6 miles
Distance
1,266 ft
Climb
-1,268 ft
Descent
01:25:02
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
  • 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
    85 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
    -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
    01:25:02
  • Avg reverse time
    01:21:15
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Jan 30, 2021
Freeze/thaw Cycle
Avg: 4.65 (15 votes)

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  • Basemap 
  • 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
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
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  • less popular
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ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches

Radar Time
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
  • Boardwalk Boardwalk
  • 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
      Jan 30, 2021 @ 5:33pm
      Jan 30, 2021
      		 Tree down
      Jan 30, 2021 @ 7:05am
      Jan 30, 2021
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:15pm
      Dec 26, 2020
      Nov 3, 2020 @ 1:01pm
      Nov 3, 2020
      		 Broken wood/ttf structure
      Nov 3, 2020 @ 12:49pm
      Nov 3, 2020
      		 Small tree down across trail, can ride over or around but could be impalement/injury hazard.
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 0 rides
      •  
      6 Months
      • 186 rides
      • 12 miles avg distance
      All
      • 813 rides
      •  

      Technical Trail Features (TTF)

      Photos

      more »
      13 |
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:28pm
      Dec 26, 2020
      9 |
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:28pm
      Dec 26, 2020
      20 |
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:25pm
      Dec 26, 2020
      12 |
      Dec 26, 2020 @ 3:24pm
      Dec 26, 2020

      Routes with this trail

      titleratingdistance
      Fountainhead Full Tour
      		12 miles
      Fountainhead Black Loop
      		12 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]

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      Videos

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      Fountainhead Black Trail // VA MTB
      7:59 | 271 | Aug 16, 2020 , Springfield

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