Spring through Fall, and carry passengers on the same routes as it did 110 years ago. Now you can enjoy having you and your bike shuttled to the end of the line during any regular scheduled train and ride one of many routes back to town at your own pace with the brand new “Trains and Trails Ticket”.

Either direction the train goes, riders will have options ranging from 6 miles all the way up to 20 miles or more back to town. Routes consists of rolling dirt roads that go past historic mining, railroad, and ranching sites, garnet collection areas, and gorgeous mountain views in all directions.  Routes are suitable for families with kids who want to have a fun, unique experience, but also offers the option to extend your ride up to distances that will make the most experienced cyclists sweat. Ely currently has over 40 miles of mountain bike singletrack in an ever-expanding trail system that leaves right from downtown. The county also boasts hundreds of miles of mountain roads for gravel exploration, but it is one of the only places in the country where you can use a historic train to shuttle you to these recreation opportunities.

Get your Ticket to the end of the line at the Nevada Northern Railway

“Few places in the world offer the vastness of wide open terrain like Nevada, the most mountainous state in America. On a clear day from the right perspective, views in Nevada’s Great Basin are measured in the hundreds of miles, and running right through the heart of it all is Nevada’s Highway 50.

Undulating several times from one mountain range and basin to the next between Utah and California, what you see from Highway 50 barely even scratches the surface of the rugged and wild beauty that interior Nevada offers. The only way to truly experience Nevada’s year round streams, aspen groves, wildflowers and wildlife is to park the car, get up in the ranges and explore. And the mountain bike is the perfect exploration tool for your backcountry Nevada adventure.” – Kurt Genshammer, The Angry Singlespeeder

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