Good Mountain Biking trails near Vancouver (Camas, Yacolt: buy, gated, live)

[MtnSurfer]

Hello,

My son enjoys mountain biking and so we are looking for some options near Vancouver. Because we also enjoy hiking, we do not really want 'riding' trails that are both narrow and high traffic for pedestrians. While we don't mind sharing trails, its more about safety for the hikers. Sometimes my son does like to go fast. Where we lived in Monterey there were many mountain bike friendly options in the nearby hills, some shared. I haven't noticed that as much in Vancouver. Though I haven't looked very hard yet for them either.

Maybe we'll need to head out a bit further east, north or south for some better trail options, perhaps?

Thanks for any tips and/or local riding experiences you may have.

Derek

[texasdiver]

Go check out the Thrillium Mountain Trail which is right above you in the Yacolt Burn area. https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Yacolt#larch

Here is the .pdf trail map of the area: https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/...619.pdf?40b08e

Drive up to the Larch Mountain Trailhead https://goo.gl/maps/687BL4HCAzLuZ8Mk6 and you will have various options. The Thrillium Mountain Trail is a pretty aggressive down-hill bike-only trail (too steep and muddy for actual hiking) So having cars at each end is a good idea or you can bike back up on the forest service road. That whole area is riddled with forest service roads, some of which are gated off to motorized vehicles, so you have a lot of gravel road cycling you can also explore as well as a variety of fairly lightly traveled hiking trails. The mountain bike trail is called Thrillium and the hiking trail is called Larch Mountain but it is all the same parking area.

The area can be confusing so download the offline maps of the area in google maps on your phone as you may be out of cell signal. Or bring a mapping GPS with topo and trail maps.

And make sure you have the Discovery Pass on your car or you will for certain get ticketed. At least on the weekend. Ask me how I know. You can get them at REI and various other places around town. Probably Sportsman's Warehouse in Vancouver but call to check. I think you can also buy them online and print out a temporary pass until the real one comes in the mail.

[MtnSurfer]

Thanks for the tips, TexasDiver. I will definitely give those a try.

While we've heard there are mountain bike trails in Camas near Round Lake, I've done some hiking back there and just couldn't picture it with all the people. Maybe I wasn't on the right trails though? Here are the trails from one website:

Camas Mountain Biking Trails

Derek

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Thanks for the tips, TexasDiver. I will definitely give those a try.

While we've heard there are mountain bike trails in Camas near Round Lake, I've done some hiking back there and just couldn't picture it with all the people. Maybe I wasn't on the right trails though? Here are the trails from one website:

Camas Mountain Biking Trails

Derek

There are people who mountain bike on the trails around Lacamas Park but there are so many people and dogs that you have to go pretty slow. Plus it's small so any trails are going to be really short for biking.
Personally I prefer riding on old forest service roads up in the mountains, especially those that have been gated off to motorized vehicles. It isn't single track but you usually have the place to yourselves. The dedicated mountain bike trails are sometimes too technical for my taste. I'm just not that aggressive of a rider.

There are various dedicated mountain biking trails on the OR side but the cycling community is so huge over there that they are all pretty crowded and you have a lot of really aggressive younger riders who can be jerks.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

There are people who mountain bike on the trails around Lacamas Park but there are so many people and dogs that you have to go pretty slow. Plus it's small so any trails are going to be really short for biking.
Personally I prefer riding on old forest service roads up in the mountains, especially those that have been gated off to motorized vehicles. It isn't single track but you usually have the place to yourselves. The dedicated mountain bike trails are sometimes too technical for my taste. I'm just not that aggressive of a rider.

There are various dedicated mountain biking trails on the OR side but the cycling community is so huge over there that they are all pretty crowded and you have a lot of really aggressive younger riders who can be jerks.

Good to know. Thanks for the lowdown regarding the different trail scenes and vibes. Yeah, I'm not looking for aggressive stuff, just someplace fun to ride through nature with my teenager.

Thanks,

Derek

[TheOrca]

Lacamas lake, mt tabor, rocky Butte, fish hatchery are all good