Description

Compared to the rest of Squamish, the Valleycliffe Trail System retains much more of an old-school cross-country ride quality.

Many of Squamish's most famous trails are either machine-built flow trails or tech trails filled with rock slabs and gnar.

Valleycliffe, on the other hand, retains a handbuilt character with an up-and-down cross-country ride style. This zone also isn't nearly as steep as other trail networks in the area, which is a nice change of pace from the classic Sea-to-Sky formula of brutalizing yourself by grinding straight up the mountainside just to blast straight back down again.

Instead, at Valleycliffe, you can enjoy the sensation of actually covering some ground. Most of the singletrack here, anchored by the Farside and Fartherside trails, consists of intermediate trail flowing through a beautiful forest, winding its way around a bluff.

Roots and rocks occasionally punctuate the trail tread, but these mellow tech features serve to keep the riding engaging, reminding you that, yes, this is still mountain biking! The loop shown here follows the aforementioned Farside and Fartherside trails and focuses on the easier intermediate singletrack in the trail system.

It descends Three Virgins and then takes a few connector trails to get back out to the trailhead.

Following this route bypasses a few of the optional harder lines and creates a fantastic, rewarding ride through a deep, dark, stunningly-beautiful forest!