1.1 miles

Distance

-563 ft

Descent

00:06:06

Avg time

Supporters, Builders, Maintainers & Land Managers of Black Mountain (Lower) Trail

Crankjoy
Sponsor
Cognative MTB
Sponsor

Details

Activities
- Mountain Bike
- Hike
- Trail Running
Riding Area

Pisgah Ranger District
Brevard, North Carolina
Ref Number

#127
Difficulty Rating

Black Diamond rate
Voted Difficulty

Black Diamond (3 votes)
Hiking SAC Scale

T2 Mountain Hiking
Trail Type

Singletrack
Bike Type

DH, AM
Direction

Both Directions
Popular direction shown
Climb Difficulty

Black Diamond
Physical Rating

Hard
Trail Visibility

Always easy to follow
Season

All
Dogs Allowed

Yes
eBike Allowed

No
TTFs on Trail

Berm, Bridge, Drop, Jump, Rock Garden
Global Ranking
#548 in Mountain Biking [+]
- #7681 in Trail Running
- #7744 in Hiking
Local Popularity
100 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 100 in Trail Running
- 80 in Hiking
Land Owner

USFS

Black Mountain Trail is split into 4 sections (Upper/Upper, Upper, Middle and Lower)

The lower section of Black Mountain Trail #127 is probably the most popular section of Black Mountain. From the intersection with Thrift Cove and Middle Black riders will enter into a fast flowing single track loaded with natural features that can be used for jumping and smaller drops.

Local Trail Association

Pisgah Area SORBA
Please consider joining or donating to the local trail association to support
trail development & maintenance.
donate to earn trail karma!

Traditionally Indigenous Territory

More Stats for Black Mountain Trail (Lower) multi-use trail trail

Altitude change

-563 ft
Altitude min

2,243 ft
Altitude max

2,807 ft
Altitude start

2,807 ft
Altitude end

2,244 ft
Grade

-9.6%
Grade max

-38.7%
Grade min

-2.5%
Distance down

1 mile
Avg time

00:06:06
Avg reverse time

00:22:31
view trail stats

Status:

on Feb 7, 2023

Ideal

Avg: 4.7 (52 votes)

Your vote: 0

view (10,039)

Directions to black-mountain-trail-lower trailhead (35.300190, -82.728460)

update trails status or condition

Black Mountain... Trail Reports

status	date	description
	Feb 7, 2023 @ 12:38am 2 days	HERO!
	Jan 28, 2023 @ 2:48am Jan 28, 2023	Thought this would be dryer. Shaded portion still had ice, wet, mud.
	Jan 24, 2023 @ 4:32am Jan 24, 2023	There was a lot of slippery clay/mud but very little standing water. Root section was dry.
	Jan 16, 2023 @ 11:33am Jan 16, 2023	Freeze thaw conditions. Sloppy with greasy mud at top and bottom. Avoid until FT is ovet
	Jan 16, 2023 @ 11:33am Jan 16, 2023

view all reports »

Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

Past Week

36 rides
14 miles avg distance

6 Months

1,710 rides
14 miles avg distance

All

9,437 rides
Last: Feb 8, 2023

Photos

65 |

Mar 28, 2022 @ 3:14pm

Mar 28, 2022

54 |

Mar 28, 2022 @ 3:13pm

Mar 28, 2022

1,594 |

Mar 5, 2014 @ 8:59am

Mar 5, 2014

951 |

Mar 5, 2014 @ 8:59am

Mar 5, 2014

| 1 comments

Trail Lists

Southern Trail Bucketlist
7 trails
NC trail checkoff list
150 trails
All of Pisgah area check list 2022
205 trails

Routes with this trail

title	distance
BikeTransylvania: Maxwell to Black Mountain trail	9 miles
#11- Clawhammer/Middle/Lower Black -Roam Fest East Crankjoy Route	9 miles
Bike Transylvania: Clawhammer Buckwheat, Bennett Gap	10 miles
Avery->Clawhammer->Maxwell->Middle->Lower->Grassy->Sycamore	11 miles

Trail Events

(1) past events on this trail

11 Reviews & Comments

Score Time Post Comment

BennetgapBen

(Sep 18, 2022 at 15:56)

Great fun on my specialized turbo levo e bike

[Reply]

Roost66

(Jul 2, 2022 at 6:28)

Very nice and flowy, best of all the Black mtn trails.

Ride up the gravel road, nice climb and all downhill from the top.

[Reply]

steelispossiblyreal

(May 7, 2022 at 21:22)

This is one of the best trails I’ve ever ridden. Perfect combo of chunk and flow. Great little jumps. Big berms with sick wall rides. If you’ve only got a quick lap in you this is the move.

[Reply]

yoimaninja (Sep 8, 2020 at 6:35)

Black Mountain LOWER was probably the best DH ride of my life! ...Black Mountain UPPER was probably the worst climb of my life!

[Reply]

pistol2ne

(Aug 2, 2020 at 13:24)

Everyone pretty much nailed it. Upper is tough as shit. Hike a bike and need to be on it. The bottom is sooooooooooo much better than Upper. Heed the warnings unlike this west coast kook.

[Reply]

HenryCoat (Jul 26, 2020 at 12:33)

We started at Club Gap and rode down all of black mountain from there. Overall this route is not worth doing. The reworked upper black is only worth doing backwards (easy to west) which is well built specifically for that direction. The two mile climb on Middle Black is 95% hike a bike unless you have mad trails skills in which it would be 90% hike a bike. The middle black downhill was ok but not worth the climb. If you start where it intersects with turkeypen gap or turkey creek road, you’ll have a blast. The lower section has the perfect combination of tech and flow.

Summary: ride upper black East to west. Don’t mess around with middle black. And lower black is awesome.

[Reply]

Sstephns

(Nov 24, 2019 at 12:05)

Bring some good travel and hang on. Hike a bike for a mile if you go claw hammer and do upper. Comments below are trash, this trail is fun. Go full tilt and don't look back.

[Reply]

imalikyoaz (Sep 10, 2019 at 10:44)

Climb up the gravel road, and turn right or die. Upper black is horribly awful. Middle is great for a full suspension, still very technical, lower was the most fun on my hardtail, but the hike a bike to upper pretty much ruined it. Don't go up to upper black, it's a piece of eroded trash.

[Reply]

0ldd0c (Oct 15, 2018 at 13:47)

We began at Club Gap and had to walk/ carry our bikes up a very steep, washed out 4 mile climb that was not rideable (unless you’re on a motocross bike). Then the downhill with equally washed out trail to rattle your mind and bike. Our advice, don’t start at Club Gap if you want to ride and not carry your bike

[Reply]

LegitBiker9000 (Aug 11, 2018 at 12:48)

We started up from club gap, which in its self, quite a challenging climb. To be honest the trail is fairly technical, but eases out on the bottom half with the rock gardens. I usually ride out west, so i find the east coast to be really lame. But to any advanced rider looking to shred something somewhat challenging, I'd suggest this trail. It also has a great loop. Don't even think about climbing up this trail

[Reply]

Pgerm

(Feb 21, 2018 at 8:00)

I began the trail with Club Gap to Black Mtn.... Whoa what a kick in the balls. I wasn't prepared for the nearly 2 hrs of hiking my bike up a mountain. The downhill was real chunky with big rocks and big drops. Scetchy as hell, but awesome. Really tested the limits of me and my bike. About 1/2 way down the trail transformed into a fast, fun, and flowy route with berms and jumps. Next time I'll skip the hike a bike and probably try to meet up where the flow starts near thrift cove trail