Imagine the most epic mountain top views in the world and combine them with beautiful, flowing singletrack, followed by a raucous, high-speed descent down a mountainside ending on the valley floor, and you have the epic Monarch Crest Trail in a nutshell. The Crest is often ranked as one of the best mountain bike trails in the United States, and even the world. It's deserving of that ranking, too, with a roughly 10-mile portion of the trail that hugs the top of the Continental Divide, offering incredible views in every direction.
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# Top 10 Must-Ride Mountain Bike Trails in the USA

The Whole Enchilada. Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Mike De La Rosa

The Whole Enchilada. Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Mike De La Rosa

With thousands of miles of sublime singletrack spread across the nation, attempting to choose the 10 absolute best mountain bike trails in a country as massive as the United States of America is an exercise in futility. Even trying to narrow down the list of towns to the 10 best destinations is so difficult that mountain bike journalists continue to write new articles and lists every single year. So while these 10 trails could all vie for a spot on the list of the "best" trails in the nation, I’m going to merely claim that these are all “must-ride” trails that you have to put on your todo list. Like, right now.

With this top 10 list, I aimed for geographic diversity without sacrificing ride quality. On this list, you’ll find trails from all four corners of the lower 48 states and even a trail in the Midwest, of all places. Of course, most of this list is naturally anchored in the Western USA, but that’s for a good reason: it’s tough to compete with the scale and the caliber of the superb mountain biking in the Rocky Mountains!

And yet, diversity still reigns. These trail selections serve up dry, rocky desert riding on the Hiline Trail in Sedona, Arizona. Endless alpine views from the Monarch Crest Trail in Salida, Colorado. Lush rainforest jump lines at Galbraith Mountain in Bellingham, Washington. And so, so much more!

Whatever your preferred flavor of riding and whichever corner of the nation you choose to visit, dive into this list to discover your next world-class must-do mountain bike ride!

# The Whole Enchilada, Moab, Utah

Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Mike De La Rosa

The Whole Enchilada ranks among the most epic mountain bike rides of all time! This point-to-point route drops a whopping 7,000 vertical feet over 25 miles, and while there is some climbing along the way, all told it's one of most fantastic descents in existence.

A big piece of the epicness puzzle is the diversity of this route. The Whole Enchilada passes through almost every climate zone imaginable. The top of Burro Pass, the route's high point, tops out just above tree line in alpine tundra. The singletrack quickly drops back into the trees, swooping through a pine forest. Lower down the pines switch to aspens, and then low scrub oaks. The vegetation switches to the high desert variety, with short pinion trees breaking up the landscape. By the time you make it to the Colorado River, the vegetation has all but disappeared, and you're riding through a low-desert environment.

# Monarch Crest, Salida, Colorado

Rider: Marcel Slootheer. Photo: Greg Heil

Imagine the most epic mountain top views in the world and combine them with beautiful, flowing singletrack, followed by a raucous, high-speed descent down a mountainside ending on the valley floor, and you have the epic Monarch Crest Trail in a nutshell. The Crest is often ranked as one of the best mountain bike trails in the United States, and even the world. It's deserving of that ranking, too, with a roughly 10-mile portion of the trail that hugs the top of the Continental Divide, offering incredible views in every direction.

# Hiline Trail, Sedona, Arizona

Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Marcel Slootheer.

The Hiline Trail is both stunningly beautiful and incredibly technical but thankfully, not at the same time.

The trail gets its name from the high traverse that it performs above sheer cliff bands along the side of one of Sedona's red rock mountains. Thanks to the trail's vantage point high above the valley floor, riders can enjoy stunning views of the surrounding mountains and red rock formations. While the singletrack along the traverse is very exposed in places and a fall could be deadly, overall this portion of the singletrack is relatively non-technical.

That all changes when the trail points downhill, with the singletrack funneling into steep, rocky chutes; boulder-filled rock gardens; and steep rock rolls. Watch out for the cacti lining the trail—there's no room for error!

# Downieville Downhill, Downieville, California

Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Marcel Slootheer.

The Downieville Downhill is a classic shuttle run of epic proportions! Over the course of 15 miles the trail drops over 4,000 feet of net elevation. Running from the top of a mountain ridge down to the banks of the Yuba River, this epic trail has been a classic ride for decades. In fact, the trail and the town of Downieville are host to a long running race/festival dubbed the “Downieville Classic.”

