Lincoln County’s forward-thinking community leaders, including the former manager of the BLM, Victoria Barr and former Caliente mayor Stana Hurlburt had a vision to capitalize on outdoor recreation tourism in Lincoln County. Thanks to their drive and passion for the project, their wish to share the love of adventure and help sustain the local economy is now becoming a reality. 

When asked what efforts it took to make this dream come to life, director of the Caliente Area Mountain Bike Alliance (CAMBA) Christine Harrington said, “Oh gosh, what did it not take? This has been a huge collaborative effort between City of Caliente, Bureau of Land Management and Nevada State Parks, with support from [many local authorities, associations], and numerous local businesses.”

From design to contracts to construction, this project has been a uniquely cooperative effort between all the land managers, funded almost entirely by SNPLMA and RTP grants, and they’re nowhere near done either. The Barnes Canyon trail network has nearly 14 miles of riding, Kershaw Ryan around 10 and the city of Caliente about 2.5. Each of these networks combined make up 22 different trails. By next summer, due to the efforts of those involved, there should be a 10-mile trail connecting Barnes and Kershaw Ryan and a 21-mile trail descending off the top of Ella Mountain, making for one long 50-plus mile network of singletrack. 

In the words of Harrington, “That’s a big deal. Those are individual trails worth talking about.”

Most bikers rely on their social network to help them find out about great new trails to ride, and since it is estimated that each rider who comes to Lincoln County tells at least three to five fellow bikers about their experience, the trails are getting a lot of interest from out-of-town folks. 

Social media, targeted outreach to some neighboring areas, biking events and mountain biking forums have been other methods of spreading the word about the new trails, and the hard work is paying off. There have been several articles about the county’s trails in national publications, such as the most recent one by Outside Online, which featured Caliente’s trails as one of nine new U.S. trail systems to check out this year.  

The locally-sponsored events are another big driver in putting Lincoln on the map.  

“A lot of riders really enjoy visiting a new trail system for a social event like a bike fest, or a competitive event like the races we had in May. It’s great exposure for our trails and our community. Visitors consistently talk about what a cool town this is and how friendly people were while they visited. It’s one of the things I love about this community; the people here are amazing.” Harrington commented when asked how they are reaching non-local riders. 

Local businesses are seeing the change in their customer base from all locals to more and more new faces as the bikers seek housing in hotels, bed-and- breakfasts and Airbnbs in the area.

Harrington said, “I enjoy referring folks to our local businesses as much as possible; it benefits the community economically, and it benefits the riders because they get to interact more with the super-cool locals.” The leaders behind this incredible undertaking are hosting their 2nd Annual Caliente Mountain Bike Fest October 1-3 this year. For more information, visit their Facebook page, Caliente Mountain Biking; social media, #calientemtb; their Instagram, @caliente_area_mtb and website www.calientemtb.org.