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Here's Your Bike Park: A Fall Tour of the Edmonton Bike Park

Writer: Edmonton Bike Park
Edmonton Bike Park
7 hours ago
5 min read

If you've been through Queen Elizabeth Park lately, you've seen it: the Edmonton Bike Park is taking shape fast. Two trails are already open, and the rest of the park, from the pump track to the jump lines, is being built right now, with volunteers at the heart of it.

New here? Welcome! The Edmonton Bike Park is a project of the Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance. It sits in Queen Elizabeth Park, connected to the river valley trail system, and it's being built for riders of every level. Construction began in August 2025. After record rain in June 2026, the Grand Opening is set for Spring 2027.

We took a walk around the site this fall with a camera. Here's your bike park, as it stands today. Scroll for the full photo tour.

Wide panorama of the bike park's lower flat: dirt jump lines and berms, a grey timber wallride on the left, and the downtown Edmonton skyline above the trees.
The whole lower flat in one frame, with downtown just over the treeline.


Open now: Won't Die and Cooper's Hawk

Every ride starts at the trailheads, where two timber gateways mark the way onto the park's two flow trails. Both are open, and both are waiting for you.

Two timber gateways with trail signs at the edge of a gravel flat, a ramp and a railed timber bridge to the right, fall colours behind.
The trailheads: two timber gateways, one for each flow trail.

Won't Die is our green trail, rated Easy. It's the place to start, whether you're new to mountain biking, riding with family, or just warming up.

Trail sign on a timber post reading "Won't Die", with a green circle and the rating Easy, in leafy fall woods.
Won't Die: green, Easy, and open.

Cooper's Hawk is our blue trail, rated More Difficult. It's the next step up once you're comfortable on Won't Die.

Trail sign on a timber post reading "Cooper's Hawk", with a blue square and the rating More Difficult, timber framing beside it.
Cooper's Hawk: blue, More Difficult, and open.

Cooper's Hawk starts with one of the park's highlights: a raised timber helix, a bridge that winds high through the trees.

A raised timber helix bridge on tall timber posts, winding through green and yellow trees above a dirt trail.
The raised timber helix at the start of Cooper's Hawk.
  • Under the helix: every post and brace built by hand.

The helix and bridge at the start of Cooper's Hawk.


Please stay on the open trails and respect all closures and fencing. Freshly built trails are especially vulnerable while they continue to settle and establish. Giving them that time now means better riding for years to come.

A timber sign post in spruce trees with two Edmonton Bike Park signs: Wrong Way, downhill only, and Not Permitted, no e-moto bikes.
Signs on the trail: downhill only, and no e-moto bikes or scooters.

Still under construction: the rest of the park

Everything else in this tour is still being built. Here's what's coming together.


Timber boardwalk on a flow trail still being built

On the wooded side-slope, a long run of timber boardwalk is going in on one of the flow trails that's still being built. It winds through the mountain ash, heavy with red berries this time of year.

A curving timber boardwalk winding along a wooded slope under mountain-ash trees heavy with red berries.
New boardwalk through the mountain ash, on a flow trail still being built.

  • Railing framing still going in.

Timber boardwalk on a flow trail still being built.


Trail craft on the slope

Up on the wooded slope, the trail work going in is as much a feature as anything on the flat. Log crib steps, rock armouring and hardened tread are built to hold the hillside together and last for years.

A wooded climb with a log crib step and rock armouring, sunlight through spruce and fall leaves.
A log crib step and rock armouring on the climb.

Log cribs, rock armouring and hardened tread on the slope.


The three-lane start platform

At the top of the jump area sits a big timber start platform with three lanes and handrails. It's the entrance to the green skills and jump area, where riders will drop in and pick their line.

A timber start platform with handrails and three lanes dropping toward a dirt jump area, under a blue sky with fall trees.
The three-lane timber start platform.

The entrance to the green skills and jump area.


The jump lines

From the start platform, the jump lines roll down across the flat toward the skyline. Standing at the top, you can see the shape of the whole thing.

View from the top of the start platform down a freshly shaped dirt jump line, with timber features and downtown towers in the distance.
Looking down the jump line from the start platform.

  • The jump lines from above. Not many bike parks come with this view.

The jump lines, freshly shaped.


The whale's tail

A curved timber whale's tail rises out of the dirt, ready to be ridden up, over and through.

A curved timber whale's tail feature built into a dirt mound, with tall spruce and a blue sky behind.
The timber whale's tail.

The wallride and berms

A tall, weathered timber wallride leads riders round into a run of berms.

A tall grey timber wallride curving into dirt berms, with fall trees and the downtown skyline beyond.
The wallride sweeps into the berms, with downtown beyond.

