Amazing Scenic Bike Trails - Cave Lake State Park MTB Trails in Ely, NV - Luna Cycle X1 Enduro

In this video I traveled to Ely Nevada to ride some scenic MTB trails in Cave Lake State Park. The trails I rode were: 1) Cave Overlook Loop Trail, 2) High Roller Trail, 3) Twisted Pines Trail and 4) The Steptoe Creek Trail.

THE DRIVE:
If you are driving from Las Vegas to Ely, the drive is super peaceful. Google Maps showed the drive time to be 4: 1/2 hours but most of the ride is on two lane highways. You can see for 50 miles ahead so you can do 90-100+ MPH for hours. I never saw a single cop going there or back. Also, once you get off I-15 and on to Great Basin Hwy, there is only one gas station and its early on. The next gas station is about 300 miles (9 miles from Ely). So make sure you get a full tank before you leave Vegas. There is also about 200 mile+ stretch where there is no cell service.

DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE:
I planned this trip as a 2 day ride, leaving Friday morning, riding Cave Lake Friday afternoon, then staying in a hotel overnight, then riding Ward Mountain Saturday morning, then heading back home. All I needed for lodging was a place to shower, charge my batteries and sleep. I also wanted a motel room on the ground floor so I could bring my bike and gear in easily. I checked rates and saw that the 3rd cheapest motel room was a Motel 6 and it was closest to Cave Lake. After riding Cave Lake, I headed to the Motel 6 and, well, let's just say it wasn't what I expected. It was very run down, all kinds of shady things going on. I left, drove around and found a nicer motel a few blocks away but, of course, it was booked. I then decided to go back to Motel 6 and cancelled my room and ended up driving back the same day, What I did not realize is that the road that Motel 6 was on, which I thought was the main street in Ely, was not! East Autumn Street is apparently where the nicer, historic district of Ely is located.

CAVE LAKE STATE PARK:
There is a $5 entrance fee to get in. It's on the honor system. You just slip a $5 bill into a metal pipe in the ground. There is no digital payments, so make sure you have cash with you. Unfortunately, Cave Lake was completely drained when I arrived. I learned that they were fixing the dam in a YouTube video but they just showed the lake as low. I did not expect it to be completely gone when I got there! I don't know how long it will take to fix the dam, but if you want to see the lake, check the NV State Parks website. The park itself was empty. I saw one Sprinter van parked in a lot but I saw no one except one Park Ranger when I was paying. I was there from about 10am-5pm. I also road my bike around the park on the paved roads, and about 2 miles on some dirt roads. I did not ride the Cave Springs Loop Trail (It was starting to rain in the park mountains when I got back to the car and I did not want to risk getting stuck in a flash flood). Also - climbing up that first Overlook trail on a regular, Amish, bike would be insanely brutal. My hat goes off to anyone who has or will do it. For the Luna Cycle X1 eMTB I was riding, it was also slightly hard climb. The trail was very soft. It was not muddy but very damp and the motor torque would easy cause the rear tire to spin out. Other than that initial climb, I did not find the trail difficult at all. There was no scary exposure. There were maybe two features I walked my bike over. I think anyone can ride these trails as long as they expect to walk over a few features and they have the will to make the climb.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS:
I totally intend to head back to Ely in the spring to ride Ward Mountain and also the NV Rail Road has bike tour package you can do. Overall, although the trip did not go as planned, I still rate the overall experience about an 8 because I had no lake views to film!

If you have questions about this trip/ride please feel free to ask them in the comments.

TRAIL INFO: https://www.trailforks.com/region/cav...
CAVE LAKE STATE PARK INFO: http://parks.nv.gov/parks/cave-lake
GREAT INFO ON WHAT TO SEE IN ELY: https://travelnevada.com/cities/ely/
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THE BIKE RIDEZ STORY & MISSION :
We are e-bike explorers! This channel is continuing to evolve. The current focus is the scenic beauty and peaceful landscape of the trails we ride, not the actual mountain bike riding or e-bikes we are ridding. Although we thoroughly love riding our eMTBs for exercise and adventure, bike riding is our primary form of meditation and stress relief. Our bike rides allow for a few hours without our phones where we can stay focused on being in the moment. Best of all we get to share with you some of the best and most spectacular scenic bike trails in the United States.
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