Lingle Valley Trail is like taking a journey to the Land of the Lost. Surely pterodactyls have hunkered down to weather the millennia in this jumbly thicket of singletrack goodness.
This challenging downhill run crosses the stream no less than five times and winds its way through thick rhododendron bushes. One of the most unusual, beautiful, and thoroughly enjoyable trails in Cooper's Gapwith some serious steeps (in a couple early sections). So, do be a tad careful.
Accessing this superb trail is done off of
Chestnut Spring Trail, marked by a wooden post. You'll immediately start dropping like a stone, then you'll cross an old school mtb bridge over the beginnings of Little Kettle Creek. Once you pass this, you'll soon find yourself among more moderate grades. There's a couple BIG logs, with stone and wooden ramps over them. Power up and hold a steady linethey both are a hoot. The stream crossings are all rideable (if the water is not at peak heights) and the trail twists like a dervish through crazy rhododendron land.
At the end of trail, you'll come out at a hunting camp. Here you have an option between two ridges.
Otter Gap Trail goes up the northern ridge from here, back to
Brush Ridge Trail. If you want to get back to
Chicken Peter Trail or
Beautiful Trail, on the southern ridge, follow the doubletrack back to Conklin Road, taking a
RIGHT onto Conklin Road. Just be warned that the climb up Conklin Road, while not too long, is wicked steep at a 26% grade.
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