Riding Mountainboard In Squamish, BC
When the average person from Vancouver or anywhere in BC thinks of Squamish, they most likely think of mountain biking, hiking or a great place for a weekend getaway with some amazing views and lots of places to explore outdoors. You can now add mountainboarding to that list!
We were lucky enough to spend some time in Squamish this summer and we found some amazing trails to ride our MTN model electric mountainboard. These trails were suitable for all off-road PEV, such as EUC’s, off-road e-scooters and e-bikes.
Level of difficulty
The trails we rode were beginner-level with a low degree of difficulty. For the most part, they were free of large tree roots and rocks. The trails mostly consisted of smooth, fine dirt and gravel. Any beginner to mountainboarding could hop on these trails and quickly gain some experience. The paths are ideal for learning and practicing, and they offer a stunning visual experience under the temperate rainforest that BC is famous for.
Starting point
These beginner trails I’m referring to are in the Squamish Adventure Centre area and are easily accessible from the paved bike path that runs along Loggers Lane – this paved trail is called “Sea to Sky Connector trail” on Google Maps, but if you view it on the Trailforks app, it’s called “Loggers Lane Corridor”.
This app is great for finding any type of trail you want to ride in Squamish or anywhere else! Trailforks maps of all of the trails I’ll tell you about in the next paragraph. It’s easy to use and super convenient!
Trail entrances
If you start at the Adventure Centre and start ripping North on the paved trail, you’ll begin to see entrances to the dirt and gravel trails. Take your pick! They’re all fun and manageable for any level of rider.
The first trail entrance you’ll see is the “Britannia Slough trail”. It loops around in a circle and is about a two-kilometre ride. The trail is highlighted in green on the Trailforks app, which means it is suitable for beginners and the difficulty is Easy. If you’re a moderate to advanced mountainboard rider, you can really pick up some speed and have a lot of fun on these trails!
The trails do get narrow at certain points and you may get brushed by some tree branches. The Trailforks app also gives you some valuable information, like the “climb” and “descent” levels of each trail, so you can know what you’re getting into before riding the trails. This also comes in handy when figuring out if you have enough battery left to ride a trail that may have a steep climb.
Loggers Lane Corridor will also give you access to “Finch Acess” and “Gravel Path”. Two of these trails also have an Easy difficulty level and are fairly short, but provide some amazing forest scenes. You can also access “Finch Access” from the “Dark Roast Connector” which is accessible FROM highway 99.
This is convenient for anyone riding from downtown Squamish – hop on the “discovery trail” heading North and cross Highway 99 at “Industrial way”. Once you cross the highway, you’ll see the opening to the trail and you’ll be able to access all of the trails in the Adventure centre area.
After knocking these trails off the list, you can hop back on the paved trail and ride North toward Centennial way. The paved trail will end here and you’ll begin riding on the road until you reach a two-way paved trail that leads up a bank and to a bridge that crosses over “Mamquam River”.
Once you’ve crossed the bridge you’ll see an entrance to more trails! You’ve got tons of options from this point! To your left – you can head down the “Dipper trail” or the “Mamquam trail”, you can also take a right and head under the bridge, along the river and ride the “Mamquam” in the other direction. P.S. this is a great spot to stop and take in the river and the amazing mountain views that Squamish has to offer.
If you went left and into the forest on the “Dipper trail” you’ll be riding toward the golf course and the trail will soon come to a fork, where you can continue straight on to “Golf course dike” which follows along the edge of the golf course for about 1.3 km and eventually connects back to the “Mamquam trail” by the river.
There are a couple of entry points along with this to the Dipper trail along this route – you cut down into the forest and end up back on the Mamquam. When you come back out on the Mamquam, you’ll be riding close to the glacier-fed river. This trail is a mix of open gravel paths and dirt paths through the forest.
It stretches for about three kilometres and has more hills than the trails mentioned previously in this article. The close proximity to the river, on the Mamquam, makes for some more cool views and potential places to jump in the glacier-fed river if you’re feeling brave. It’s worth noting that we’ve seen some coyotes in this area and it’s important to always keep your eyes peeled for wildlife in Squamish!
Riding suitability
The trails on this side of the river have more tree roots and exposed rocks but are still an easy level of riding and suitable for beginners. There may be a few spots where you have to slow down or hop off your board for a second, but overall these are great trails to practice on and gain experience.
If you’re a more advanced rider, there are just more obstacles for you to dodge and work your game. We usually ride our Shaboardz MTN electric off road board on these trails but we have also taken our Rampage model with 120mm cloudwheels on these trails. The mountainboard provides a smoother ride in these trails than the cloudwheels can, but the trails are also manageable when riding on cloudwheels because the terrain is so smooth. We’ve also seen numerous Onewheel riders enjoying these trails. These trails are suitable for any PEV that has all-terrain wheels.
Other trails
It’s worth noting that there’s an insane amount of trails to ride in Squamish! If you mountain bike in the area before, then you know all about it. If you’re new to riding in Squamish, you’ll be amazed at the amount of terrain that’s available to ride, once you check it out on a map or app.
The trails we’ve mentioned hardly even scratch the surface and they’re probably some of the easiest trails to ride in Squamish. The good thing about these trails is they’re easily accessible – they’re literally 15 seconds away from the highway and about a 55-60 minute drive from Vancouver.
More Challenging Trails
Many of the other trails in Squamish have a higher level of difficulty than the trails we mentioned in this article. They also weren’t designed with mountainboarding in mind; they were made for mountain biking. These trails will likely be outlined in blue or black, which signifies a higher level of difficulty.
They’ll have larger rocks and more obstacles. If you’re riding on these trails, you’ll want to make sure your mountainboard has enough clearance from the ground, so you don’t beat up any of the components. You also won’t be able to pick up a lot of speed and get some good practice in because there are just too many obstacles.
We rode some other trails close to Alice Lake and they weren’t as enjoyable as the others we mentioned earlier. We spent a lot of time off our boards and had to slow down to dodge large rocks. If you’re an advanced rider, with a high-end mountainboard, you could have a totally different perspective!
There are also some more trails green trails, that are suitable for any riding ability, that we haven’t had the opportunity to check out yet. If you head further North into Squamish, on Highway 99, there’s an extensive web of trails, close to Depot road. They run on both sides of Highway 99 and are literally right off the highway, in the Brackendale area of Squamish.
You could stay riding in this area and explore the dozen or so trail OR you could ride the Sea to Sky connector (mentioned earlier) all the way from Brackendale to Pinecrest, which is about a 17 km ride and has a 340-metre elevation gain. This trail would definitely require a board with a bigger battery, especially if you’re going there and back. The Trailforks app has information on all of these trails and is super convenient when planning your route.
Another trail worth mentioning is the “Stawamus Dyke” in the Valleycliffe area. It’s a wide-open gravel trail, that runs right alongside the Stawamus River. It’s definitely a busier trail with higher pedestrian traffic than the other trails we mentioned in this article. It has some really cool views of The Chief and some side trails to take to the river for a break and a dip!
Outside of these trails, there are a ton more in the Squamish area that are suitable for electric mountainboards and other off-road PEV’s. We look forward to riding them in the future and writing about them! We’d also like to hear from you! Have you ridden your PEV in Squamish on any of the All-terrain trails?
In the end, mountainboarding is a great way to explore new trails and enjoy some fresh air. If you’re looking for your next adventure in Squamish BC, we’ve got all of the information about where to find those good spots that are near lakes or other natural landscapes. Get yourself an off road board today so you can hit the trail tomorrow!
