6 miles
Distance
1,266 ft
Climb
-1,268 ft
Descent
01:16:23
Avg time

Black Loop Details

  • 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
  • TTFs on Trail
    A-Frame, Berm, Bridge, Drop, Jump, Log Ride, Rock Garden, Skinny
  • Global Ranking
    #2872 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
    01:16:23
  • Avg reverse time
    00:20:31
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Oct 7, 2018
Dry
Avg: 4.85 (6 votes)

view (262)
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  • Layers  w
  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type 
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
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 or Major Issue / Red

  • 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 Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • 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
  • Water Fountain/Source Water Fountain/Source
  • Sight Sight
  • Restrooms Restrooms
  • Gate Gate
  • Camping Camping
  • Trail Sign Trail Sign
  • Table or Bench Table or Bench
  • Other Other
Directions to black-loop-40876 trailhead (38.718160, -77.324500)
update trails status or condition

Black Loop Trail Reports

datedescription
Oct 7, 2018 @ 6:06am
Oct 7, 2018
Jul 14, 2018 @ 5:22am
Jul 14, 2018
Jul 7, 2018 @ 1:30pm
Jul 7, 2018
Oct 28, 2017 @ 9:36am
Oct 28, 2017
Jul 20, 2017 @ 2:11am
Jul 20, 2017
 Tree across trail to detour around.
view all reports »

Photos

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Routes with this trail

titleratingdistance
Fountainhead Black Loop
12 miles

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Nearby Trails

Fountainhead

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