The Big Four - Our Northeastern Adventure

This summer, we took a two-week trip out east to visit the four major bike parks: Killington, Highland, Thunder Mountain, and Mountain Creek. We traveled over 3,000 miles, exploring areas of the Northeast that we had never visited before.

On our first night of the trip, we stayed near a charming little town on Lake Erie called Geneva-on-the-Lake. It was both fun and beautiful! We dined at a dog-themed restaurant called Ruff Life on the Lake, then walked over to the park to enjoy the view of Lake Erie. We even discovered a bar in a gazebo, The Sunset Bar, which was a surprise since I hadn’t researched the area we were stopping in for the night.

The next morning, we took a side trip to Niagara Falls. It was such a beautiful area, and honestly, it was the closest either of us has been to Canada. We were so near that Verizon sent us "Welcome to Canada" text messages. Our next trip, that is close to Canada, will be when we finally visit Whistler. We hope to make that trip in the next two years.

We chose not to take any excursions that would lead us down to the falls, as we had our bikes with us and opted to ride over the bridges to explore the area. Once we reached the falls, we were relieved to have our bikes! It would have been a long walk over. Overall, our $5 parking fee was definitely worth the side trip.

.After leaving Niagara Falls, we traveled across New York to Vermont. Once we entered Vermont, the cell service became a bit unreliable. Fortunately, we never lost connection to our GPS in the truck.

Hello Vermont!

Our first bike park was Killington. Killington was amazing! Beautiful, fun, confidence-building, but still challenging. On our first full day at Killington, we were treated to downhill races and an enduro race. We opted to climb up the mountain to watch the racers. It was fun and a first for us. Makes us want to go to a UCI race! Want to see us ride at Killington? Click here to go to our YouTube Channel.

Every trip we take we always find that one locally owned resturant that we fall in love with. In Killington we ate dinner every night at Charity’s 1887 Saloon. This is where we discovered our favorite Vermont craft beer - The Little Wizard from Burlington Beer Co. If only we could get them to send this amazing beer to Iowa! We did snag a 4-pack to bring home. There are 2 left and we are hanging on those for dear life! Seriously guys - get Iowa on your distribution list!

We had a blast watching these riders send it! What a fun way to start our trip.

During our stay in Killington, we took a day trip to Highland Bike Park in New Hampshire. We found it a bit tricky to navigate since we didn't have a guide and, frankly, we're not very good at reading maps. By lunchtime, we were somewhat frustrated, but we stayed determined and managed to figure a few things out after enjoying a much-needed pizza.

After lunch, everything started to make more sense, and we began to enjoy our rides down the mountain. I think that next time we visit Highland, we’ll plan to have someone show us around the park. I have to admit that when you first enter Highland and see the slopestyle course, it can feel a little intimidating; perhaps that affected our mindset a bit.

By the end of the day, we agreed that Highland is a must-visit if you're in the area, and you definitely have to try their pizza! I did not take ANY pictures during our visit, but if you want to see our riding videos, check them out on YouTube.

After spending a few days riding at Killington and Highland we made our way to Thunder Mountain, where we met up with Corey from Pedaling Downhill. We stayed in West Dover, VT, and drove to Massachusetts to Thunder Mountain, which was epic—until I earned my "Professional Gravity Checker" t-shirt once again! Fortunately, I didn’t break anything this time (that we know of), and I avoided a concussion.

We once found a locally owned restaurant that quickly became our go to, Trail 87. Their food is unbelievably delicious! This was by far our favorite place to eat on this trip. We arrived in town just as the blueberry festival was starting and had the chance to enjoy a few blueberry-themed entrees, which were hands down the best!

A few highlights about Thunder Mountain: the food is incredible, the setup is fantastic, and the trails are a blast! Check out our videos on our YouTube channel, and give Corey a follow at Pedaling Downhill!

While traveling from our hotel in West Dover, VT, to Thunder Mountain in MA, we stopped in the charming area of Shelburne Falls, MA. We first discovered a beautiful garden on the bridge and then made our way to see Salmon Falls, where we visited a local bakery and picked up some coffee cake.

Our final stop on the bike trip was Mountain Creek. We met up with Denny from Denny Jannetty MTB, who showed us the ropes and guided us through some features we might have missed without his help. In hindsight, we should have visited Mountain Creek earlier in our trip since it was the furthest destination, and we were pretty worn out by the time we got there. Despite our fatigue, we had an incredible time and captured a lot of great footage to share—check out our YouTube channel for all the videos from our adventure!

Mountain Creek is a must-visit if you're in the area. The trails are thrilling and fun. While taking a break, we even spotted a baby black bear! It was clearly scared and didn’t want a hug (don’t worry, I would never hug a bear, but they do look soft and cuddly).

I want to give a shout-out to Corey and Denny for taking the time to ride with us and show us around your home bike parks. We had a fantastic time together! Our next trip is in a few weeks to Howler Bike Park in Southern Missouri, where we'll be riding with Thornton.

Traveling and exploring new bike parks and trails is our passion! I hope you continue to join us as we conquer some trails and, at times, fail. Who knows, you might even see Kelli rolling down another berm for no reason! Check out the video below for proof that we are not professional riders—just a couple who loves to travel and ride mountain bikes.