Video

Trail Snapshot

Trails:

A mixture of 80+ miles of trails and roads

Difficulty:

Beginner to Advanced depending on how fast you ride some sections.

Outdoor Travels Rating:

4 out of 5 bikes

Thumbs Up

Trails a plenty

Scenic waterfalls

A little bit of everything

Thumbs Down

Not enough time to ride everything

Nuts & Bolts

Location:

The DuPont State Forest is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Hendersonville and Brevard, NC.

Directions:

Directions

General Information:

There are five main parking areas at DSF. See directions above for their names and locations. Most have portable toilet facilities and an information board, displaying good advice for using the area, rules and regulations, events, and a good map. It is recommended that you carry a map, however, because there are lots of trails intersections in DSF. This makes for countless loop options, but it can make getting lost easier as well.

Activities:

Hiking, Biking, Hunting, Fishing, Horseback Riding, Camping.

Admission:

Free

Nearby Attractions:

Pisgah National Forest, Sycamore Flats Recreational Area

Camping:

Black Forest Family Camping Resort is located 4 miles from the trailhead at the Dupont State Forest, making it the closest place to DSF to camp. Tent sites as well as RV sites with hookups are available.

Contact:

North Carolina Division of Forest Resources"

Dupont State Forest"

Maps and Stuff

Trail Map

Useful Links

Trail photos

Lots of great photos to give you a good idea of what riding here is like!

Riding Big Rock

View from the top of Big Rock

Riding a step up

Riding down Big Rock

Riding some Appalachian Armor

Nice trail section

More well-built Appalachian Armor

Some tricky fun stuff

Nice little step down

Jeff's surprising post-ride reward

After a great ride - the rewards

Biking

Dupont State Forest

Asheville, North Carolina Area

Lots of options

Christopher Burk, Outdoor Travels

There are three things that make a ride memorable, good trails, good company and good weather, although I probably should add the stipulation of invoking good memories. After all you will never forget the torrential downpour, mud-fest ride with a bunch of wheel suckers either but you certainly won’t want to repeat it. We’re talking about rides that you want to go back and do again, and again, and again. Dupont State Park offers you that option, at least the part about wanting to ride stuff over and over. You’re on your own for riding partners and weather.

Located southeast of Brevard in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 10,400 acre Dupont State Forest offers mountain bikers a dense trail system of nearly 100 miles. Dupont offers one other thing that you don’t normally find in the East, slickrock. The amount certainly pales compared to Moab, Utah but what is there makes for a nice change from the typical rocks and root trails of Appalachian mountain biking.

The trail network for Dupont certainly meets the requirement of good trails. It is pretty extensive so creating loops is quite easy to do. Some of the best loops are located in the southern area of the forest located between Fawn Lake and Coal Mills Shoals parking areas. One word to the wise though, with so many trails and intersections it’s also quite easy to blow right past the one you are looking for and find yourself riding up and down the road trying to figure out where the heck you are. (It wouldn’t be an ODT adventure without a little route finding mishap and it adds to the memory of the ride.)

Two must-do trails are Big Rock Trail and Cedar Rock Trail. After all, if you’re going to ride Dupont, you have to ride the slickrock. Both of these trails will foot the bill. Getting to the slickrock requires some climbing on Big Rock Trail but that is to be expected. Where else are you going to find large exposed granite domes but on the top of the mountains. And watch out for low branches on the interspersed pine trees. You may catch the camera mounted on your helmet on one of them although it makes for a very entertaining video.

One other ride I highly recommend that is located off the Lake Imaging parking area is Jim Branch trail from the Isaac Heath trail junction to Lake Imaging Road. It is tight, twisty, downhill and fast. Just watch out for the horses and the last section before you reach Lake Imaging Road. There are a couple of small drops and a slight turn at the end. Too much speed and you’re headed for some serious carnage. Saw it firsthand. Fortunately the boy was alright.

And the beauty of the loop is the fact that it is only about three miles total so you can ride it again and again or in our case again and again and again. No one ever said time had to pass before you would want to go back and ride a memorable ride again.