Description

Auntie Flo is easily one of the most popular trails in Smither's Bluff Trail System.

Whether its popularity is due to the trail name or the quality of the singletrack is unclear, but either way, it's a fun rip down the mountain! The route, as shown here, begins from the main trailhead, traversing the boardwalk access trail to reach the core of the trail system.

There are three main options to get up the mountain: 1.

The Uptrack Trail 2.

The Long Way Trail 3.

The road.

While nobody wants to ride up the road, the Uptrack Trail is also arduously steep.

If you're not riding an ebike or possessed of a motor-like disposition, the Long Way Trail is actually the best way to get up the mountain. This beautiful climbing trail winds through a shady grove of trees as it switchbacks its way up the steep slopes.

With moderate grades and a few breaks along the way, the Long Way is a pleasant climb to gain some elevation on an otherwise steep mountainside. You'll notice a black diamond trail sign at the top of Auntie Flo.

According to some maps, the upper section is a black diamond, and the lower section is a blue intermediate trail.

The top does start off fairly steep, funneling the rider over small rock slabs and into steep, rooty turns.

This black diamond portion is over pretty quickly, though, and the trail then drops into a flowier lower section. While the lower section is indeed flowier than the upper section, but don't expect to find a purpose-built flow trail.

You will get to roll through some fun berms and hit optional jumps, but in between the jumps, you'll still have to skitter across roots and rumble over a few rocks.

The jumps also appear to be hand built and are not very intuitively designed, making them a bit difficult to hit until you've scouted the lines out. After the amount of pedaling you did to get up the mountain, the descent is unfortunately over all too soon! But if you haven't had enough yet, you can always pedal back up to the top and choose one of the many other trails that bomb down this small mountainside! Auntie Flo is a fairly fun ride, but this varied trail ends up feeling a bit disjointed and awkward in places.

While the Bluffs proves to be a popular trail system, this is really a trail network built by and for the local riders.

For a more epic destination trail in Smithers, try Piper Down or the Backdoor Trail.