Small Town Natural: Explores Three Towers MTB trails in North Bay, ON, Canada
WOWZA! These folks know how to build AWESOME MTB trails! They have the perfect combination of flow and tech for all levels of riders! Three Towers is a trail system that is mostly on Crownland only 8 mins drive from North Bay city limits (from Hwy 11 + McKeown St. intersection). This city had some serious forethought in roads design. You do not have to go through the busy city to get to these mtb trails! A few turns on some residential back roads and I was there in no time!
Here is what the parking looks like when you arrive at Three Towers MTB trails (Built and maintained by North Bay Mountain Bike Association with help of the city and donors) Make a donation or buy a membership at https://www.nbmba.ca/#/
There is a great little pump track for kids and beginners or warm-up/cool down for more experienced riders! It rolls really well with rollers and berms. It is right beside the parking lot where these picnic tables and chairs and little practice skinny are in last photo above. Signage is great at each trail head but if they wish to encourage more cycling tourism my advice is add directional signs. Or maybe small map signs with a 'you are here' tag. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out where I was and trying to figure out how to get to the trail I was most interested in riding. Not everybody uses Strava or Trailforks. That being said the cell reception is exceptionally good! Best cell reception of any trail system I have ever visited because the trails are right under cell towers.
This adventure will be broken down into several blog posts because there is so very much here in North Bay! Really impressed with their XC and flow style trails at Three Towers! I will also tell you in future blog posts about the other two mtb trail systems I briefly explored before my 24 hr trip ended. I also went for a short hike at Duchesnay Falls Park and the boardwalk along the lakefront of Lake Nipissing. More on that later.
This blog post I will focus on the West Trails ( Pioneer + Widdifield Winder + Flint and Steel + Hillside Lake Trail + Rock and Roll + Hindsight + Stoneridge + Fern Gully)
Quite a few of the trails on the East side are more than 1km long! On the West side there are more short trails and side features. I believe this is to encourage children and beginners to skill build without the frustration of long trails. Smart! Every trail head has a sign like this one so you know what the trail skill level is rated and trail length and name. I would highly recommend the West side trails for beginners! These are close enough to the parking lot that you can stop and rest and recharge with snacks etc before tackling more. Then turn left onto Rock and Roll to find the connector to the East side trails once you have mastered the West Side. You may want to have a camel pack or multiple water bottles. Maybe not snacks in Fall or Spring due to presence of bears. Please remember to pack in and pack out, leave no trace! Next: details on parking, washrooms, garbage, picnic, cell reception etc.
As you can see, in the last photo from above, Three Towers has a Parktool repair station attached to the trail map sign at the parking lot. Other important things to know=
Cell reception: Excellent! All bars on all my phones!
Parking: Enough flat parking on gravel for approx 15 vehicles parked courteously angle parking style.
Washroom(s): 1x outhouse style toilet
Garbage: 1x bear bin garbage can beside parking lot. If riding to East side trails please pack in and pack out! Abide by the leave no trace rules!
Picnic tables: 2 or 3 picnic tables right behind this parking lot map sign and a couple of chairs.
Approx k.m. of trail: The sign and website says there are 13 k.m. of mtb singletrack trails. I had the great fortune to speak with the VP of the North Bay Mtb club (Travis) who told me there are several more k.m. in the works! I did see flagging through the forest on the East side that would indicate new trails. Travis also informed me that the club is trying to connect all three mtb trail systems but have a lot of landowners to get onboard so this may be a couple years away. Hopefully they can make that happen. Apparently there are about 150 k.m. of mtb singletrack trails in North Bay! It would be great for the area if they were all connected!
On the West side the trail builders made use of many natural rock spines for riding and some steeper large rock features as off shoots to main trails. Unfortunately the trails were leaf covered in sections so the photos may be hard to see trail in some instances.
All in all a great day! It was a beautiful sunny and summery 24 degrees Celsius day in the forests of North Bay, Ontario! The photos in this Blog post are of the West Side trails and only a few of them. Next blog post will contain more picks of Rock and Roll as well as the black diamond trails that you find off of the Rock and Roll trail. Next Blog post will be a week from now. A total of 3 blogs will be posted this month. Note I do also post on social media platforms Instagram and Facebook for brief descriptions of adventures and more photos.