Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Bikepacking La Huella del Oso (Video)
La Huella del Oso, “The Bear’s Footprint,” is a bikepacking loop in Asturias, Spain, that was designed to show riders an area where Cantabrian brown bears once roamed wild. To kick off the new route, Tristan Bogaard and Belén Castelló put together this video. Watch it here…
Words, photos, and video by Tristan Bogaard (@tristanbogaard) and Belén Castelló (@belletoscan)
Belén and I set out to build a new bikepacking loop in the north of Spain after initially visiting the region in 2020, the result of which just launched here on BIKEPACKING.com. La Huella del Oso, “The Bear’s Footprint,” is our newest bikepacking route, looping through Asturias, inspired by the story of the Cantabrian brown bear. Challenging climbs, desolate passes, and quiet hamlets lead to the kind of moments of solitude one can find with ease out in the Spanish countryside.
This video, made during our penultimate visit to the Spanish north, aims to show you what it was like riding, camping, and taking in the wonderful Asturian countryside as we scouted the route for changes, added last bits of information, and checked each track along the way to make sure it’s all sound. When producing this kind of video, I often lean on places exactly like the ones you’ll pass on La Huella del Oso, as they provide the perfect layout for a wholesome bikepacking trip: open natural spaces, good food, and an educational theme.
To summarize the La Huella del Oso route guide, this loop begins in Oviedo and starts out by following the Senda del Oso, a scenic greenway passing the Casa del Oso museum in Proaza. There, you can learn about the local history, bear population, and conservation efforts to protect this unique species. The journey continues into natural parks like Las Ubiñas-La Mesa and Somiedo, with pastoral landscapes, peaceful trails, and grazing cattle—something you’ll hopefully see reflected back into my video here.
Find a detailed guide for the route here, or look it up anytime on the world bikepacking route map.
Further Reading
Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...
Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.
We're independent
and member-supported.
Join the Bikepacking Collective to make our work possible:
