Mountain Hero Trail
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Since moving to Whitehorse I’ve gotten into downhill mountain biking in a big way. There are tons of trails right from my front door I can hit for hours and hours after work on long summer nights.
Montana Mountain – about an hour from Whitehorse in Carcross – is the mecca of biking in the far North. The trails are amazingly well built and signed, and as usual in the North it’s common to spend an entire day on Montana without seeing another person or group of riders.
There is only one trail in all of Canada in the International Mountain Bike Association’s “Epic Rides” Hall of Fame. That trail – Mountain Hero – is on Montana Mountain.
It’s a huge, huge day of uphill pushing and riding up and over the actual summit of the mountain along old abandoned mining access roads. The majority of the ride is actually a supremely beautiful hike, until the last 20 minutes which is awesome single track downhill dropping serious elevation in very little time. More than the actual riding, it’s the scale of this that makes it so amazing.
The morning is a long uphill slog away from Bennett Lake
I ride a Giant Faith with 7 inches of travel front and rear
Abandoned minding stuff
Mining stuff near the top
Heather at one of the abandoned mining buildings on the side of the trail
Now we ride down this valley to Nares Lake
The trail is absolutely breathtaking, clearly worth of it’s “epic” status.
-Dan
Read your blog from beginning to end and enjoyed it very much. My Aussie husband was previously uninterested in Latin America as I diligently try to improve my Spanish skills -tough to do in rural Queensland! Since we began reading your blog, As I plan our yearly trip back to Chicago to visit my family…. He tells me I’m wasting his holiday and he’s going to Mexico instead… Woot! We are now working out budgets and planning for our own Pan American highway trip…
We are a bit older than you were at the time if your trip….I’m early 40s and something and he 30s..any advice, links, to resources for folks our age…we are thinking Toyota pick up and slide in camper or something similar as a vehicle….and work in exchange for services would be fantastic, but not sure if that’s feasible since we are out if back packer age bracket …..
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration and beautiful pictures….
Hey Amber,
Thanks for the kind words. I’m actually from Australia originally, though I’ve been away for a long time now.
You’ll find you two are right in the “average” age for Overlanders – tons and tons of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s set out driving across continents and the world.
Toyota pickup sounds ideal, you’ll have no trouble at all finding a good slide-in in the US or Canada.
Checkout WikiOverland, the encyclopedia of Overland Travel for everything you need to know paperwork and logistics wise to make the trip. Also, request to join this Facebook group, which is full of people that have done the drive, or are doing it right now. Likely you’ll find people to meet up with on the road PanAmerican Travellers.
Working can be a little tough, as you’ll likely only earn locals wages, which are very, very low in Latin America.
Lots of hostels will give you room and food if you work a few hours a day…
All the best, let me know how it goes!
-Dan