2 Elbows And A Lake

Click here for the RideWthGPS route.

High reward beginner/intermediate bikepacking loop with significant elevation.

The Big Elbow/Little Elbow Loop is a decades old mountain biking classic ride. For mountain bikers, this ride is considered a “big day out” type ride, often being tackled in one day. The entire loop is off-pavement and predominantly on wide 2-track mountain road. The route is also suitable for modern gravel bikes too with a minimum recommended tire width of 45mm. Of special note, the route from Tombstone up to Elbow Lake is quite a bit rougher, well, a lot rougher. We wouldn’t recommend gravel bikers head up there unless Type 2 Fun (or maybe 1.7 fun) is something you’re into :)

There are 4 campgrounds on the loop: The main campground at Big Elbow/Little Elbow parking area, Romulus Backcountry about 1/4 of the way around, Tombstone Backcountry at the 1/2 way point, and Big Elbow Backcountry at the 3/4 mark. There is no food or resupply opportunities.

Alternately, you could park at the Elbow Lake trailhead (on Hwy.40) and start from there. Just beware that the push up from that parking lot is a brute - very very steep but mercifully short at about 1km long.

The Elbow Lake Backcountry campground is about 7kms from Tombstone and totally worth the extra effort to get up to it.

2 Elbows: Big Elbow and Little Elbow. And a lake: Elbow Lake. Makes sense, right?