Roughly 30 miles from Boise, Idaho, is the small town of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. And just a few miles outside Horseshoe Bend is the Faull Line Gravity Park (FLGP), the newest shuttle-served bike park in the state. Owner Eric Faull is a one-person crew, serving as shuttle driver when the park is open on weekends and trail builder when it is closed.
FLGP also offers something many other bike parks don’t. In addition to operating during normal weekend hours, FLGP also hosts private events. Want to book a private time slot with FLGP, exclusively for you and your buddies? Faull can arrange that.
What started as ziplines eventually became progressive mountain bike trails
“This property has been in my family for forever,” Faull told us, regarding the shuttle-served bike park. But mountain biking wasn’t the first business Faull operated on the chunk of land outside of Horseshoe Bend.
For over a decade, Faull ran Zip Idaho, a ziplining adventure outfit from his property. Faull grew up in the nearby Bosie foothills and later worked in many different outdoor adventure industries. He was a heli-ski guide for a time, as well as a whitewater rafting guide. A trip to Costa Rica got him thinking about ziplines.
It worked for 14 years. But like many small businesses during the pandemic, Zip Idaho struggled to keep the doors open, and holding onto staff was difficult. Faull would eventually have to shut the zipline business down.
“So I just started building the bike trails kind of just for fun,” Faull said. “And then I kind of realized that I actually have some pretty cool terrain.”
If we all had our own rolling mountainous terrain and heavy machinery, we’d likely build ourselves trails too. Accessing the property and building what would eventually become FLGP was relatively easy because Faull had long ago laid out the road infrastructure for Zip Idaho.
This road infrastructure would also eventually serve as the shuttle roads in the park. Faull said that the park has roughly 600 feet of elevation. Rather than steep and rocky terrain, he said the land has more of a gradual, rolling elevation loss.
Regardless, 600 feet of descent in one mile means you can carry some significant speed. Faull currently has three descents — Helter Skelter, Bonkers, and Big Hippy — each measuring roughly one mile.
“Big Hippy is because there is a big old hip jump that I built down there,” he said.
Without the really steep, rocky terrain for more technical descending, Faull built these first trails with bike-park-style flow in mind. They are wider, machine-built, and lean more toward the intermediate-to-advanced side.
“They all kind of depend on how you ride them,” Faull continued. “Progressivity is built in. For the person going 10 MPH, it’s a roller. For a person going 20, it’s a jump.”
Again, the wide, bike park-style trails offer different lines and options on each trail. Faull said nothing is “mandatory,” and that a beginner-level rider with a bit of experience under their belt should be able to ride the trails no problem. But a more advanced rider can still ride the same trail, push a bit harder, ride faster, and have a different experience.
Uplifts via a shuttle pass or pedal up yourself
Faull is ready with his shuttle van to take riders to the top of the hill. He shuttles with a trailer that can accommodate 12 bikes, and the FLGP says that it has availability for a total of 20 riders a day.
A round-trip shuttle run takes roughly 20 minutes, so riders shouldn’t have to wait long before catching a ride back up again.
That said, Faull mentioned that he also allows e-bikes and offers a “pedal pass” for those looking to self-shuttle. Obviously, riders can also pedal fully under their own power with the same pedal pass. In the future, Faull anticipates having bike rentals, including e-bikes.
FLGP is currently open on the weekends — Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Shuttles run from 10 AM to 3 PM, with the last shuttle to the top departing at 2:30. A full day of shuttles is $40, while a pedal pass is $25.
A private bike park?
“Right now I’m just advertising Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday,” Faull said. “But people can request custom times.”
The beautiful thing about being a small, one-person operation (for now) is that Faull can essentially do what he wants, without any large holding corporations to answer to. So, if a large enough group wanted to rent the bike park on a Wednesday and have it to themselves, FLGP will do that.
Bachelor parties, work retreats, family reunions — Faull said that FLGP is ready to host events. He even has campsites available, albeit somewhat primitive. Campers would need to come prepared as there aren’t any RV hookups or running water. However, the area currently has a portable toilet, and each site has a picnic table—far more than most Sprinter van travelers are looking for.
FLGP is another stop on an Idaho bike tour
The Boise area is becoming riddled with different places to ride, from different trail systems in the foothills to a lift-access bike park at Bogus Basin. But the Boise area isn’t where the riding stops.
Heading north out of Boise, FLGP is an easy first stop and, as I mentioned, a good place to stay if you’re living van-life. From there, you could continue north to the McCall area. Tamarack is just south of McCall and features more lift-access riding.
McCall has both Brundage (chairlift) and Jug Mountain (shuttle) for those who don’t want to pedal too much. Visitors could easily spend a week on an Idaho bike adventure through Boise and up Highway 55.
And Faull isn’t done at FLGP. “I have miles and miles mapped out in my head,” he shared. “I even started a whole new zone that I opened with an excavator, enough to where I can start working it with my loader. But yeah, I have potential for so much more.”
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