Bear Mountain is a sweet downhill ride that really flows. It's actually closer to Mission than Abbotsford. Lots of burms, a few table tops and lifts, nothing too technical (but of course that all depends on your speed), and not too steep. A real joy to ride.
Your best bet is to park at the entrance to the trail, and walk your bike up the trail; it's not too steep--about 30-40 minutes uphill. You reach a clearcut up top, and that's when you take a break and get ready to ride down (10-15 min.)
Directions
To get to Bear mountain, take Dewdney Trunk Road after following the Loughheed Highway as far as you can East out of Coquitlam (i.e. not your first turnoff on Dewdney Trunk Rd.). Directions are as if you were driving to the Mission Woodlot (another amazing place to ride), but keep going on Dewdney Trunk Road. You will drive over the Hayward resevoir (dam); keep going. When you reach the Bear Mountain area, a few kilometres later, you will see a small lake on your left and a parking area just off the road, and a sign for the Bear Mountain trails. If you go too far, you will see some signs for the nearby Lafarge Gravel pit also on your left. Opposite the trail area is a gun club (this is rural). The Red Mountain cross-country bike trails are also on the other side of the road. Of course, purchasing a $190 GPS unit will also allow you to download the co-ordinates from the 'GPS download' option above, and, you can use that in your car to "hone in" on the trail; very convenient. Click on "Download GPS" to see a preview of the trail and GPS data you can download free from us.
You can also approach from the other direction, from Mission itself. Take Hwy 1 from Vancouver, then Hwy 11 into Mission. Bear right in Mission, head up Grant, left on 7th, and then right on Cedar. From Cedar, go left on Dewdney Trunk Road, and now look for Lafarge signs on your right as you curve into the area.
Elevation gain is only 220 meters. You can do this a couple of times. Notice there is no shuttling here, so it's you and your bike, but it's not that steep that walking up is a problem, and there are some flat sections (few). The trail is a really nice change from the Shore, very flowy, so you can keep your speed up. They have races here every year in late May. Check them out.
Other:
The top of the trail (where you turn around) is a clear cut area; see picture below. You can ride up the gravel road to this point, by continuing on Dewdney, and turning left up the back-road, then another left, if I remember right. Anyway, there is a gravel road up; ask riders at the bottom. We simply hike-a-biked up the trail. Not so bad.
ByPosted By: Mr.G
- Thu Oct 16 16:31:04 EDT 2008
UpsideBear race course is in fine shape. Berms and tables,with some new features,like the killer doubles . Not the kind you come up short and say "oh well", more like " my rim!!@.... Every year the Bear Mtn Challenge run by the fvmba now , keeps this trail ever so buffed. Some say the xc trails on Red just across the street are steeper and gnarlier.
Downsidetough to shuttle ,unless your lucky and have a key .
CommentBear always seems so fast and flowy. The " rock " which used to be so big, has now just become one of the features.
FYI CDN speedster Steve Smith holds the record on BEAR MTN for fastest time ever !! three years running. Right across the road on RED. """""""ARDUUM""" steepest DH around here.
ByPosted By: schmoodo
- Fri Aug 25 01:43:32 EDT 2006
UpsideLong old school cross country. Great views of mountains. Some terrific trail options.
CommentOff the logging road that climbs to bear mountain are several great trails that are well used and maintained. Big Uns and the tower trail both can be ridden from the true top of bear mtn. Both are cross country with some major steep sections to keep you honest. Big Uns drops out back on the road and with a slight descend and a right turn you can be on creekside trail which will run you down to the parking area.
ByPosted By: PuGGsTeR
- Tue Nov 09 22:41:52 EST 2004
Not Rated
CommentYea, there is a few more trails, all the other ones are in poor repair though. Ones at the last fork, stay right and go down close to the end and theres a spot where the trail used to be where the road was, but it comes in from the left to right loops around for 100 feet then crosses from right to left. That trails called Jolly Rancher and follows the DH course trail down and comes out in the same spot or by the table top, depending on what fork. Then theres an unamed trail at the very top. Take the second last fork to the right and follow it to the very top of the mountain past the clear cut and theres a spot at which theres a grown over road going to the left, directly across from that the trail goes down the mountain and comes out halfway down the logging road, by far the longest trail on the mountain.
ByPosted By: cawkyrawky
- Sat Apr 03 01:54:22 EST 2004
Upsidegood flow. nice table top. cool rock drop "optional". good cornering all through! perfect for an afterwork burn!
Downsidea bit of a hike. especially if you take the wrong fork in the road!!! (someone told me there is another trail way up at the top off that wrong turn.....hmmmmm, i may have to veer off again sometime?) crappy road ride back to car if you just bring one. learn where the lake is and park one there!
Commentgood for mountainbikers who want to get out after a few years of being off. i'd say it's easy-average.
RIDE MORE IN 2004!
ByPosted By: Dman
- Mon Feb 02 22:08:01 EST 2004
UpsideCool terrain, some sweet burms.
DownsideLong hike for short ride.
CommentYeah, it's all right, but seems like a long hike for a short ride down. Try woodlot, way better downhill payoff, for the labours of climbing.
ByPosted By: SParki
- Wed Nov 19 19:27:36 EST 2003
UpsideRode it a couple of weeks ago. This trail is pure high speed fun (all 5 minutes of it). The top is a bit rocky, but not overly technical. The middle has 3 different size gap jumps and a nice table top. The gaps can all be rolled or bypassed. The landings are rounded so if you don't have enough speed, you will still land without major problems. The middle and lower sections have nice bermed corners. If you hike up the trail, make sure you are paying attention because there a several cool natural kickers between trees etc in the lower section. There is also a nice 6 ft rock drop near the bottom of the trail. It is very steep, but I suspect it could be rolled and it can be easily bypassed.
DownsideShort. If you hike up the trail (which is steep with lots of roots and rocks in places) it will take you up to 30 mins or more. If you like speed and you don't stop,the trip down will take you 5 mins. It is a tough trade off. Apparently the back road up is a much better choice, but we didn't know where it was when we went.
CommentExtremely fun and fast ;)Extremely short :(
ByPosted By: bikeaddict
- Mon Apr 21 20:29:32 EDT 2003
Upsidegood for any rider....easy to find
Downsidehike to the top...didn't know about the logging road, so we took the actual trail..very exhausting
Commentin the directions...it's not Grant st...it's Grand st
ByPosted By: geofharries
- Sat Nov 02 13:36:17 EST 2002
UpsideRelatively painless grunt to the top; steep in some sections but not too bad. This summer (2002) the race crews must have really worked on the race course, because in some sections it is butter smooth and very well-built up in corners. Lots of fun gap jumps, big berms and stunts to ride.
DownsideShort. The entire downhill could potentially take you less than 20 minutes.
CommentTop part of the trail is quite rocky, with lots of sharp gnarl, so if you're taking a beginner rider, they might have to walk this top section. Other than that, plenty of escape routes around stunts so all people can ride it. This is a downhill race course so nothing is too extremely technical, but a smooth, flowing ride nonetheless.
Posted By: Mr.G
Posted By: cawkyrawky
