Asheville/Pisgah/Brevard

jredone

Well-Known Member
Driving down to Georgia for the Holidays and I’ll usually do a halfway point stop and ride at Carvins Cove in Roanoke.

This year I’ll be making a second stop in the Asheville/Pisgah/brevard area. I’ll have one day with about 3-5 hours to kill, what would you ride?
 
Classic Ridgeline loop at DuPont
Then lunch at the Hub
Then middle and lower black in Pisgah
Was checking out a loop climbing up Avery rd and coming down black mountain. Is this what youre referring to with mid/lower black?
 
Was checking out a loop climbing up Avery rd and coming down black mountain. Is this what youre referring to with mid/lower black?
Yes. If you notice Black Mountain is split into Lower, Middle, Upper and Upper-Upper.

95% of the time it's either going up Thrift for just Lower or going up Avery/Clawhammer/Maxwell to get to the intersection of Upper and Middle and coming down Middle and Upper.

If you have the legs at that intersection, climb up Upper until you get to the Upper/Turkey Pen Gap intersection and then come down Black.

You generally don't want to do all of Upper. It's got a lot of hike a bike.

At the bottom of Lower Black if you want more you can lap Lower or you can do Sycamore which is also at the bottom.

Dupont is a bit more XC, Pisgah is more raw and all Climb then Descend.
 
@Santapez exactly what im looking for. Hoping the freeze/thaw isnt much of a factor. Overnight temps dropping pretty low when I’ll be there.

Open to other suggestions as well, maybe I’ll convince the wife to stop again on the drive back home.
 
Chiming in and following along. Work trip 3rd week of January. Going to drive down early and planning something very similar. Need to be in Cherokee, NC by 1/22. Was thinking Bent Creek, Dupont, and Pisgah on the days before. Hitting Carvin's Cove on the drive home after.
 
Chiming in and following along. Work trip 3rd week of January. Going to drive down early and planning something very similar. Need to be in Cherokee, NC by 1/22. Was thinking Bent Creek, Dupont, and Pisgah on the days before. Hitting Carvin's Cove on the drive home after.

Carvins Cove is fantastic if you've never been. Pretty easy to navigate. Here’s the loop I did my last visit.

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Feel free to hit up me or MissJr if either of you want to meet up. We live right by the entrance to Pisgah.

You may also want to see how off the beaten path you want to get. If you're heading down 26 for instance, Pisgah could add 10-15 minutes each way as you go past Dupont, so that may sway things a little bit. But if you're heading down Asheville Hwy the Pisgah trailhead is just a few minutes detour. Just thinking if you're trying to mix this in while doing a long day of driving.

This is the generic first time loop at Dupont. If strapped for time you can skip the Rocky Ridge section and go onto Buck Forest to Hooker Creek instead of the right to Thomas Cemetery. I find Rocky Ridge to be one of my favorite trails in the park but many people disagree with me.


This is the Black Mountain route I suggested. This includes half of Upper, all of Middle & Lower and also the optional Sycamore.

 
Glad you liked it, saw you even had the legs to go up Upper, which is worth it.

You were probably in the lot when I drove past, seemed really packed today in the forest.

Absolutely worth it. Had my wife parked on Avery Creek Rd with the pup and Camper. Wish I had some more time, would love a locals tour of all the goods. Will be back, we should link up next time.
 
Planning my routes before making my way. Leaving NJ Sat, 1/18. Thinking BC on Sun, Dupont Mon and Pisgah Tues. Need to be at Cherokee on Wed.
Last week, looked at the long range forecast. It's not looking good in the days before or after the work event I'm attending in Cherokee. Thought about shifting ride plans to after the event. Of course the best days will be while I'm standing around inside the convention area.

Rather than put the wear and tear on my personal vehicle driving down and burning some vacation time, decided to fly down on the company dime and save the vacation days for something else.
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Rather than put the wear and tear on my personal vehicle driving down and burning some vacation time, decided to fly down on the company dime and save the vacation days for something else.
Bummer, weather got in the way on my trip down also, managed to squeeze in a couple hours on the drive back up.

Option B:
Borrow my bike bag and fly down first class. Any bag under 70lbs checks for free. I’ll always opt for first class on bike trips. The $200+ you spend checking the bike each way in economy makes it worth the upgrade….sometimes
 
Bummer, weather got in the way on my trip down also, managed to squeeze in a couple hours on the drive back up.

Option B:
Borrow my bike bag and fly down first class. Any bag under 70lbs checks for free. I’ll always opt for first class on bike trips. The $200+ you spend checking the bike each way in economy makes it worth the upgrade….sometimes
It's all good. Bummed that I can't squeeze some Pisgah in. Plenty of riding to be had throughout the rest of the year. The vacation time is being saved for a potential trip to Scotland in the fall.
 
Probably the right call. We've got a few inches of the snow on the ground which will probably melt tomorrow. Amazing conditions for snow hiking this weekend but I wouldn't be surprised if it's wet for the next week or so in the woods as it melts. 50 degrees tomorrow.

Although if it doesn't really rain much later this week may be a fine MTB weekend.
 
I figured DuPont would post something like this eventually

 
Ehhhh... Maybe April or May. March still has the chance for freeze/thaw issues. It rains a lot but most of the time, the trails can dry out quickly.

If you like lots of charts and data:

 
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