  • A timber berm in the woods.

The wallride, and banked berms in dirt and timber.


The skills area: skinnies and rollers

The skills area is where riders will practise balance and control. Narrow timber skinnies wind round a grassy island, and a line of timber rollers runs along the flat. More rollers and features are being built right now.

Narrow timber skinnies winding round a small grassy island, with the jump area and fall trees behind.
Timber skinnies round a grassy island.

  • A skinny with a boulder start.
  • The timber roller line.

Skinnies, rollers, boulders and stone in the skills area.


The wood drop

For experienced riders, a timber wood drop is going in, marked Most Difficult. It's the park's black diamond, and more drops for other skill levels are coming.

A raw-timber deck on posts, the new wood drop, with a Most Difficult sign post nearby and buckets and offcuts below.
The wood drop, still being finished.

  • The sign at the wood drop: Most Difficult.

The park's black diamond.


The pump track

The asphalt pump track is down: a loop of rollers and banked turns you'll be able to ride without pedalling once you get the rhythm. It's one of the features we're most excited about, for riders of every age and ability.

A black asphalt pump track looping through rollers and banked turns, with trees in fall colour and a blue sky.
The asphalt pump track.

Rollers and berms on the asphalt pump track.


Panorama of the whole asphalt pump track from the container roof, with the trees and a brick building beyond.
The whole pump track from the container roof.

A second panorama of the pump track from the container roof, with its loops of rollers and banked turns.
One more look from the roof.

Still being built

Out on the flat and up on the slope, the work goes on: more rollers, timber features and railings, every board placed by hand.

Timber rollers under construction on a gravel flat, with a builder at work and stacks of lumber in the background.
More rollers taking shape. Every board placed by hand.

Work in progress, this fall.


The mural

EMBA commissioned murals for the site's shipping container. The Cooper's Hawk side is by artist Robyn Schnierer, and it's stunning in person.

A shipping container painted with a large purple and pink hawk, talons out, among stylised green letters.
The Cooper's Hawk mural by Robyn Schnierer.

The hawk mural on the container seen from an angle, with a white water tank beside it and the park behind.
Mural by Robyn Schnierer.

Built by volunteers


Volunteers are the heart of everything in this tour. Over two building seasons, volunteers have given nearly 5,000 hours to the park: 2,447.5 hours in 2025 and 2,534 hours in 2026 (to September 16). In 2025 alone, 260 different volunteers came out to build.

As Matt Edwards told Edify Edmonton in Built to Ride: "It would not be possible without the volunteers. The trails would not exist and neither would the bike park."

To every volunteer who has hauled lumber, shaped dirt or swung a hammer out here: thank you. This is your park.


Can't make a shift? Fuel one with Buy-a-Builder

Not everyone can pick up a shovel, and that's okay. Buy-a-Builder lets you fuel the volunteers who do. Pick a tier:

  • $100: A bigger battery. Keeps the tools running through a full build day.

  • $50: A bunch of bits. Drill bits, blades and fasteners wear out fast.

  • $20: A board. Lumber for features, ladders and trail structures.

  • $10: A burger. Feeds a hungry volunteer after a long shift.

  • $5: A beverage. Keeps a builder going on a hot afternoon.


Every gift is unrestricted, so it goes to whatever the build needs next: tools, materials, fuel, food for volunteers, and the everyday costs of a volunteer build site. Your name goes on the park's thank-you list, unless you'd rather it didn't.



Buy-a-Builder gifts aren't tax-receiptable. If you'd like a tax receipt, see the SPAR option below.


Help us finish it

We're on the home stretch to the Spring 2027 Grand Opening, and there are lots of ways to be part of it.

  • Volunteer. Build shifts are posted on our events calendar. No experience needed. Come build with us.

  • Buy-a-Builder. Fuel a volunteer on build day, from $5 for a beverage to $100 for a bigger battery: Buy-a-Builder.

  • Donate. Every gift helps finish the park. Visit our Donate page. Want a tax receipt? You can give through the Alberta SPAR Donation Fund Program, recommending "bicycle" (Program type) and "Facility Development" (Activity type). The steps are on the Donate page.

  • Ride. Won't Die and Cooper's Hawk are open. Come ride them, and please respect closures and fencing everywhere else.

  • Join EMBA. Become a member and join a trail day at edmmtnbike.ca. And read EMBA's thank-you to its volunteers, Thank You: EMBA Over the Years.


Thank you for helping build Edmonton's bike park. See you on the trails!


The Edmonton Bike Park is a project of the Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance.

 
 
 

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