# Kingdom Trails: Eastern Loop, East Burke, Vermont

Photo: Jake Heddon via Flickr Creative Commons

The Kingdom Trail Network is an absolutely massive trail system boasting over 100 miles of non-motorized multi-use trails. With everything from old school hand-built singletrack to machine-built flow trails, doubletrack, and old gravel roads, this expansive network truly does have a trail for everyone!

The fame of the Kingdom Trails has spread far and wide, and the network not only attracts mountain bikers from across North America, but from around the world! In 2018, the Kingdom Trails attracted 137,000 visitors, which is an average of almost 400 trail users per day, according to the North Star Monthly.

# Sandy Ridge: Intermediate Loop, Sandy, Oregon

Rider/Photo: Greg Heil

If you’re a mountain biker living in Portland, Oregon, you ride at Sandy Ridge—it’s that simple. Despite being located over 40 miles from downtown, Sandy Ridge is the closest mountain bike legal singletrack network to the city of Portland. While there are other singletrack trails in the heart of the city, the trail access issues are contentious, with bikers having been shut out of all the high-quality trails. Thankfully, Portlanders and visitors alike can drive to the mountain bike hotspot of Sandy Ridge.

Unlike most of the best-known mountain bike trails in the world, Sandy Ridge was designed and built from the ground up by IMBA, in conjunction with the Northwest Trail Alliance and the BLM. In many ways, Sandy Ridge is one of IMBA Trail Solution’s showcase pieces, exhibiting exactly what they can do with a blank slate.

And what can they do? Why, they can build one of the best damn mountain bike trails you may ever ride!

# Unemployment Line Loop, Bellingham, Washington

Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Craig Topp

Unemployment Line is Galbraith's marquee jump trail, and is largely responsible for Galbraith's international fame. Unwilling to rest on their laurels, the local mountain bike club, WMBC, continues to reshape and improve Unemployment Line every few years. For 2019, many of the jumps were revamped and improved, and a visually-stunning over/under roll in feature was added to the trail entrance.

Unemployment Line offers tabletops and booters of a variety of sizes. While the takeoffs and landings have grown over the years, compared to the scope of jumps found in downhill bike parks, the jumps on Unemployment Line can demand sniper focus to hit perfectly. The tables are a bit narrower and the landings can sometimes be a bit shorter than you’d expect.

That said, advanced riders will soon be sending these jumps perfectly after just a couple of runs. The trail speed sets you up superbly for each hit, with massive bermed corners allowing you to easily maintain as much momentum as you need.

# Dupont State Forest Slickrock, Brevard, North Carolina

Photo: Greg Heil

Dupont State Forest is a massive 10,400-acre forest just outside of Brevard, North Carolina that has become one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed trail systems in the United States. Dupont is probably best-known for two things: its gorgeous waterfalls and the iconic slickrock balds with views of the entire region, which this route visits. The slickrock balds are reminiscent of riding the renowned Slickrock Trail in Moab, but with an East Coast flavor… and on a mountainside slant! Some riders could easily spend all day sessioning these otherworldly trails. In fact, the route shown here is the best way to maximize the slickrock experience in one ride.

# Copper Harbor: The Flow Loop, Copper Harbor, Michigan

The trail system at Copper Harbor was one of the first Ride Centers designated by IMBA. With the Silver-Level Ride Center designation, Copper Harbor ranks among the very best mountain bike destinations in the world!

The array of trails found in the hills at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula offers an overwhelming array of ride opportunities. From long up-and-down trail rides to burly shuttle runs served by a local commercial shuttle service, the riding here is radically more diverse than you'd generally expect from a remote trail system in the Midwest.

The route mapped here is just one example of an iconic pedal-driven loop through the network that access the iconic “The Flow” trail.

# Osberg Ridgeline Epic, Ketchum, Idaho

The “epic” in the name “Osberg Ridgeline Epic” comes from at least three aspects:

1. The epic length of this full-day point-to-point route

2. The epic singletrack winding through the massive mountains

3. The epic views from the above-treeline ridge!

This gorgeous, singletrack-filled shuttle run checks all of the boxes for an iconic big mountain ride!

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