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The Adventure Zone

Past stories It's Game On, Syrup Suckers! Ski cross Olympic debut In Memoriam: Guy Lacelle Haliburton Highlands WinterStart Festival Amazing Campus Chase A Little TLC Pays Green Dividends Whistler, B.C.'s Kokanee Crankworx Rockies Triathlon Niagara Escarpment Race The Heat Is On Earth Day 2009 Yellowknife's Rock and Ice Ultra The Gatineau Loppet Outward Bound Canada Let it snow Children of Winter Bruce Peninsula Mountain Bike Adventure Frontier Adventure Challenge MEC Big Chop Summer Paddle Series The Calgary Stampede Moraine for Life Adventure Relay Monarch Redux Rockies Bird Festival Arctic Winter Games Bolivia's Acotango Mount Kilimanjaro The Drambuie Pursuit Canadian Aboriginal Festival Mountain Mania Adventure racing Manitoulin Island Star Party Celebration of Light Algonquin Park Ottawa Race Weekend Maple syrup festival Cain's Quest Have Snowshoes, Will Travel Quebec Ice Hotel In the Eye of the Storm Arctic Aurora Borealis Canada's 'Deep South' Agawa Canyon Ablaze Mahone Bay Boat Festival Vancouver Island's rocky trail Wild Women Expeditions Eco-Endurance Summiting Canada Gourmet getaway Yukon Arctic Ultra Canadian Wind Riders Winnipeg's urban pathways Canoeist/artist Bill Mason Take a hike Whitewater kayaking The 2005 Sea Cavalcade Moonstruck - Adventure racers Delta Marsh Birding Festival Climb for conservation The Eagle has Landed Gold Rush Trail Whistler Film Festival Fit to ski Whyte Museum of the Rockies Cheakamus Challenge "Super Dave" Norona Ontario's French River region Cabot Trail Relay Race Point Pelee Festival of Birds Canmore Ice Climbing Festival Winterlude Yeti Mountain Snowshoe Series Golden Horseshoe Orienteering Club Banff Mountain Book Festival Haliburton Highlands Sand Sculpture Championships BC Mobility Society Bathtub Race Championship Bike Month Running off the road Birds of a Feather Grand Plans in Grand Cache Le Festival du Voyageur Raid Ukatak Around the World Alone November culinary adventure Mountains in Miniature In the Belly of the Dragon Raid the North Extreme!! Making a splash! Volunteer for nature Cycling for sustainability Working for Wildlife Whale of a time Canadian Death Race Mont Tremblant Skiing Nanook of the North Eco-challenge Climate Change Caravan Royal Regatta Unleash the hounds World Cup mountain bike race Yukon River Quest On top of the world Canada's World-Class Heritage Gliding across the silver screen Marathon Madness National Ski and Snowboard Week Christmas Bird Count Banff Festival Adventure racing Coast-to-coast trek Whitewater rodeos In praise of parks Watching Canada's wildlife Canada's Highest Peak Alaska Adventure Racer

Photo courtesy Bruce County Tourism

The 450-million-year-old Niagara Escarpment stretches 725 glorious kilometres across southwestern Ontario, sculpting its way through forests, wetlands, waterfalls and streams, villages, towns and cities. It ends its majestic march at Tobermory, where the Bruce Peninsula juts into the shimmering waters of Lake Huron.

Photo courtesy Bruce County Tourism

The Escarpment’s topography has famously blessed the Bruce with an abundance of recreational benefits, and each year, outdoor activists make a beeline to the region to bike, hike, camp, paddle, swim, fish and golf. Since 2005, the rugged, rocky northern region has boasted a new destination: the Bruce Peninsula Mountain Bike Adventure Park, where riders are invited to an all-out encounter with some of the toughest single-track cycling trail in the area.

Located on Highway 6, north of Wiarton, Ont., the 300-acre park is dense with trees and dotted with rock outcrops and “rock gardens.” The terrain makes it a natural venue for free riding, an increasingly popular mountain-biking discipline that combines downhill and dirt jumping. With input from the International Mountain Bike Association, intrepid trail crews and volunteers have forged 20 kilometres of wildly creative single- and double-track trails through the forest. The trails range from easy to difficult, but even experts will be put through some spine-tingling paces on the 30 technical features — Teeter Totter of Shame, Cannonball, Don’t Try This at Home, No Turning Back and Rock City — that incorporate tricky man-made structures and existing topographical characteristics. These features have been built off trail, where they can be avoided entirely by beginning and novice riders. As confidence-builders for the faint of heart, however, a handful of sample features have been set up in the parking lot, where riders can test their mettle before facing the real thing.

A one-of-a-kind experience created with support from three levels of government and corporate sponsorships, the MTB Adventure Park demands a place on your Explore the Bruce “must do” list.

For more information, visit www.mtbthebruce.com and www.explorethebruce.com.