Rocky Branch Park Mountain Biking Trails

Summary

Rocky Branch Park was originally built in 2013 by a local group of volunteers. The park was temporarily closed and renovated in 2020 with multiple machine-built flow trails and includes some of the original hand-cut singletrack.

The park connects two municipalities (The City of Belmont and the Town of Cramerton) through the main corridor, which is designated as part of the Carolina Thread Trail and is roughly 1.25 miles of gravel. The park is divided into five major skill-specific zones accessible via the thread trail or existing singletrack called Euler's Way.

The Canopy Trail is a biker-prioritized 1.15-mile beginner loop featuring optional jumps, berms, and features.

The Boulder Trail is a biker-prioritized 1.2-mile intermediate loop featuring optional and mandatory jumps, berms, and features and opened on 22nd December 2021.

The Legacy Trail, and is a 1.1-mile hand-cut singletrack intermediate trail featuring optional drops, jumps, and berms and was part of the existing trail system.

The Ravine Trail is a biker-prioritized 1.2-mile advanced trail due to be constructed in 2022.

The fourth zone is another beginner biker-prioritized trail named Eagle and is a 1.2-mile trail with optional jumps, berms, and features. This zone is currently under construction and due to be completed in early 2022.

Need to know

The main corridor of the trail is part of the bi-directional Carolina Thread Trail and bikers should be aware of walkers, runners, and hikers and give them the right of way. In the event the thread trail is congested, there is singletrack trail called "Euler's Way" which runs parallel to the thread trail and provides an alternative route for bikers to use. Each trail zone has a clearly marked Hub which includes a trail map and a short description of the trail. These trails are biker prioritized, directional and clearly marked showing upcoming features and options.

Details

The park is accessible from three parking locations: The main trail entrance is at 220 Woodrow Ave, Belmont, NC, 28012, and has roughly 35 parking spots. The alternative trail entrances are at a Gaston County EMS Station: 700 Eagle Rd, Cramerton, NC 28012 which has eight parking spots, and at the Stuart Cramer High School: 101 Lakewood Rd, Belmont, NC 28012 which has multiple spaces. We do not recommend using the high school parking during regular school hours. The main park entrance has a water spigot (city water), a changing station, a park tool stand/tools, and benches. There is a small pump track close to the main entrance which is currently under renovation. The EMS Station on Eagle Rd and Main park entrance has large kiosks to show the park layout, maps, and rules.

The Carolina Thread Trail is a gravel conduit that runs through the middle of the park and provides access to each of the biking zones. It does have a loose surface, so use caution.

Euler's Way is a fun traditional single-cut trail that runs parallel to the Thread Trail with some fun jump features, bridges, and off-chamber corners. A fun segment on this trail is called "Beaver Run" which winds along the Rocky Branch Creek and has some faster rocky downhills and technical features. Euler's Way ends with a fairly long and technical climb, called "Power Line Climb" just before merging again with the Thread Trail. This is a point-to-point trail.

The Canopy Trail is a loop that has multiple features including skinny's, jumps, rock gardens, tabletops, large berms, drops, and transfers. It has been built as a green level trail with all of the features being optional. The goal of this zone is to introduce new riders to mountain biking with the trail being easy to ride, yet offer multiple more advanced features to skilled riders, so that everyone can enjoy the trail.

The trail starts with a climb running parallel with the creek to the top of the park. From the top, riders start the descent with multiple bermed corners and optional jumps and features. The trail then splits into two lines with one line having optional larger tabletops, jumps, and features. Both lines merge at the hub at the bottom, and riders can ride the trail again or continue to the next zone in the park. There is a bypass at the bottom of the trail which lets riders get to a small skills section on the lower split. This skills section has three variable height drops, a few berms, and jumps for bikers to session without having to ride to the top. This is a loop trail and the start and finish are next to each other.

The Boulder Trail is a roughly 1.1-mile loop that, like other trails in Rocky Branch Park, starts off the Rocky Branch Main Trail. The trail features multiple rock gardens, mandatory drops, jumps, berms, skinnies, and other man-made features. The trail splits into a short black and longer blue skill option, where the black section includes a mandatory 16" drop, smaller drops, skinny, and a unique rock feature called the "Devils Dominoes". The blue option has rock jumps, a small jump, and short downhill flow section of jumps and features before the optional black trail merges. The rest of the trail has multiple man-made features, rock gardens, skinnies, challenging climbs, drops, and a jump line. The jump line starts with a large man-made wooden platform, roughly 8 feet high. It has an optional berm ride under into three table tops, step-ups, step-downs and a large rock berm into a gap. This section of the trail can be sessioned thanks to a convenient shortcut.

The Eagle Trail is a point-to-point 0.6 mile green level, machine built flow trail. It has plenty of sweeping berms, table tops, jumps, skinny's, an advanced drop and other man made features. The trail starts at the Cramerton entrance of Rocky Branch Park (Eagle Road). The trail is one-way and riders will need to use the Rocky Branch Trail (Thread trail) to return to the start if they would like to ride it again.

The Legacy Trail is part of the existing singletrack trail before the park renovation, this 1.1-mile loop includes some mandatory and optional features and consists of drops, jumps, on intermediate and advanced technical singletrack. This is a point-to-point trail.

The Tarheel Trailblazers are currently fundraising for the fifth and final zone, which is the Ravine Trail, once funded will take approximately three months to build. Please see the Rocky Branch Park website for more details.