Dr. Sean Morrissy went for a walk in the woods behind his office in Minto, N.B., one afternoon, looking for a remedy. An avid mountain biker, there were plenty of trails to ride where he lived in nearby Fredericton. But for years, he lamented the lack of options in Minto. That day, he found a cure for himself and a salve for the community.
As one of the area’s general practitioners, Morrissy had been attending to the various day-to-day maladies and illnesses of the folks of Minto for a couple of decades. He also grew to know there was a deeper wound to heal.
For centuries, Minto was a bustling mining town. Canada’s first coal mines were in Minto, with the first shipments by sea to Boston beginning in 1639. Things were going so well that in the early 1900s when the mining industry brought the railway to Minto, people called the area “the most prosperous place in Canada.”
The tide began to shift in the late 20th century as awareness of pollution and climate change grew, resulting in the use of coal as fuel to generate electricity falling out of favour. Scientists determined Minto’s goal was environmentally unacceptable due to its high sulphur and mercury content, and by 2010 the mines in the area shut down for good, leaving a scar on the landscape and the village’s spirit.
“A lot of people were kind of down on the community a little bit, which was really too bad,” says Morrissy.
But the doctor discovered, marching into the woods that day, that the abandoned mines left terrain that was ideal for mountain biking. What started as a pet project to carve out a few paths for his use evolved into Minto Mountain Bike Trails, an example of natural reclamation that transformed a dying town into a tourist destination and turned a perceived wasteland into a biking paradise.
“I was blown away,” says Morrissy. “I just walked into the woods, like literally 50 feet (15 metres), and suddenly there’s this big canyon. Then I started going around and they were everywhere, these big holes in the ground. And I realized that you could actually ride these really well.”
Four hundred years of mining had created huge ridges, steep-sided ravines, turquoise lakes, and hundreds of kilometres of tunnels. The strip-mining sheared off about 2.5 metres of soil to get to the coal seam, leaving no rocks or roots to deal with when building trails.
“It’s a very New Brunswick-like story. Coal mining town loses jobs, boom and bust in small rural New Brunswick. Revitalization and all that fun stuff,” says Sam Bosence, project manager for Mountain Bike Atlantic and owner-operator of Be Rad Adventures, a Saint John, N.B.-based tour company that specializes in mountain biking and often takes clients to Minto.
“But it’s also very much the landscape. It’s so unique and memorable. New Brunswick is typically known as rocks and roots, so Minto becomes this very interesting landscape for beginners or for those new to the sport who don’t want all that techie stuff.”
The park now has 17 trails, for all riding levels, covering about 50 kilometres. Organizers encourage riders to buy Trail Love (a donation to the trail association), but the network is free to use. Plus, you can call the Village of Minto (506-327-3383) to reserve a free bike and helmet and arrange transportation to the trailhead.
Most riders come from Fredericton, a 40-minute drive away, but word is out and the visitors web gets wider all the time, with the park now attracting more than 4,000 visitors a year. If nothing else, local sales of Gatorade have sure gone up.
Also attracting riders to town is a new boutique campground called Tiny Trails. At the entrance to the Minto park, it caters almost exclusively to riders with cozy campsites, a tiny motel, bike washing stations, and a popular licensed taproom. This summer (Aug. 16-18) it will host the inaugural Trail Folk Music Festival, showcasing the trails and Minto’s rich history of music and culture.
Kevin Nicklin, the first mayor of the newly formed Municipality of Grand Lake that includes the village of Minto, has lived in the area his whole life and never imagined tourism becoming the community’s lifeblood.
“Minto took our old mud dumps, basically an eyesore, and transformed it into a world class mountain bikers’ playground,” says the mayor. “It’s inspired our community and mobilized us to inspire change. From that one vision of Sean’s, it’s opened our eyes to future possibilities, and I can see the community really starting to blossom.”
As he shows this novice mountain biker from the prairies around the park, Morrissy is proud of what Minto has become. But he’s not looking for pats on the back.
“I mean, again, it was originally for me, and it still is. I love doing it,” he says. “But the fact that I’ve made other people’s days, that’s great. I feel pretty good about that. It’s not about getting any actual recognition or credit. I mean, it’s just a great feeling that I’ll be able to die knowing that I kind of made my mark in the world.”
“A huge win” — Mountain Biking Atlantic
Sam Bosence and a group of passionate mountain bikers had a grand plan to promote Atlantic Canada as a global destination for mountain biking. They discovered they needed to first focus attention closer to home.
Funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, championed by the non-profit group Friends of Fundy, and supported by an advisory committee of local experts from New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, Mountain Bike Atlantic was established in 2019. Its goal is to engage trail communities and to collaborate on enhancing mountain biking products and experiences to help promote and sustain visitation and improve the visitor experience for residents and tourists alike.
“A group of us came together to market mountain biking in Atlantic Canada. To let the world know that it exists, it’s market ready and it’s awesome,” Bosence recalls. “What was most interesting in the beginning of the project was Atlantic Canadians hadn’t yet discovered Atlantic Canada mountain biking. That they were bypassing great destinations en route to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Quebec. So, we decided to focus on the domestic market first, which again ironically happened to coincide with having to focus on the domestic side as a result of the pandemic. Getting Atlantic Canadians excited about their own backyard was a huge win.”
More recently, the region has been garnering some international attention.
“It’s very neat to stand together for the global market to consider us,” says Bosence. “Yes, some folks just come for one province but the push is to get people to come to the whole region.”
The alliance is currently marketing 37 destinations in Atlantic Canada. Here are eight suggestions from Sam.
New Brunswick
Rockwood Park in Saint John: The park is aptly named as the more than 40 kilometres of trails here are old-school rocky, rooty rides with some tough, punchy hills.
Poley Mountain Bike Park: Located in the hills just outside downtown Sussex, the well known ski hill now also has professionally built single-track trails and lift-access dedicated to downhill mountain biking.
Prince Edward Island
Mark Arendz Provincial Park at Brookvale: Just 25 minutes from Charlottetown, this trail network has 20 kilometres of varied trails for riders of all levels.
Bonshaw: Also just 20 minutes from Charlottetown, this 25-kilometre trail network spans Strathgartney and Bonshaw provincial parks. It’s designed for intermediate and advanced riders, so visitors should have some single-track experience before riding here.
Nova Scotia
McIntosh Run: a unique trail experience in the Halifax area that combines grippy granite, views to the ocean, challenging ledges and drops, and lush forest.
Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site: Known for the canoe and portage routes travelled by the Mi’kmaq for thousands of years between the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Coast, a new addition to Kejimkujik in recent years are the shared-use trails that welcome mountain bikers.
Newfoundland and Labrador
East White Hills Trail, Oceanside: In the city limits of St. John’s, the trail offers advanced riders a challenging loop with spectacular views of Quidi Vidi Lake and North America’s most easterly point, Cape Spear.
Humber Valley: On the west coast of the province is a set of trails, mostly concentrated near Corner Brook, that cater to riders of all skills and offer incredible scenery.