8.2 miles
Distance
986 ft
Climb
-985 ft
Descent
1,150 ft
High Point

This loop starts with a Red Road lung buster before getting to the fun stuff headed down Thunder and Lightning. After that is a scenic spin back to the parking lot on Garrett's Gulch, The Chimneys, and Cat Dog Snake. Best ridden clockwise.

Detailed Description
Thunder and Lightning Loop (Short) is a 8 mile popular expert route located near Pelham Alabama. This mountain bike only route. This route includes 9 trails. This route climbs 986 ft with a max elevation of 1,150 ft then descends -985 ft.
Local Trail Association
Local trail association
Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers (bump.org)
Please consider joining or donating to the local riding association to support trail development & maintenance.
donate to earn trail karma!

35 Reviews & Comments


We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!

Create a FREE account to view route comments and much more.

Trails in Route

Red Road3 miles
Thunder2 miles
Lightning351 ft
Group Camp Road289 ft
Lightning3,228 ft
Garrett's Gulch4,885 ft
The Chimneys4,219 ft
Cat Dog Snake1 mile
Red Road256 ft

Details

  • Riding area
  • Primary Activity
    Mountain Bike
  • Difficulty rating
    Black Diamond
  • Bike type
    AM, XC
  • Ridelogs
    124
More Stats for Thunder and Lightning Loop (Short) mountain bike route
  • Avg time
    1 hr 33 min
  • Altitude change
    1 ft
  • Altitude min
    531 ft
  • Altitude start
    598 ft
  • Altitude end
    600 ft
  • Grade max
    -36.5%
  • Grade min
    30.9%
  • Distance climb
    4 miles
  • Distance down
    3 miles
  • Distance flat
    3,501 ft
Avg: 5 (1 votes)
close
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Partial
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
  • > 96%
  • > 90%
  • > 80%
  • > 70%
  • > 50%
  • < 50%
  • bi-directional trail
  • no data
Trail Last Ridden
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
  • < 2 days
  • < 1 week
  • < 2 weeks
  • < 1 month
  • < 6 months
  • > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
Contribute Details
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
  • Description
  • Photos
  • Description & Photos
  • Videos
Trail Popularity ?
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.
  • most popular
  • popular
  • less popular
  • not popular
ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches
US Cell Coverage
Legend
cell carrier legend

Radar Time
x Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.
  • mountain biking recent
  • mountain biking (>6 month)
  • hiking (1 year)
  • moto (1 year)
Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public skilogs from the past 12 months.
  • Downhill Ski
  • Backcountry Ski
  • Nordic Ski
  • Snowmobile
Winter Trails
Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.
x Missing Trails
Most Popular
Least Popular
Trails are colored based on popularity. The more popular a trail is, the more red. Less popular trails trend towards green.
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where riders jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
Trails Deemphasized
Trails are shown in grey.
disable
Only show trails with NO bikes.
enable

Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.

Save
Trail transparency
22
15
15
23
First drop in years.
First drop in years.
trail: Lightning
0:16 | 1210 | comments: 0 | favs:
Aug 29, 2017
My first "big" huck in five years.
oak mtn lightning trail
oak mtn lightning trail
trail: Lightning
2:38 | 1163 | comments: 9 | favs:
Nov 1, 2012
me & Chris rippin

Recent Trail Reports Along Route

statustraildateconditiondescription
Red Road
Feb 16, 2025 @ 12:42pm
2 days
Billy goat gruff bridge reporter
Lightning
Feb 2, 2025 @ 6:40pm
Feb 2, 2025
Thunder
Jan 25, 2025 @ 7:52am
Jan 25, 2025
Tree down at the top of the enduro entrance (off the white trail)
Group Camp Road
Jun 19, 2024 @ 7:53am
Jun 19, 2024
Cat Dog Snake
Jun 19, 2024 @ 7:53am
Jun 19, 2024
more reports »
  • By nlindsay3TF Pro & contributors
  • #16382 - 2,528 views