Black Rock Mountain Biking

14 km return
990m elevation gain
3hr 15mins

Black Rock Mountain in the Ghost Wilderness Area has a 7km hiking trail right to the top, most of which you can pedal up. It climbs from the river valley up a double track road which narrows to a single track up through the forest. About halfway up, you gain a ridge and follow the alpine trail up through a rocky notch to a meadow. The final approach climbs a steep scree slope with lots of switchbacks before finally topping out at an old fire lookout. We came prepared for a big alpine day and were ready for the inevitable hike-a-bike that this route would require.

Heading out of the river valley

As always, getting into the Ghost was not straight-forward. The access road is in bad shape after a busy summer of use and it was slow going in Kyle's truck. There were lots of people out camping and shooting despite it already being late September. The warm fall weather has really extended the camping and riding season! We followed the summer road up into the North Ghost to km 32 and parked in the river valley a few hundred metres away from the trailhead (marked by a sign just up the eroded bank). The climb starts steep, then eases off and is a fun but sustained climb through pine forests.

Emerging out of the forest

Once you leave the forest, the climbing gets more technical and requires a few short pushes. The views get better and better as you climb.

Great views of Devil's Head

The trail is easy to find and takes you up through a rocky notch. Here we had to carry our bikes up some steeper loose rock until we made it up to the grassy meadow/plateau below the summit.

Keep going up

Taking a breather at the notch

So close, yet so far

The final push was up a loose, steep scree slope. It was the most challenging part of the climb and ended up being pretty tough to ride. If I were to do this again, I would start the descent from the plateau, but it was pretty epic getting our bikes to the top.

Its hard work hiking up scree with a bike

Last climb before the top

We could see the Ghost River fire (which got out of control a few days later) easily from the old fire lookout

The last time we had been up to the fire lookout, it was a windy, cloudy day and we couldn't see a thing. It was nice to have 360 degree views and not be too cold. It is normally pretty wind at the top! After a quick lunch break in the fire look out we got ready to descend. The upper scree was hard to ride but as soon as we hit the plateau, it was a quick ride back down to the truck. The forest single track section was especially fun with lots of natural hits and great flow.

Dropping in

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