Quebec City / St-Raymond, QC
Vallée-Bras-du-Nord & Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Vallee Bras-du-Nord sits forty-five minutes from Quebec City and splits into two sides that ride nothing alike. The Saint-Raymond sector is close to the village, short and technical, climbs and descents both. The Shannahan sector, twenty minutes further in, is the wild side: singletrack cut through boreal forest along cliffs, rivers and waterfalls, with the legendary Neilson trails at the heart of it. A hundred kilometers of singletrack, a coop of locals running the whole thing, and winter turns it into a fat bike and backcountry ski network instead of closing down.
100+ km across the Saint-Raymond and Shannahan sectors
Technical singletrack, boreal forest, river canyons, glacial ridgeline
Peak Season: mid-March to late November, fat biking through winter
No lift. Climbs on singletrack, not fire road
Quebec City 45min / Montreal 3:00
Why We Love Vallee Bras-du-Nord
Shannahan is remote and wild. Saint-Raymond is quick and technical. Ride both and you'll understand why people fly in for this valley.
Our Top Trails To Ride in Vallee Bras-du-Nord
The coop that runs this valley depends on you buying the pass, not on you sneaking past it. A day pass is required and sold at the Saint-Raymond and Shannahan reception kiosks; class 1 e-bikes only, helmets mandatory, and dogs are not allowed on the trails. The park runs mid-March through late November depending on conditions, and the coop that operates it, Coop de solidarite de la Vallee Bras-du-Nord, relies on pass revenue to fund maintenance, so buying one on arrival is the whole system. Shannahan is remote enough that a map or the VBN app is worth having before you ride. Winter converts the whole valley to fat biking and backcountry skiing rather than shutting it down.
The trail that put this valley on the map internationally. Riders do a full lap of Neilson Est, Nord and Sud once a season and call it the Full Neilson.
The other half of the Full Neilson day, with the Cap des Sept Cotes cliffs running alongside the river for miles.
Low grade, hard-packed sand, built for exactly the kind of day where you just want to log kilometers and grin.
Short, technical and close to the village. Rolling jumps and a proper switchback for a rider who only has an afternoon.
Get To Know
Get To Know
Coop de solidarite de la Vallee Bras-du-Nord
This valley runs on a different model than most. A local solidarity cooperative owns and runs the entire valley, funded by day passes, memberships and lodging revenue rather than a government trail budget. That structure is why a pass at the kiosk actually matters here more than most places: it is the direct source of the money that cuts and maintains a hundred kilometers of singletrack. Buy the pass, and if you're back more than once a season, the membership pays for itself.
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