Las Vegas Mountain Biking
Since Las Vegas is surrounded by desert and mountains, there are hundreds of miles of hiking and mountain biking trails scattered around the city. The Las Vegas mountain biking community has a vast selection of technical singletrack, fast downhill, and paved trails for all skill levels to enjoy. For information about Guided Mountain Biking Tours click here.
Boulder City and Lake Mead Mountain Bike Trails
Bootleg Canyon Trails – Bootleg Canyon Mountain Bike Park is an extensive network of World Class Downhill and Cross Country mountain bike trails. The two dozen trails range from novice to expert levels, with names such as “Armageddon” and “Reaper.” Download Trail Map
River Mountain Trail – Currently with 32 miles of paved usable trail, when fully completed, the River Mountains Loop Trail will be approximately 35 miles in length and will surround the River Mountains connecting Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Hoover Dam, Henderson, Boulder City and the rest of the Las Vegas Valley. Download Trail Map
Lakeshore Drive Trail – Lakeshore Drive edges the water for a fairly easy but spectacular out-and-back ride. From the entrance station on Lake Mead Drive, take Lakeshore for a moderate 12-mile ride to the Alan Bible Visitor Center, passing amazing red rock formations along the way. View Map
Railroad Tunnel Trail – The “railroad tunnels” portion of the trail starts at the trailhead and hugs the hills on the southern shoreline of Lake Mead through 5 tunnels. The trail continues from there all the way to Hoover Dam. The trail starts out as loose gravel through the tunnels portion and then mainly dirt singletrack until you reach the Hoover Dam parking lot. View Map
Red Rock Canyon Mountain Bike Trails
Cottonwood Valley Trails– Cottonwood Valley has about 140 miles of singletrack trails for all skill levels and amazing scenery of Red Rock Canyon to go with it. This trail system is a favorite of local Las Vegas mountain bikers. There are three trailheads that access this area. There is the Late Night Trailhead, the Cottonwood Valley Trailhead, and the Red Valley Trailhead. Download Trail Map
Cowboy Trails – The Cowboy Trails out near Red Rock National Conservation area are a mix of long climbs and a mix of downhill trails. The trails range from advanced rocky technical, to rocky technical. There are rock drops ranging from 2-5′ (with ride arounds) on the DH trails. Download Trail Map
13-Mile Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive – The 13-Mile Scenic Drive is a popular route for tourists in cars, but you can appreciate the amazing colors of its red rock cliffs even better on a bicycle. The moderate to advanced loop trail has a 1,000-foot elevation gain on paved road. You can extend the ride by looping the flat 35 miles along State 159 to State 160. View Map
Rocky Gap Road – Rocky Gap Road, is as it sounds, a fire road, not a singletrack mountain bike trail. This ride is a great place to train, but not really someone you would ride to improve your technical skills. The views are spectacular and you will get some great images of Las Vegas, but the real highlight to the ride is the downhill, it is fast with a good flow and tons of berms. View Map
Bear’s Best – Bear’s Best starts out as a 1.5 mile paved path heading into the housing tract which ends on top of a large diversion dam. After dropping a good 50-feet down the sloped face of the concrete dam, the trail heads west into the desert. The trail is mostly dirt singletrack with some exposed rock and a few small drops. View Trail Map
South Las Vegas Mountain Bike Trails
Union Trails – The Union Trails are mostly singletrack with a little bit of fire road riding. There is not much in terms of super technical challenges, there are a couple of fun features to do skills work but nothing extreme or overly advanced. View Map
Mt Charleston Mountain Bike Trails
Mt Charleston DH-Long Run – This is a really fun Downhill trail. The first part is really high speed with a few sharp turns. There are a lot of trees on this trail, so do wear gloves. You will reach the road again quickly. Cross the road and ride up the street to the dirt Overlook. The trail starts up again from here. As you descend you will reach a fork. Go left and you get a good long trek through the trees. Go to the right and you chop off about 3 miles but get some good technical downhill. No scary drops just lots of rocks scattered about in a wash.
Bristlecone Loop – Bristlecone Loop starts out with a steep 3 mile climb up a dirt road which then become single track for the trip down. Really fun 3 mile descent back to the car. Easy to follow singletrack, (some very technical sections) will lead you down to the Lee Canyon Ski Resort.
Henderson Mountain Bike Trails
Anthem East Trail and McCullough Trails – Get on the Anthem East trail (paved) and follow it up until you get to the dirt. Enjoy the city views for now. Get on the singletrack heading left (east). Soon you’ll see the trail markers for the McCullough Trails This will give way to a 10′ wide well graded gravel path that goes another 7 miles to the east end of Mission Hills Drive (8.5 miles from Anthem Hills Park).
You’ll only encounter hikers in the couple of miles near the trailheads. After that you’re out in rolling desert hills. Quite pretty. This is not technical by any means. But you’ll use all your gears and elevate your heart rate getting up the many switchback climbs. Download Trail Map
Final Thoughts
As you can see the Las Vegas Mountain Biking scene has some amazing trails to explore. No matter what part of town you are in, epic mountain biking trails are only a short drive away. If you are from out of town and dont have access to a mountain bike, check out these tour and bike rental options.
We hope you have found this article to be helpful and gets you excited to get out there and hit the trails. Happy riding!
