2.7 miles
Distance
39 ft
Climb
-962 ft
Descent
00:13:47
Avg time
Supporters, Builders, Maintainers & Land Managers of Dowell's Draft Trail

  • USFS
    Land Manager

Dowell's Draft Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
  • Riding Area
    National Forest Trails West of Harrisonburg
    Staunton, Virginia
  • Difficulty Rating
    Blue rate
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Direction
    Downhill Primary
    Popular direction shown
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • Global Ranking
    #50836 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • #39218 in Trail Running
    • #57957 in Hiking
  • Local Popularity
    75 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 75 in Trail Running
    • 5 in Hiking

Dowells descends from the top of the Hankey Mountain Summit and starts off with a few quick descents followed up short punchy climbs. After the first mile or so, the trail starts to descend consistently with a few rocks to navigate and a few switch backs to keep you on our toes. As you descend further past the intersection with the Wild Oak Trail (stay left) things gets more narrow and fast with tight off camber root sections with a few more switchbacks thrown in to keep things interesting. The lower you go, the faster things get until the trail terminates onto a fire road at out toward the Braley Pond picnic and lake area to the left or head right to pedal the road and gravel back toward the intersection with the lower side of the Wild Oak Trail you passed up top or continue on toward Elkhorn Lake.

Local Trail Association
Traditionally Indigenous Territory
More Stats for Dowell's Draft mountain bike trail trail
  • Altitude change
    -923 ft
  • Altitude min
    2,035 ft
  • Altitude max
    2,957 ft
  • Altitude start
    2,957 ft
  • Altitude end
    2,035 ft
  • Grade
    -6.471%
  • Grade max
    -30.006%
  • Grade min
    9.161%
  • Distance climb
    1,171 ft
  • Distance down
    2 miles
  • Avg time
    00:13:47
  • Avg reverse time
    00:43:13
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Aug 21, 2024
Dry
Avg: 3.99 (7 votes)
Your vote: 0

view (831)
close
  • BasemapMap 
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
    • Pro
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Partial
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (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%
  • bi-directional trail
  • no data
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
  • popular
  • less popular
  • not popular
ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches
US Cell Coverage
Legend
cell carrier legend

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
  • Snowmobile
Winter Trails
Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.
x Missing Trails
Most Popular
Least Popular
Trails are colored based on popularity. The more popular a trail is, the more red. Less popular trails trend towards green.
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where riders jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
Trails Deemphasized
Trails are shown in grey.
disable
Only show trails with NO bikes.
enable

Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.

Save
      Directions to dowell-s-draft-58660 trailhead (38.308700, -79.268180)
      update trails status or condition

      Dowell's Draft Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Aug 21, 2024 @ 1:03pm
      Aug 21, 2024
      		 Dry and dusty
      Apr 9, 2023 @ 9:28am
      Apr 9, 2023
      Mar 30, 2023 @ 10:24am
      Mar 30, 2023
      Dec 11, 2022 @ 9:52am
      Dec 11, 2022
      		 Loads of wet leaves.
      Jul 30, 2022 @ 9:06pm
      Jul 30, 2022
      		 Large tree down across trail, blocking trail 2 trees just above the Magic Moss junction. 1 tree near the bottom, right in the little drainage...
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 0 rides
      •  
      6 Months
      • 7 rides
      • 20 miles avg distance
      All
      • 53 rides
      • Last: Nov 23, 2024

      Photos

      more »
      560 |
      Sep 13, 2016 @ 10:16pm
      Sep 13, 2016
      698 |
      Sep 13, 2016 @ 10:18pm
      Sep 13, 2016
      117 |
      Oct 1, 2020 @ 5:17am
      Oct 1, 2020
      416 |
      Sep 13, 2016 @ 10:10pm
      Sep 13, 2016

      Routes with this trail

      more »
      titledistance
      RockStar TRAIL Route269 miles
      Shenandoah Mountain 100K Plus Bridge Hollow70 miles
      Shenandoah Mountain 100K60 miles
      Hburg351 miles

      Trail Events

      (1) past events on this trail

      6 Reviews & Comments


      We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!

      Create a FREE account to view trail comments and much more.

      Create a Free Account

      Videos

      more »
      George Washington National Forest DH
      0:21 | 185 | Oct 8, 2021 , Staunton
      Mountain Biking Dowells Draft - Full Trail -...
      28:06 | 389 | Aug 24, 2020 , Staunton
      Mountain Biking Dowells Draft, Death Climb,...
      29:29 | 208 | Aug 15, 2020 , Staunton

      Nearby Trails

      National Forest Trails West of Harrisonburg

      You must enter a description before submitting.