Around Moose Mountain route

Be Prepared for this ride. Support vehicle recommended.

A classic 1990's epic Cross country ride from Doug Eastcott, author of Backcountry Biking in the Canadian Rockies. It is best done in September. Total distance is around 77 km.

The best place to start this loop is from West Bragg Trailhead, where you take the Mountain Road to meet up with Tom Snow trail and proceed clockwise. Tom Snow is muddy in places, but it has less hills than the adjacent Ridgeback, so save your strength. Tom Snow Trail ends at the Station flats parking lot, which is a good place to take a break and meet up with your support vehicle. This is the 10.5km mark. From station flats, Follow Diamond T to Elbow valley trail, which parallels highway 66. Elbow Valley has some climbs and some nice views, followed by a crossing Moose Mountain Road, a scramble across Canyon Creek and crossing Ings Mine/Canyon Creek road. The trail is easy to lose after the creek, so bring a map along and it should help. Do not expect cell phone service. Keep Elbow valley over the Husky oil lease road and you will find yourself at the Powderface Trailhead picnic area, where you can meet up with your support vehicle again for the 20.5 km mark. Backtrack a bit and link up with Prairie Creek trail. Expect a bit of hike-a-bike in a few spots, but the trail is well maintained and smooth. At around the 30 km mark you will find yourself linking up with Powderface trail road. Take the road north until the 35km mark. You can take other ways to avoid the roads, but the trails are very overgrown and easy to get lost on. You get to the Jumpingpound Ridge parking lot located where the road takes a hard left turn and can meet up with your support vehicle. The next section is long and involves a hard climb up Jumpingpound Ridge and Cox Hill trails. Epic views and a phenomenal descent are amazing rewards, but this brings you up to 54 km. A quick left at the bottom of Cox Hill trail takes you to Dawson Trailhead. Have a big meal and take a good break to freshen your legs, you have earned it. From Dawson trailhead, connect with Tom Snow. This section of Tom Snow has a lot of muddy spots and is quite isolated. I highly recommend doing a Tom Snow reconnaissance ride before attempting this epic loop, just to make sure of it's condition and not to get lost. It has had to be rerouted a few times due to flood damage. Tom Snow is pretty much flat all the way back to Mountain Road and West Bragg, which brings you up to 77km