6 miles
Distance
1,266 ft
Climb
-1,268 ft
Descent
01:22:53
Avg time

Black Loop Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
  • Riding Area
    Fountainhead
    Springfield, Virginia
  • Difficulty Rating
    Black Diamond rate
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Trail Usage
    Biking Only
  • Direction
    One Direction
    Popular direction shown
  • Climb Difficulty
    Blue
  • Physical Rating
    Moderate
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • TTFs on Trail
    A-Frame, Berm, Bridge, Drop, Jump, Log Ride, Rock Garden, Skinny
  • Global Ranking
    #2872 in Mountain Biking
  • Local Popularity
    90 in Mountain Biking

This is the hardest of the loops at Fountainhead. The trail is mostly more of a harder blue with several obstacles that really earn the black diamond rating. The start doesn't hold back with a hard rock climb from the blue trail. From there it eases off for a while. You'll have real fun flowy sections with short climbs and man-made rock gardens thrown in for good measure.
Later in the trail is when it starts to get real. I think it was around mile marker 6, that the drops start. While some of them are small and could be done by most intermediate riders, they get bigger as they go. I think the biggest is about a 6 foot vertical drop. So if you don't feel confident on medium/large drops, you'll want to scope them first. If you are comfortable, then most are pretty mellow, however one has a short landing that took me by surprise. So don't just bomb off them.
After the drop section there's a few more gnar parts, including one pretty rowdy rock garden. When you hit the little A-frame wooden features, you're coming up to it. Just know, it's going to get rocky and chunky.
The end of the trail has an easy and harder route, with the harder ending in a fun and wild decent with rocks and drops everywhere.
If you're an intermediate looking for some harder terrain, give this a go. You can easily go around the hard sections and the rest of the trail is pretty much a blue. Just keep in mind the full loop is around 12 miles.

Local Trail Association
More Stats for Black Loop bike trail
  • Altitude change
    -3 ft
  • Altitude min
    123 ft
  • Altitude max
    266 ft
  • Altitude start
    127 ft
  • Altitude end
    124 ft
  • Grade
    -0.009%
  • Grade max
    -26.584%
  • Grade min
    26.226%
  • Distance climb
    3 miles
  • Distance down
    3 miles
  • Distance flat
    3,221 ft
  • Avg time
    01:22:53
  • Avg reverse time
    00:20:31
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Dec 15, 2019
Variable
Avg: 4.65 (12 votes)

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  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail 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%
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
ContributeDetails
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

LEGEND
Trail Difficulties
  • Access Road/Trail
  • White
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Black
  • Double Black Diamond

Trail Report Status
  • Clear / Green
  • Minor Issue / Yellow
  • Significant Issue / Amber
  • Closed

  • Land Owner Overlay
  • Wilderness (typically no bikes in USA)
  • BLM (public)
  • USFS (Wildlife sanctuaries darker than usfs)
  • State land
  • Indigenous
  • Military
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
  • Map Markers
  • trail Trail Head
  • photo Photo
  • place Directory Listing
  • region Riding Area
  • TTF TTF
  • Parking Parking
  • Viewpoint Viewpoint
  • Information Information
  • Warning Warning
  • Directions Directions
  • Sight Sight
  • Restrooms Restrooms
  • eBike Charging Point eBike Charging Point
  • Water Fountain/Source Water Fountain/Source
  • Gate Gate
  • Trail Sign Trail Sign
  • Table or Bench Table or Bench
  • Ladder Ladder
  • Stairs Stairs
  • Bridge Bridge
  • Camping Camping
  • Cabin Cabin
  • Lodge Lodge
  • Bear Cache Bear Cache
  • Dock Dock
  • Ranger Station Ranger Station
  • Summit Summit
  • Other Other
      Directions to black-loop-40876 trailhead (38.718160, -77.324500)
      update trails status or condition

      Black Loop Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Dec 15, 2019 @ 8:08am
      Dec 15, 2019
      Dec 7, 2019 @ 6:40am
      Dec 7, 2019
      Oct 9, 2019 @ 9:23am
      Oct 9, 2019
      May 17, 2019 @ 7:42am
      May 17, 2019
      		 Loose over packed and full on East coast riding...
      Oct 7, 2018 @ 6:06am
      Oct 7, 2018
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 1 rides
      • 15 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 125 rides
      • 12 miles avg distance
      All
      • 267 rides
      •  

      Photos

      more »
      38 |
      Nov 6, 2019 @ 4:21pm
      Nov 6, 2019
      35 |
      Nov 6, 2019 @ 4:21pm
      Nov 6, 2019
      41 |
      Nov 6, 2019 @ 4:20pm
      Nov 6, 2019
      37 |
      Nov 6, 2019 @ 4:20pm
      Nov 6, 2019

      Routes with this trail

      titleratingdistance
      Fountainhead Black Loop
      		12 miles

      Reviews / Comments

      No reviews yet, be the first to write a review or ask a question.
      Use trail reports to comment on trail conditions.


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