Vallé Bras-Du-Nord the perfect MTB town

It was 6 am on July 27th and my friend was arriving at my house to pick me up. We decided to drive four hours and thirty minutes to the little town of Saint-Raymond Québec. Our plan to ride the famous Neilson trail in Vallé Bras-Du-Nord Shannahan area. After getting there we asked the guy at the shop about the trails paid the daily fee and that is when he told us to expect a 3-5h ride on la cote a ti-oui then the Neilson Est and the North. We both look at each other like yes sure whatever. La cote a ti-oui was a brutal 2.5k climb of hell on the rockiest 4x4 trail I ever seen. Once at the top we regained our self and then attacked the Neilson Est which was a really nice reward after the brutal climb we had to endure. The trail was technical but had some nice flow to it.


After a little while we had a choice to make at the junction of the Neilson South and Neilson North. We both looked at each other and said we came here to do the big loop so lets do the Neilson North. We both did not know what to expect. At that point it was really humid and hot but we kept pushing.


First part of the Neilson North was technical with some tough technical climbs. Then the fun turned into a bit of a survival mode when both of us started having muscle cramps and heat sickness warning signs. Then the second part of the Neilson North show is true color super rocky and technical and hardly rideable. At one point all we wanted was to get out of there in one piece. By the time we reached the end of the North section we looked at the Neilson south entry and decided that we would just take the dirt road back to the parking lot and come back another time we more energy and better prepare since we would know what to expect this time. We ended up riding for 5h total so the guy from the shop was right after all..

We had a 30min drive to Saint-Raymond since we had a room reserved at the Roquemon Hotel. This hotel is the mountain bike hub in town sitting right at the trail head of the saint-raymond area. It has a bike shop a restaurant and microbrewery attached to it. I really enjoyed Vallé Bras-Du-Nord and I will make sure to go back at least once a year to explore the rest of the trail network since I have a feeling that it has a lot more to offer then what we experienced that day.


http://www.valleebrasdunord.com/