Trail Recommendations Interior BC/Montana/Idaho

I haven't been to Rossland or Nelson in years, but I've pedalled Fernie a bunch. Fernie Brewing does this thing where you pedal up three specific climbs, take a selfie at the top of each within 24 hours, and then you can claim a free pint at the brewery. Other good Fernie loops include Phat Bastard - Mushroom Head - Lactic Ridge - Stupid Traverse - Slunt - Brokeback, or Roots - Hyperventilation - Today's Special - Snoop Lion. If you can shuttle, do Dirt Diggler. The lift-accessed riding at Fernie Alpine Resort is not as good as it could be, IMHO. I used to ride Hobbits - Snakebite - Gorby - Verboten - Project 9 - Sherwoody - Ben Emmet and back to the resort. With the exception of Diggler, everything I've mentioned can be hit on a trail bike. If you go to Trailforks and turn on the Popularity map layer, you'll see what everyone rides. 

I do remember one long-ass ride I did in Nelson. Pedalled up to the top of Powerslave, and then High Roller - Placenta - Oil Can. I think it took most of the day for some reason.

I can confirm that the 7-summits trail in Rossland is (at least was) worth your time. It took me 6 hours with some generous breaks. The views may not be quite as spectacular as you get closer to the rockies (or closer to the coast) but there's a peace up there that is worth basking in. The trail itself is very nicely made, not very challenging, and really allowed me to have the ride be a relaxing day.

There's a shuttle from town that will convoy to the end point of the trail, then ferry you all to the start. 

And the trails in Rossland are fantastic. The west side of the town (not in the ski area, though those trails are great too) has some fantastic tech and tech-flow, the north side has great high-speed chunk, and if you can arrange a shuttle pickup in Trail, you can get a huge descent from the north side of Rossland down the valley to Trail.

In the town, the brewery has good beers, but we are spoiled for those in BC. I'd rate it 7/10. There's a chocolate shop in town, a 9/10 in my opinion. And for real food, Misty Mountain Pizza is a solid option (another 7/10, loses points for value but damn is it tasty). Idgie's was my favourite spot but I think is closed now

Mt. Abriel in Nakusp. Rec Site camping right at the bottom of the trail network on Upper Arrow Lake. The rec site is run by the local trail organization so the camp fees go towards trail work.

Full climbing trail to the top just finished last season. Full variety of trails. 

I rode dirt diggler back in 2012 on a BC road trip, it was incredible. 

Mt 7 psychosis track (is it called dead dog?) was also well worth it, but a shuttle is highly recommended for both.

I'm sure things have changed a lot in the 13 years since I was there, but those two tracks stood out to me back then.

100% agree. Mt. Abriel is amazing. I was just there 2 weeks ago with the spouse. Camping spots are $20/night, cash only. So many trails, and they're building more all the time.

Rossland - 7 summits without a doubt. 

Nelson - Too many choices really. Every single zone is good, but the whole area certainly lends itself to shuttling. Paperbag circuit is quite nice to to start with. Nice climb up, then nice slabby trail that ends on an old railbed turned gravel path that takes you back to the parking lot with nice views of the lake. If you want to get up in the Alpine and get adventurous, then hire a shuttle up to Baldface Lodge and descend Meadow trail to Shannon Pass. 

Kaslo is worth a stop. There's a climbing trail to the top of Mt Buchanan now which gives you access to the Monster, which is an iconic, 1200m (4000ft!) descent.

Fernie - If you want to do an epic; make sure you ride Heiko's trail. You can pedal from town, up into the Alpine, across Heikos, to Island Lake Lodge, then descend down back into town. 

Don't sleep on Kimberly. Bootleg Mtn is great if the conditions line up

Keep in mind the current conditions, from snow levels, to blowdown and current trail maintenance. Nelson, for example, is notorious for blowdown every winter due to both wildfires and pine beetle damage. The trail crews there do a great job of opening as much as they can, as early as they can, but that might not line up with your travel dates. June is a bit early for the epics, so you might find your options pretty limited. I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't ride most of what I listed.

I really enjoyed the Little Casino-Big Casino loop when passing through Stanley Idaho a few years back. It’s a moderately big ride and you can jump in the river when you get back to the lot. It is a moto trail, so that should give you an idea of what you are in for. 20ish miles with just shy of 3k(ft) of elevation gain. Ideally everything isn’t on fire when you pass through but unfortunately that is pretty common these days.  

From Fernie (assuming you're headed south into MT from there) you should stop in Whitefish and hit up Spencer Mountain - old school freeride trails that are being maintained without getting rid of too much of the sketch factor. Legacy Bike Park is a quick jaunt south from there and is all the rage. Crane Mountain is on the other side of Flathead Lake but a quick drive, tons of slabs and steep tech, quick shuttle or pedal laps.

If you end up going through Missoula, find Deep Creek (not on trailforks but easy to see trails from google maps off Dry Creek Road) for some awesome advanced trails and maybe hit up Marshall Mountain for the rest of the goods!

That sounds like an epic trip! For big, all-day rides, definitely check out the Seven Summits Trail in Rossland, it’s a classic. In Montana, you can’t go wrong with the Rattlesnake Wilderness trails in Missoula, and Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains have some killer routes. Also, if you need any tour or activity booking along the way, definitely contact viator customer service. They're super helpful with custom trips.

Classic city crew. Wait in the wings until it's buffed, then show up and pillage.

You and your crew owe a day on the rakes given how hard you hit it here and how much god awful social media y'all produce!

This is a crap take.

Sorry dude, but it just is. Yes, people from out of town are usually not involved in the cleanup and trail rehab, and it does kinda suck. However, gatekeeping public trails is just dumb. We are too small of a community and user group to throw stones at each other. 

We should be encouraging people to donate to the trail organizations of places that they are riding. I can tell you from first hand experience we could use money WAY more than we could use someone who has never touched a chainsaw or held a rake in their life. 

This comment is for a couple particular big city crews and their propensity to blow up our "off-piste" trails on their social media channels.

From Calgary and was just down in MT over the weekend (for the second time in about a month). Rode Spencer and Legacy. Spencer has the chillest pedal laps with some fun flow and spicy bits. A nice stop to stretch the legs on the way to Lakeside. 

11/10 would recommend Legacy Bike Park. Really, really well-built jump trails with very logical steps to progress from smaller to bigger things. Also some fun tech stuff to mix things up, but if you want to jump, Legacy is the place to be. You just have to make sure you're there when they're open (I think Thurs-Sun?).