Leaving It All On the Trail in Nevada’s Mountain Bike Meccas
Diverse desert environments teeming with sages, cacti, and striking geologic formations, Nevada's landscape is a captivating blend of arid deserts and impressive mountain ranges, all shaped by powerful tectonic forces and supporting a surprising array of plant and animal life. What happens on the trail in Nevada, you’ll keep with you for a lifetime.
Las Vegas: The Outdoorsy Nature of America’s “Sin City”
The journey of Las Vegas’s trail development is a compelling narrative of vision, persistence, and the power of collaboration. While challenges like navigating federal bureaucracy and securing consistent funding are ever-present, the momentum is undeniable. From the foundational work of the IMBA Trail Accelerator grant to the multifaceted projects currently underway, SNMBA and its partners are proving that with strategic effort and a community willing to dig in (literally and figuratively), world class trails can indeed bloom in the desert. Las Vegas is steadily building a reputation not just for its glittering lights, but for its growing network of sweet singletrack – and that’s a win for everyone.
Trail Accelerator Grant Accelerates Plan for Year-Round Recreation
IMBA’s Trail Care School rolled into town in 2023, and became a marker in time that seems to have catalyzed an already simmering pot of ambition. Since then, SNMBA has been on a relentless campaign, transforming plans discussed around tailgates and trailheads into tangible, rideable realities.
Red Rock and Beyond
The Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association (SNMBA) and their tireless efforts have leveled-up the trail scene around Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (NCA). In 2025, their progress and vision-attainment is less a gamble and more a testament to strategic vision and hard-won progress.
Innovations in Funding Sources: Recreational Trails Program (RTP) Grants
The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is an assistance program of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The RTP provides funds to the States to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for motorized and nonmotorized recreational trail uses, including mountain biking… and they are notoriously tricky, they are worth the effort and can provide a significant source of funding to support mountain bike trails in your community.
Bringing the Community Together for Trails
In late April 2023, IMBA was invited by the Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association to lead a two-day Trail Care School just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. This educational opportunity brought together land managers, NICA coaches, and trail users of all kinds to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to learn best practices around sustainable trails.
Ghost Towns to Mountain Biking Boom Towns: Lincoln County Nevada
We started seeing it on socials in 2017… What is IMBA doing in Pioche, Nevada? Honing our skills, engaging with motivated and inspired community members, and avoiding old mine shafts in America’s wild, wild west.
Pioche and Caliente
The idea for new trail systems in southeastern Nevada optimized for shared-used recreation spurred from a partnership idea thought of over a decade ago. Lincoln County, Nevada State Parks, the City of Caliente, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wanted to give locals and visitors more robust recreation opportunities. With funding from the Southern Nevada Public Management Act of 1998, the BLM has created a variety of assistance agreements to transform public tax dollars into amenities that benefit communities. Trails developed in Caliente and Pioche are a continuation of these early efforts to bring more recreation close to home for folks in Nevada.
The new trail system, still under development in 2025 by IMBA Trail solutions, is sandwiched between Pioche proper and Cathedral Gorge State Park. It will bring close-to-home experiences and greater access for a variety of trail users.
Access Is Everything at the Prospectors Trail System
Access is the especially noteworthy component to rural communities with large swathes of land that separate them. Having a solid team that is on the same page is what can fill in those physical gaps that may exist in bringing more trails close to home. The success of the developing Prospectors Trail System, according to Cory Lytle, Lincoln County Director of Planning, centers around this aspect. “We’ve had the right players involved. I believe that when you get certain people as part of a town board or county commission and get the timing right with backing and some support there will be success.” When completed, the wheel and feet-friendly Prospectors Trail System will provide 16 miles of close-to-home opportunities for locals and visitors alike.
While Nevada has always had varied terrain, it hasn't always had accessible trails.
The success of projects in Caliente, Pioche, Ely, and Red Rock Canyon rests on a foundation of collaboration. It requires a synergy between federal land managers, advocacy groups, youth organizations, and local government officials. Through these partnerships, a version of Nevada that is mountainous, diverse, and increasingly accessible to riders of all skill levels reveals itself to more people.
IMBA’s Liz Chrisman caught up with Christine Prescott, the league director for Nevada South NICA, Jon Prescott with the Bureau of Land Management and Geoff Chain with IMBA, who worked together on these projects in Nevada.
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| Liz Chrisman, IMBA Describe the Nevada landscape for us. |
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| Christine Prescott, Nevada South NICA The best word to describe Nevada is unexpected. It’s one of the most mountainous states in the lower 48, and it’s wide open. And when you find those pockets of people in between, generally, you’re finding a really small, tight‑knit, pretty warm community that usually has kind of a blast‑from‑the‑past feeling to it. |
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| Liz The communities are just like some of the existing trails; they’re literally hidden gems. |
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| Jon Prescott, BLM Caliente brought IMBA out to design 40 miles of trail. As that project developed, we started to realize that it really wasn’t beginner‑friendly for the universal beginner mountain biker. So we looked at Pioche, and it turns out that [what would become] the Prospector area is that perfect grade and rolling terrain that allows that beginner trail network to exist. |
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| Christine People were saying, ‘It sounds fun, but I can’t do those trails.’ Having something that feels approachable, that kids are excited to ride—that’s how mountain biking really takes root in the community. |
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| Geoff Chain, IMBA Trail Solutions And in Ely, we have a trail that starts at 9,400 feet and it goes all the way down to around 6,800. People probably don’t expect that there’s actually a lot of neat alpine forests in Nevada, too. |
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| Geoff You don’t need a big city to have big passion. The energy coming out of these small communities for these trails has been incredibly rewarding. |
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| Christine I think having IMBA there, in the wings, knowing that this was a project they cared about, supported, and were willing to invest in in other ways than just being on the ground, was awesome. I see IMBA as the role model for advocacy organizations. |
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| Jon Everyone points to the land manager as being like the gatekeeper. But if there isn't that voice from the community – whether it's an advocacy group like IMBA, CAMBA, SNMBA, the local tourism board, or the mayor, whoever – then the land manager might not ever get the idea to pursue the project. |
Hear the full interview:
But wait! There’s More! New Trails in Ely
Ely, Nevada is a tiny town on the far east border of Nevada. People who live there, live there for the outdoor recreation, and for the mountains. Twenty miles of trails have been there for a long time, but getting to them used to require an immediate 1500 foot, intermediate climb. IMBA was there planning additional trails and more accessible trail hubs in 2024.
