1.5 miles

Distance

41 ft

Climb

-79 ft

Descent

00:26:31

Avg time

Details

Activities
- Mountain Bike
- E-Bike
- Hike
- Trail Running
Riding Area

Westside - Sproatt
Whistler, British Columbia
Difficulty Rating

Black Diamond rate
Voted Difficulty

Black Diamond (2 votes)
Trail Type

Singletrack
Bike Type

AM, XC
Direction

Both Directions
Popular direction shown
Climb Difficulty

Blue
Physical Rating

Moderate
Dogs Allowed

Yes
eBike Allowed

Yes up to Class 1
TTFs on Trail

Bridge, Drop, Skinny, Teeter Totter
Global Ranking
#686 in Mountain Biking [+]
- #9701 in E-Biking
- #1334 in Trail Running
- #11044 in Hiking
Local Popularity
70 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 55 in E-Biking
- 80 in Trail Running
- 50 in Hiking

Perhaps the classic Whistler mountain bike trail. This trail has seen many upgrades throughout the years and is now a relatively flowy ride with a few optional 'double-black' sections. If your time in Whistler is limited and you want to sample some classic West-Coast trail building, this is probably your best bet. River connects nicely with surrounding trails north and South
to Rainbow Park. Best ridden North to South.
Local hammer-heads will clean this trail in about 30 minutes, but mortals should bank on it taking at least 1-2 hours

Access Info

From the Village, ride to the end of Lorimer Rd and cross the tracks. Almost immediately after crossing the tracks, turn left off the Valley Trail and follow a dirt road for a couple of kilometres to a reclaimed gravel pit. Continue for another 100 metres and look for a well signed trail head on your left (if you reach Alta Lake Rd you've gone too far).

Local Trail Association

Whistler Off Road Cycling Association
IMBA Canada
Please consider joining or donating to the local trail association to support
trail development & maintenance.
donate to earn trail karma!

Traditionally Indigenous Territory

More Stats for A River Runs Through It mountain bike trail trail

Altitude change

-36 ft
Altitude min

2,131 ft
Altitude max

2,186 ft
Altitude start

2,186 ft
Altitude end

2,149 ft
Grade

-0.5%
Grade max

-13%
Grade min

10.8%
Distance climb

1,614 ft
Distance down

2,300 ft
Distance flat

3,865 ft
Avg time

00:26:31
Avg reverse time

00:26:12
view trail stats

Status:

on Aug 23, 2021

Ideal

Avg: 3.9 (61 votes)

view (2,336)

Directions to river-runs-through-it trailhead (50.129680, -122.983920)

update trails status or condition

A River Runs... Trail Reports

status	date	description
	Aug 23, 2021 @ 9:59am Aug 23, 2021
	Jul 21, 2021 @ 1:23pm Jul 21, 2021	Some of the boards on various raised boardwalks are beginning to fail.
	Jul 8, 2021 @ 10:13am Jul 8, 2021
	Jun 24, 2021 @ 1:44pm Jun 24, 2021
	May 14, 2021 @ 2:12pm May 14, 2021

view all reports »

Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

Past Week

0 rides

6 Months

338 rides
10 miles avg distance

All

1,917 rides

Technical Trail Features (TTF)

Rainbow Park

Photos

184 |

Jul 29, 2017 @ 10:43pm

Jul 29, 2017

379 |

Jun 5, 2017 @ 7:49am

Jun 5, 2017

477 |

Feb 17, 2016 @ 8:35am

Feb 17, 2016

737 |

Oct 21, 2013 @ 11:41am

Oct 21, 2013

Trail Lists

Whistler
83 trails

Routes with this trail

title	rating	distance
The Arbutus Routes - Westside Dessert Platter XC (Intermediate)		14 miles
The Arbutus Routes - Beaver Ponds Danimal Loop (Intermediate)		12 miles
A River Runs Through It - Whistler, BC - Advanced Mountain Bike Route		4 miles
WRW THRILLER AUG 25		6 miles

Trail Products

WORCA Trail Pass
Trail Pass
Whistler Mountain Biking Guide
Book

17 Reviews & Comments

Score Time

xTwoSnakesx

(Jun 19, 2017 at 11:23)

An old decommissioned bridge about halfway through had some wood with exposed nails that a friend of mine stepped on and it went through his shoe. Just a warning to others and maybe to WORCA to look into.

