Exploring Elk River | Hillside Mountain Bike Pass

With only a few more weeks of summer to go,  it’s time to take in the outdoors while we can! In Minnesota, we sure love to live it up in the summer and take full advantage of this nice weather. Right in our backyard in Elk River, MN there are a number of beautiful parks and trails to take advantage of.

A personal favorite is Hillside Mountain Bike Pass, for some awesome two-wheeled adventures. Check out our video of Josh rippin’ up the trails on his mountain bike and having the best time!

Hillside Mountain Bike Pass is a 7 mile, well-maintained biking trail, with plenty of obstacles, so it’s definitely for riders at intermediate levels and up. The steepest grade is gonna be about 6° and on average just 2 ° throughout the trail. So not too many steep ups and downs, just good ridin’. Mountain bikers will love meandering through the woods along curves, logs, and rocks – a local thrill you don’t want to miss!

The trail is a singletrack loop, so no need to follow a map, you will always end up back where you started. You would have to go way off the beaten path to get lost! We don’t recommend that.

For a shorter, more leisurely ride, there is a small shortcut about 1.5 miles into the trail, that will take you across a grassy doubletrack and back to the beginning. There will be a sign to watch out for if you take the full loop, that will help you go back around. This trail isn’t too physically demanding, that’s up to you, so feel free to take the loop as many times as you can!

Pay attention to trail closures on their facebook page after heavy rains or flooding. Otherwise, the trail is open 6am – 10pm every day, so you can get a beautiful sunrise ride or an evening workout after work. It’s located at 10801 181st Ave NW Elk River , MN 55330-5600.