6.3 miles
Distance
836 ft
Climb
-840 ft
Descent
01:25:04
Avg time

Black Loop Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
  • Riding Area
    Fountainhead
    Springfield, Virginia
  • Difficulty Rating
    Black Diamond rate
  • Voted Difficulty
    Double Black Diamond (2 votes)
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • 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
    #4739 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
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for Black Loop mountain bike trail trail
  • Altitude change
    -4 ft
  • Altitude min
    124 ft
  • Altitude max
    263 ft
  • Altitude start
    129 ft
  • Altitude end
    125 ft
  • Grade
    -0%
  • Grade max
    -21.6%
  • Grade min
    22.2%
  • Distance climb
    3 miles
  • Distance down
    3 miles
  • Distance flat
    4,961 ft
  • Avg time
    01:25:04
  • Avg reverse time
    01:20:01
  • view trail stats
Status:
on May 10, 2022
Dry
Avg: 4.6 (17 votes)

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  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Inadequate
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
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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
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  • < 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
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  • 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.
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ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
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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
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where riders jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
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      Directions to black-loop-40876 trailhead (38.718160, -77.324500)
      update trails status or condition

      Black Loop Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      May 10, 2022 @ 10:10am
      May 10, 2022
      		 Big tree 18”
      May 10, 2022 @ 9:23am
      May 10, 2022
      		 Little tree
      Apr 15, 2022 @ 2:02pm
      Apr 15, 2022
      		 Trail section braided (multiple alt lines) . Erosion worsening
      Apr 15, 2022 @ 1:56pm
      Apr 15, 2022
      		 Minor erosion (trail braiding, small ruts developing, brake bumps)
      Apr 11, 2022 @ 1:53pm
      Apr 11, 2022
      Small tree down across trail, can navigate over or around
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 5 rides
      • 13 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 139 rides
      • 14 miles avg distance
      All
      • 1,541 rides
      •  

      Technical Trail Features (TTF)

      Photos

      more »
      28 |
      Mar 21, 2022 @ 4:23pm
      Mar 21, 2022
      93 |
      Jul 12, 2021 @ 1:39pm
      Jul 12, 2021
      53 |
      May 26, 2021 @ 7:43am
      May 26, 2021
      107 |
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:28pm
      Dec 26, 2020

      Trail Lists

      Routes with this trail

      titledistance
      Fountainhead Full Tour12 miles
      Fountainhead Black Loop12 miles

      1 Review & Comments

      • + 0
      MaxCatMDWV (Oct 28, 2020 at 3:53)
       Bridge B8 is down hard near MM7.5 due to tree fall. Ride around detour to the right requiring Blue skills. Park staff and MORE trail liaisons are aware and working on resolution. No immediate plans for rebuild ($).
      [Reply]





      Videos

      more »
      Fountainhead Feb 12 2022
      16:21 | 16 | May 4, 2022 , Springfield
      Fountainhead Black Trail // VA MTB
      7:59 | 632 | Aug 16, 2020 , Springfield
      Just the drops on FH Black non GoPro views
      176 | May 27, 2021 , Springfield

      Nearby Trails

      Fountainhead

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