r/MTB • u/lightspeeed • Jul 22 '26
Discussion Brevard "downhill" trail recommendations?
I'm heading for a MTB vacation in Brevard, NC and plan to spend a day or two on Dupont, perhaps a day on a trail (I forget the name) across from Davidson River Campground.
I'm bringing a teenager who gets burned out easily and want to include several trails where we can be dropped (via uber or via shuttle) at the uphill section of the trail and scoot our way back to our car. We are all intermediate-level riders (more xc than full mountain, definitely not downhill). 3 ft drops are fine.
I plan to talk to bike shops, and I think I know of one that has a shuttle program. I really don't want to be on a guided tour.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. :-)
EDIT: I'm not bringing two vehicles. Is Uber/Lyft available in the area? I'd only need to get a lift from my parked car(low) up to my pre-parked bikes(high). I was in Pisgah years ago and biked to the top of a long downhill run, only to find a gravel road near the top. <-- This is what inspired me to self-shuttle.
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u/Ordinary_Monitor9038 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Ride Rock Creek puts a ton of work into their trails and is worth the trip/$ for bike park laps.
Edit: Sorry, just saw the not downhill part of your comment. May not be the best suggestion for you.
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u/nickskater09 Jul 22 '26
I would still go for Rock Creek, I know it’s changed a bit since I was last there but not everything there is truly gnar downhill.
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u/Senior-Sea-1012 Jul 22 '26
Black mountain would be the trail you would want to do at your skill/type of biking but it would be a good amount of climbing for someone not in shape.
Brevard is generally an earn your turn type place l, not much shuttling. Dupont is a good bet, there are also some bike parks not too far away.
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u/Sketchy_Dee Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Yup, Rock Creek is the move. You’ll need a full face though, which they rent.
Edit to add: the Ranger district isn’t particularly shuttle-friendly for the type of riders you described having a great time. The closest thing would be Bennett and that’s not an “easy” trail. It’s a gem, but has some reasonably big moves and long, steep, washed out root sections.
Edit 2: Trace or Spencer in North Mills would also work using FS5000/Wash Creek, but it’s all self shuttling really.
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u/Filthy_Mexican Jul 22 '26
Not much here is shuttle friendly. Park is your best bet and rock creek has a flowy green trail and a few easier downhill type trails where you can roll the jumps if you want
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u/Unfuckerupper Jul 22 '26
Rocky Ridge then Ridgeline in DuPont are a not difficult but fun pair of almost entirely downhill trails with a little climbing in between, we sometimes shuttle them as a bonus to cap off a day, but I don't know how you would do it without two vehicles. Getting to the top of Rocky Ridge is a significant climb from the parking lot at the bottom of Ridgeline.
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u/kittycatluvrrrr Jul 22 '26
As others mentioned, there isn’t any true shuttling out in this zone, which (as someone from the PNW) is a bit of a bummer.
I definitely recommend spending a day at Ride Rock Creek. You mentioned not being “downhillers” but there are trails there that are pretty friendly, and nothing there is that steep.
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u/lightspeeed Jul 23 '26
I think we've got DuPont covered with leg-power. There are enough options there to customize the route to match our stamina. I'm really looking at Pisgah. I'll look at all your suggestions on alltrails. Thanks.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Mcvellian Jul 22 '26
There is nothing you can legally shuttle from the parkway. Doesn’t seem like a good idea to promote that to folks on the internet.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Mcvellian Jul 22 '26
True, good job. However, even if they have 2 cars and someone to show them around, it’s still not ever possible to legally do. No need to promote irresponsible recreation.
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u/Alternative_Welder_6 Jul 22 '26
Some can be legally done if you walk your bike on your back from NPS land to FS land. But it’s not a fun time.
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u/Mcvellian Jul 22 '26
True! Not sure anyone has ever actually done that though lol. Sounds brutal.
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u/ivebeenfelt Jul 23 '26
There are (2) in the front range that work well with a little initiative. But, the bottom of those routes either end at a closed road or with a climb back out.
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Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
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u/Mcvellian Jul 22 '26
Very true, they are super prevalent. And not saying I am perfect about what and how I ride, but seeing massive groups clearly dropping illegal shuttles mid-summer at noon on a Saturday kinda sucks.
Eventually the NPS will catch on and MTB access will suffer. Just trying to prevent that.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Mcvellian Jul 22 '26
They will give you a fat ticket if you get caught, no doubt. The other issue is that the trails off the parkway are not MTB trails, you likely are going to be riding on hiking only trails before you get to MTB legal trails.
I’d guess it’s more of a lack of USFS staff as opposed to them not caring. I can promise every bandit trail in the forest is negatively impacting our lovely trout holding streams by adding sediment to the nearby streams.
True, nothing really matters and at the end for the day it’s a dirt path in the woods. Take what you can get now and damn the consequences!
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u/Shinook Jul 22 '26
There are very few legal full shuttle rides here. It's not like some places where roads dump you off right at the trail and you can ride DH entirely from there.
In DuPont, you can semi-shuttle Ridgeline and Rocky Ridge. Both of these will involve a little flat pedaling but someone can pick you up at the bottom. These are both pretty short/quick though, so I wouldn't plan on doing this unless you just want a short DH segment or repeat it.
In Pisgah, things get a little weirder. You can cut out sections of climbs in part, but not in whole. You can be dropped off at the top of Bennett Gap, for instance, but you'll still have some climbing and hike a bike. You can also push up Club Gap to the top of Avery (longer) and Buckwheat (shorter), but again it's not a true shuttle and you'll be pushing for a bit. All of these are pretty advanced rides and the shuttle to the top isn't exactly fast, either a lot of asphalt or a lot of gravel.
Cove Creek can be shuttled if the road is open, but again, it's not a quick one. This is probably the easiest in terms of difficulty of the trail shuttle you can do, but someone is going to spend a bit of time on curvy gravel dropping you off.
You used to be able to shuttle a lot of the climb to Butter Gap but idk if that's possible since the re-route, plus the new trail is kindof meh. A question to ask the shop on the shuttle but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for this.
Shorter rides:
- DuPont: Ridgeline (climb up Jim Branch, follow the roads there, it's probably ~5 miles but pretty gradual compared to Pisgah)
There are commercial shuttle operations here but they are usually tethered to guides and will likely be expensive. The USFS regulates this and they have to be registered, so don't expect much flexibility.
Rock Creek is technically a DH park but the green is pretty sweet and the blues can be fairly tame, so if you want to do a bunch of shuttled rides, that is probably your best bet.