[Reply]

aaronkoenig

(Jun 21, 2017 at 12:52)

This trail has seen a bunch of work on it in the last year especially on the section North of and including the Barts Dark section. It still has the same style ladders/bridges/stunts as before, but built to a more modern standard. It can also now be better ridden North from Bart's Dark which helps return back towards Alpine from the Westside network. I'm hoping they continue to work on this trail this summer.

[Reply]

mohinder (Jul 1, 2017 at 13:56)

Don't let the first flow section fool you. If you're looking for an XC grind, this trail is for you. Not sure why its rated as a black. Also consists of uphill skinny drops to flat and other dumb janky wood features that don't really work. Whoever built them was stoned.

[Reply]

bbbrad

(Oct 7, 2017 at 21:46)

Great condition today, wooden features not too slick

[Reply]

NovemberCharlie (May 17, 2018 at 20:20)

Trail was in decent shape today but the river is high, too high at one point about 2/3 of the way in (about two minutes after the main bridge crossing). This forced me to turn back to Rainbow Express and link up to the last section via that route. Riders with more experience may know how and where to cross the water safely but the alternate route was well worth it. The recently improved sections and wooden features are really cool.

[Reply]

davidwarner (Jul 8, 2018 at 22:34)

The flooded area half way down RRTI south is, for the most part, gone now and you can now keep track of the trail. However, the flooding has left a very muddy patch that you will have to do a short hike a bike over. Other than that, RRTI is in very good shape.

[Reply]

Flow-Ryder (Aug 26, 2018 at 18:58)

The skinnies are the best!!!

[Reply]

Flow-Ryder (Aug 26, 2018 at 19:03)

And everything works if you have the skill and the guts! Just because you are unskilled doesn't and can't ride something doesn't mean it's "dumb and janky". Some of the coolest woodwork in the sea to sky! Bring your a game if you want to clean everything. Big toothpicks up in the air to ride along.

[Reply]

chubby5000

(Sep 1, 2018 at 22:29)

This is such a fun techy XC trail. There’s a ton of challenging skinnies that are high(ish) off the ground and some awesome archaic drops to flat that would require late ‘90’s pedal drops the get off them. They just make you laugh when you see them. Great trail.

[Reply]

jsnswt (Sep 7, 2018 at 18:51)

super fun and technical parts! don’t blame the trail for what you can’t ride. I didn’t

[Reply]

ashgo (Jul 6, 2019 at 21:15)

Fun trail. Challenging in the rain!! Trailforks rates it blue but it is marked black at trailhead (like many trails on the west and north side). As an out-of-towner in a wet day it felt black to me!

[Reply]

Cardiograph (Jul 21, 2019 at 15:40)

Trail Forks says BLUE, signage says BLACK. I’d say DARK BLUE - many chicken trails avail if you want to avoid the tough stuff.

[Reply]

gdtrfb8 (Aug 13, 2019 at 17:14)

Just rode it for first time and I love this trail! Huge variety of wood features, and techy roots and rocks here and there too. I would definitely consider this BLUE-BLACK, not blue, since many sections require riding (or waking) relatively difficult wood features. YMMV depending on your slow speed skills. For me it was perfect level of difficulty, but my partner struggled a bit. If I lived here I would ride this regularly as a skill-building exercise with long-term goal of cleaning everything that’s whole (one double-black section had piece broken out of it and another had exposed nails with flagging on them).

[Reply]

chubby5000

(Nov 9, 2019 at 8:17)

Just rode this again twice yesterday in either direction. Preferred North to South and still love it. I can ride 98% of the trails out there, but as an XC guy at heart, this is in my top 5 trails in Whistler.

[Reply]

KarinB

(Sep 27, 2020 at 20:16)

Loved this trail, even though I'm a beginner. Lots of technical stuff, great to practice roots and bridges, so many bridges. Had to walk my bike a lot but also overcame some of my fear for bridges - a win!