Name: Black Mountain Loop
Rating: 4.5

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Overview

If you're looking for a taste of Pisgah without biting off a full day of extremely technical singletrack, this ride features the Black Mountain trail downhill in its entirety with a tough climb up Clawhammer Road.

Description

Starting at the Pisgah Ranger Station, turn right onto Highway 276 (busy highway most of the times). Turn right on Avery Creek Road to start the climb. This section is gradual, and be sure to enjoy the warm-up on the easy stretch.

At just over 2.5 miles, turn right onto Clawhammer Road. Clawhammer is one of the necessary evils in Pisgah. It's a long gravel road/doubletrack that climbs over 1,300 ft. Just keep going, as the descent is well worth the climb!

From Clawhammer Road, turn onto Black Mountain Trail (#127). This trail is legendary for many reasons, but mostly it is known for its downhill, which loses over 1900 ft. from its highest point. Black Mountain has plenty of technical riding. There are loads of rocks, small drops, and some eroded areas. Overall, the trail gets less technical the closer you get toward the bottom.

There is a solid amount of gnar between the summit of Black Mountain. and the Turkeypen Gap trailhead. This section is steep, with ditched-out trail and waterbars that don't function anymore. The lower section near Thrift Cove is more mellow than the upper.

Eventually, the trail ends at FSR #5061. Turn right on the road to return to the trailhead.

Contacts

Local Club: Pisgah Area SORBA

Land Manager: USFS - Pisgah National Forest, Pisgah Ranger District

Shared By:

Kristen Arendt with improvements by Christian E and 1 other

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.5 from 110 votes

#1

in Avery Creek

#66

Overall

4.5 from 110 votes

5 Star		63%
4 Star		26%
3 Star		7%
2 Star		3%
1 Star		1%

Recommended Route Rankings

236 Views Last Month

36,487 Since May 3, 2018

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Photos

The last section of lower black with Christopher Langley!

Feb 11, 2018 near Brevard, NC

Spectacular view from atop Black Mountain.

Jun 14, 2017 near Brevard, NC

Jul 8, 2021 near Brevard, NC

Jul 9, 2013 near Brevard, NC

Watch out for rattlesnakes - on top of Black Mountain view point.

May 16, 2019 near Brevard, NC

Jul 9, 2013 near Brevard, NC

14 Comments

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 9 days ago

Update Conditions See History

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Check-Ins

May 27, 2025

Bennett Bennett

Rode it w Johnathan it's long hike bike up to top

May 17, 2025

Anonymous

May 24, 2024

Reinhard Eisenmann

After a 7 mile gravel road climb you get to carry your bike up the next 2 miles of hiking trail and you're still not on top. But it's a fun downhill 14mi — 2h 18m

Aug 16, 2023

Barrett D

Some mud, added sycamore downhill back to parking lot which was well worth the easy climb up. 15.4mi — 2h 47m

Jun 17, 2023

Justin Krogue

Perfect conditions 20mi — 3h 00m

May 20, 2023

Sean Tracy

3hr 38min 16.6mi

May 11, 2023

Hattie Greydanus

Apr 13, 2023

David hubert

Feb 22, 2023

Felipe Pedrosa

14mi — 2h 26m

Sep 3, 2022

sheldon martin

-Entry gravel road long gradual climb -wet,muddy,slick condit -LONG UPHILL HIKE A BIKE -3 fast extremely technical decents -dangerous and high speeds 16.2mi

Aug 27, 2022

Keith Brooks

Jul 30, 2022

Anthony Dickinson

Jul 23, 2022

Private User

Jul 22, 2022

Jeff Miceli

13.4mi — 3h 13m

Jun 15, 2022

francois simard

May 22, 2022

Scott Sturgess

May 15, 2022

Julia Lance

Dodged a downpour on this ride. Hike-a-bike sections were tough as remembered, but the descent is fast, chunky, and fun! 16mi

Apr 9, 2022

Kellog K

Rode up Avery to Club Gap. Rode all of Black. Hike a bike was a thing. Trail is sweet, more of a flow-technical trail. A great intro to pisgah for… 16mi

Feb 8, 2022

- PRiiZE

bennet buckwhaet knob .lower black .. killer 20mi

Dec 28, 2021

Hayden Hughes

Nov 6, 2021

Sean Christopher

Did the Cutoff trail from Clawhammer road to get to Presley Gap. Basically bottom third of the Black Mountain trail. Super fun, perfect amount of tech 7.5mi

Nov 3, 2021

Larry Nelson

Outstanding! 12.6mi

Sep 13, 2021

Pat J

Dist & time from Davison River CG with stops for pics and checking MTB proj to figure out how much more hike a bike there was 13.4mi — 2h 15m

Sep 12, 2021

Michael Anthony

Aug 31, 2021

Taylor Jones

Sam ate it at the very end, separated shoulder. Fun otherwise

Aug 1, 2021

Rachel Walker

Shin blaster, very fun 12.6mi

Jul 20, 2021

Zvi Pardes

Jul 9, 2021

Lynn Faust

5mi — 0h 40m

May 30, 2021

Trevor Norris

May 28, 2021

Scott Christman

May 10, 2021

Matt Dykstra

12.2mi

Apr 7, 2021

Melissa Miller

Apr 6, 2021

Russell H

Hike-a-bike is real and takes away from the ride. Never again. 11.9mi — 5h 15m

Nov 22, 2020

lukasz drogowski

Nov 18, 2020

Alex Guerra

5/5, long climb with tons of hike-a-bike, rough and chunky descent.

