5 NC Trails in 5 Days + MTB Project

During my reintegration into American society, I thought I’d spend a few days hopping around North Carolina to visit family and friends… and while at it, take in five of my favorite mountain bike loops…

Upon completing this five-day jaunt and considering sharing highlights about these fine trails on Pedaling Nowhere, I ran across a wonderful new effort by the IMBA called MTBproject.com. The MTB Project is a free, crowd-sourced, map-driven web application that claims to be ‘The evolution of mountain bike guides and trail maps’. So I decided to contribute these 5 rides and give the promising application a shot. After adding the ride data from my GPS through the application’s intuitive tools, I can see how this site could very well become the go-to source for finding your next ride destination.

Mountain Biking Dupont
A great interface and toolset on MTBproject.com.

Although most of my absolute favorites are in the burly Pisgah Ranger District, these five loops scattered across the Western part of the state are definitely in my top 10 for NC. So, here are the trails as well as links to my entries on MTBproject.com:

Keowee and Supertree Loop

Uwharrie National Forest
Being one of the first places I ever rode a mountain bike, this is a true classic… Learn more at MTBproject.

Monbo

Lake Norman State Park – Troutman, NC
My favorite short ripper of a loop in Lake Norman State Park… Learn more at MTBproject.

Kitsuma

Pisgah National Forest
A couple of tough climbs before earning a grin-inducing, fast descent through Pisgah National Forest… Learn more at MTBproject.

Ingles Field Gap

Bent Creek Experimental Forest
I don’t know Bent Creek that well, but we ran into a gentleman named Todd while out trying to connect some trails and he turned us on to this loop (which turned out to be a charmer)… Learn more at MTBproject.

Burnt Mtn. / Big Rock Cedar Rock Figure-eight

Dupont State Park
Ever since Jimi at The Hub in Brevard told me about this loop, I can’t seem to get enough. This may be one of my all-time favorite rides. It has slick-rock, flowey single-track with rollers and rocky, technical descents…. Learn more at MTBproject.

Hop Notch - post-ride beer
Post-ride beer: Could this be my new Ranger… quite possibly. Also, stay tuned for the new ‘Post-ride Beers’ topic on the upcoming Pedaling Nowhere redesign.

Mountain Biking Dupont
Gin meandering up the singletrack switchbacks.

Hop Stoopid - Post-ride beer
Pretty silly name, but not a bad post-ride beer… a hair sweet for my taste (a by-product of high-gravity).

Bison meatballs
Making a feast of pasta with free-range Bison meatballs. Thanks Annie!

Mountain Biking Dupont
Gin handily tackling the beginning of the rocky descent on Burnt Mountain.

Mountain Biking Dupont
Becomming quite the technical climber, she is.

Mountain Biking Dupont
Cranking up the ‘East Coast Slickrock’ on Cedar Rock Trail.

Mountain Biking Dupont
My Mojo HD at the Big Rock overlook.

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Inspiration

pisgah  dupont  mountain-biking  nc-mtb  uwharrie  

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