The Best Mountain Biking Trails in Alaska

Ester Dome is the premier mountain bike trail system in Fairbanks, Alaska. This tightly-wound trail network was machine built from the ground up by mountain bikers, for mountain bikers. The trails are situated on the side of a small mountain, which helps keep them out of the wet, marshy areas found closer to the city....

Kincaid Park began life as a nuclear missile site in the Cold War. After being decommissioned, the land was given to the city of Anchorage, and some of the buildings were repurposed for public use....

This lollipop-style ride traverses one of the newest sections of the Iditarod National Historic Trail (INHT), at least of the time of this writing in summer 2022. It also reaches an isolated lake set against a stunning mountain backdrop that's a worthy destination all in its own right....

The Hemlock Burn Shuttle is an entertaining and downright gorgeous mountain bike ride! At the time of this writing in 2022, Hemlock Burn is a brand-new machine-built singletrack trail descending from the Glen Alps Trailhead....

Jeff's Whoop Whoop is the most popular trail in the Hillside Park trail system. This intermediate-friendly flow trail is filled with beautifully-sculpted jumps and delightful berms. The professional trail construction has created superb flow between the features, allowing the riders to link up hits and keep the trail speed high....

The trail system at Mirror Lake is a tightly-wound network of singletrack that rolls up and down a series of low ridges. Located directly off of Alaska Highway 1, this trail system provides an easy stop when traveling the highway just north of Anchorage....

The Hemlock Burn trail is an entertaining and downright gorgeous mountain bike ride! At the time of this writing in 2022, Hemlock Burn is a brand-new machine-built singletrack trail descending from the Glen Alps Trailhead....

The Johnson Pass trail is an old wagon road that, over the years, has narrowed down into a stunningly-beautiful singletrack trail. This 23-mile point-to-point route is one of the easiest, most accessible backcountry routes in the Kenai Peninsula....

The Lost Lake Trail has long been renowned as one of Alaska's classic backcountry mountain bike rides, and it's absolutely a must-ride if you're in the region! The ride begins from a trailhead outside the town of Seward by climbing through the deep Alaskan rainforest....

Kincaid Park began life as a nuclear missile site in the Cold War. After being decommissioned, the land was given to the city of Anchorage, and some of the buildings were repurposed for public use....

Resurrection Pass is a classic backcountry point-to-point trail on the Kenai Peninsula running ~38 miles from just outside the town of Hope to Sterling Highway and the Kenai River. This epic trail crosses a majestic alpine pass high in the mountains....

Gauer Power is the quintessential black diamond jump line in the Hillside Park trail system. While Jeff's Whoop Whoop is the classic intermediate jump trail (and thus the most popular trail in the system), Gauer Power is a step up in difficulty from there....

The 16 Mile DH Trail isn't nearly 16 miles in length, but rather is located near the 16-mile marker on Hatcher Pass. The trail drops off the side of the paved road and plunges nearly straight down the mountainside, ending at a lower section of pavement....

The Lost Lake Trail has long been renowned as one of Alaska's classic backcountry mountain bike rides, and it's absolutely a must-ride if you're in the region! The ride begins from a trailhead outside the town of Seward by climbing through the deep Alaskan rainforest....

Dig Deep is Anchorage's most infamous tech trail. It's renowned for breaking local bikes and riders left and right, and rumor has it that the damage this trail doles out creates enough business to keep an entire bike shop running....

Legend has it that Eh-line was built to resemble the mountain bike trails in the Whistler Bike Park and other parts of British Columbia. The irony is that this is sort of true, but if you spend any significant time exploring BC, Eh-line doesn't feel all that similar....