Oct 16, 2020

Joseph Medeiros

Oct 16, 2020

Joseph Medeiros

Jul 31, 2020

Charlemagne Rey

Toughest hike a bike that I've done so far! Be prepared for the uphills but the reward is really worth. 18.8mi — 4h 04m

Jun 21, 2020

Jillian Foss

Dec 7, 2019

Olivier Barbier

Nov 10, 2019

Blake-Christie Miller

Oct 23, 2019

Darrin Purcell

monster climb with the hike a bike section in the back for a really rough and rugged descent....hard to get any rythmn 12mi — 3h 00m

Sep 22, 2019

Shawn Russell

Got lit up by ground Hornets 13.6mi

Aug 13, 2019

Kaleb Ealahan

15mi — 2h 10m

Aug 5, 2019

Mr D (avid) R.

Jul 7, 2019

Greg Tempel

Lots of fun and very technical. Some of the drops kicked my butt and a few minor spills/slide outs. I'd probably take Turkey Creek Rd (Maxwell Cove… 13mi — 3h 10m

Jun 24, 2019

Paul Richardson

May 30, 2019

Stephen McBrayer

May 29, 2019

Dan Harrison

May 26, 2019

Clay sk501st@gmail.com

hootin'n'a'hollerin' 12.2mi

May 25, 2019

Lost Justpastnowhere

May 23, 2019

Andre Gilbert

Descente ça coche. Hiking un peu long.

May 18, 2019

Shawn OBrien

Two wrong turns — 3h 11m

May 16, 2019

Al B

7.2 mile climb up gravel roads, 1 mile hike a bike up crazy switchbacks, 1 rattlesnake, no mechanicals, AMAZING technical downhills! 12.6mi — 2h 34m

Apr 28, 2019

wil chung

12.2mi — 2h 45m

Apr 27, 2019

Dave Groleau

Great. Rocky downhill after exhaustion from climb but awesome 13mi

Apr 18, 2019

Sydney Wenger

Mar 25, 2019

Chad Dean

Mar 11, 2019

Jordan Buehler

Jan 15, 2019

Mary Helen Brown

Wet with some ice/snow mixture on it. Did this with Grassy trail

Oct 27, 2018

thatboyaintright .

Oct 21, 2018

Joel Mathewson

12.2mi

Oct 7, 2018

Mason M

absolutely epic down hill but the hike a bike was miserable and a lot of climbing

Oct 7, 2018

Kenny Byrge

12.2mi

Sep 1, 2018

Nicholas Feliciano

This is a hiker bike trail after climbing clawhammer. Lots of drop and it gets flowy towards the end.

Aug 22, 2018

Tamás Debreczeni

Aug 14, 2018

C 2

Only did the lower sections ! Phenomenal! 8mi

Jul 25, 2018

Kevin Dubois

Did Bennett gap loop and black mountain loop back to back. Fire roads up hill, hike a bike at the top a bunch, enduro downhill.

Jun 30, 2018

Adam Sauro

Trail follows the fall line on the descent. Expect janky, washed out spots due to erosion. 15.4mi — 2h 16m

Jun 16, 2018

MP Spierer

May 15, 2018

Greg Sparks

12mi

Apr 1, 2018

Jillian Foss

17mi

Mar 4, 2018

Logan Taylor

14.7mi

Nov 23, 2017

T.J. Morton

What a way to spend Thanksgiving afternoon!!! 16.1mi — 2h 42m

Nov 9, 2017

Donny Gray

12.6mi

Oct 25, 2017

Mary Helen Brown

3rd wedding anniversary ride

Sep 29, 2017

James Chisholm

Sep 15, 2017

Joe Rider

Aug 11, 2017

Taylor Bradley

Jul 8, 2017

Michael Boo

Very taxing 13.3mi

Jun 27, 2017

Taylor Bradley

May 12, 2017

Nancy Ridle

big drops, long climb to begin, waterfall, green green 16mi

Apr 29, 2017

Scott Christman

Tough climbing but worth it 12mi

Apr 8, 2017

D Blbs

16mi

Jan 13, 2017

Jared Penner

Oct 17, 2016

Max Hammer

Sep 5, 2016

Marcos Robles

Sep 3, 2016

Ben Calvert

Jul 19, 2016

Cliff Kinder

Jun 8, 2016

Stephen Hauser

Mar 24, 2016

Eric Gadlage

Rode this route and then to Oskar blues 15.5mi — 1h 35m

Mar 12, 2016

Luke Stubbs

11mi — 2h 00m

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Black Mountain Loop

“An exhausting day combining long fire road climbs and very technical singletrack descents. ”

13.7

22.0

60%

4,174' 1,272 m

2,158' 658 m

2,147' 654 m

2,106' 642 m

6%

39%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Not Allowed

Overview

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#1

#66

#1

#5

#66

Photos

14 Comments

Comment Type:

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Pisgah Stage Race - Stage 2

Pisgah 111K

Clawhammer Crawl

Daniel Ridge Loop

Horse Cove Gap Loop

Turkeypen Gap to Black Mountain Loop

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