MCCALL, Idaho — Connectivity is important when it comes to trails, and thanks to a team effort, people can now ride from Brundage Mountain Resort down the mountain to the Bear Basin trail system.
Colleen Morishita works as the director of the Brundage Mountain Sports School where she teaches people to ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer. She guided our Steve Dent down the Brundage to Bear Basin Trail which opened in July.
"It is great. It is really well built," said Morishita. "You could definitely take beginners on it but it is fun for more advanced riders, too."
The journey started at Brundage, where we took the Bluebird Express up to the top and started winding our way down the Brundage trails, which are also very popular for hikers.
We started down Rock Garden which did have some exposure, then we entered the Lakeview Vista Trail. After that, we connected with Brundage to Bear Basin, the new 6.3-mile trail that ties it all together.
"It was actually conceived in 2009 and put into one of the forest service plans in 2011, but there was no funding source for it," said April Whitney of Brundage. "In 2019 Cimba (The Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association) got some excitement behind it and reached out to the One Track Mind Foundation, who helped with the trail design."
The community stepped up to construct that trail after receiving donations from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertsons Family Foundation, the Idaho Community Foundation, the Richard J. Sabala Foundation, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, the IMBA Dig-In Program, and the City of McCall.
CIMBA volunteers and the Brundage Trail Crew brought in professionals from Minnesota and Bentonville, Arkansas to create the trail, and that also came with a huge benefit.
"A bonus of this project, in addition to the great new trail and the connections, has been the wealth of knowledge that our local trail builders have been able to build throughout the process," said Whitney. "Our crews learned these new modern sustainable trail-building techniques."
The result is a fun, flowy trail with countless big berms and easy-to-maneuver rock features, which would be a good introduction for someone looking to try a more technical ride but doesn't want to get in above their skill level.
Colleen and Steve rode 15 miles from the top of Brundage down to their vehicles through the forest and meadows while enjoying spectacular views. He says the best part about this trail is that even though it descends more than 2,000 feet in elevation, the trail is built so bikers don't have to ride their brakes all the way down. Plus, it gives employees at Brundage a new way to commute.
"We are pretty spoiled up here," said Morishita. "There will be days when I drop my car off in the morning and get a ride up, then I can pick my car up with my bike, it's pretty awesome."
Brundage remains on schedule with the construction of a new lodge as they hope to have that ready for the fall of 2024. This summer they continue working to upgrade the Centennial Chairlift into a new high-speed quad.
