2 miles
Distance
11 ft
Climb
-436 ft
Descent
00:09:14
Avg time
Trail Supporters, Builders & Maintainers of Ridgeline Trail

Ridgeline Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
    • Horse
  • Riding Area
    Dupont State Forest
    Cedar Mountain, North Carolina
  • Difficulty Rating
    Blue rate
  • Hiking SAC Scale
    T2 Mountain Hiking
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Bike Type
    AM, XC
  • Trail Usage
    Multi-use
  • Direction
    Downhill Primary
    Popular direction shown
  • Climb Difficulty
    Blue
  • Physical Rating
    Moderate
  • Trail Visibility
    Always easy to follow
  • Family Friendly
    Yes
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • eBike Allowed
    No
  • TTFs on Trail
    Berm
  • Global Ranking
    #165 in Mountain Biking
  • Local Popularity
    100 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 75 in Trail Running
    • 75 in Hiking
    • 5 in Horseback
  • Land Manager
    NCFS

Ridgeline is a crown jewel of Dupont State Recreational Forest. For many mountain bikers and equestrians, this is their favorite trail or at least in their top three. This trail is known for its flow. While it has no real technical features to speak of since being redesigned, it is a lot of fun to ride this glassy smooth and generally well-bermed trail. From Lake Imaging Road it is a steady but not steep climb to the high point just before the intersection with Hooker Creek Trail. Then it is a gradual descent or flat on to the end of the trail at Hickory Mountain Road and Hickory Mountain Loop.
Sight lines are fantastic and the flow is amazing.

For the ultimate downhill blast, ride to the top of Hickory Mountain Loop, take a minute to catch your breath and prepare to smile all the way to the parking lot, barely needing to pedal. (Read the Trail Notes on Hickory Mountain Loop.)

Beginning mountain bikers need to have good speed control and braking skills before tackling this and many of the other trails at Dupont. Learn how to use that front brake correctly (it is 80% of your stopping power) and PLEASE don't skid that rear tire on our precious trails.

Local Trail Association
More Stats for Ridgeline bike trail
  • Altitude change
    -425 ft
  • Altitude min
    2,324 ft
  • Altitude max
    2,750 ft
  • Altitude start
    2,749 ft
  • Altitude end
    2,323 ft
  • Grade
    -5.1%
  • Grade max
    -24.4%
  • Grade min
    5.7%
  • Distance climb
    331 ft
  • Distance down
    1 miles
  • Distance flat
    568 ft
  • Avg time
    00:09:14
  • Avg reverse time
    00:16:58
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Aug 7, 2020
Wet
Avg: 4.85 (53 votes)

view (5,450)
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  • Layers  w
  • 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
ContributeDetails
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

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
  • Camping Camping
  • Cabin Cabin
  • Lodge Lodge
  • Bear Cache Bear Cache
  • Dock Dock
  • Ranger Station Ranger Station
  • Summit Summit
  • Other Other
      Directions to ridgeline-7343 trailhead (35.219140, -82.601390)
      update trails status or condition

      Ridgeline Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Aug 7, 2020 @ 7:19am
      2 days
      		 reporter
      Aug 5, 2020 @ 5:36am
      Aug 5, 2020
      		 reporter
      Aug 1, 2020 @ 6:51am
      Aug 1, 2020
      		 reporter Might be a hornet or wasp nest on one of switch backs before berm corner section.
      Jul 29, 2020 @ 6:51am
      Jul 29, 2020
      		 reporter Lots of wet spots and clogged drains
      Jul 17, 2020 @ 8:08am
      Jul 17, 2020
      		 reporter I scrubbed at least 3 corners but still got under 4min on DH
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 51 rides
      • 12 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 791 rides
      • 13 miles avg distance
      All
      • 3,059 rides
      •  

      Photos

      more »
      26 |
      Jul 23, 2020 @ 3:29pm
      Jul 23, 2020
      48 |
      Jul 11, 2020 @ 10:50am
      Jul 11, 2020
      43 |
      Jul 9, 2020 @ 8:26am
      Jul 9, 2020
      32 |
      Jul 9, 2020 @ 8:25am
      Jul 9, 2020

      Trail Lists

      Routes with this trail

      more »
      titleratingdistance
      Broomchaser
      		13 miles
      Taste of DuPont
      		18 miles
      Quick Dupont Loop
      		13 miles
      Best of DuPont - Updated 2019
      		13 miles

      Trail Products

      7 Reviews & Comments

      • + 1
      flag h-beck83 (Nov 11, 2015 at 18:53)
       This trail was recently overhauled from a bit on the technical side to very fast with berms and nice banks. Sad to see the old trail go but the new one is hella-fun.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      flag noravelp (Dec 4, 2017 at 18:31)
       during the recent trail maintenance performed by the forest service they removed the one and only TTF from Ridgeline. I'll miss my favorite part of the trail, the ridable log near the bottom.
      [Reply]
      • - 2
      flag LegitBiker9000 (Aug 11, 2018 at 12:40)
       Honestly a pretty lame trail, nothing difficult or necessarily fun. The peddle up is super easy, and the decent can be done by just about anyone. However, it is well maintained, and i do recommend it to anyone trying to learn how to ride their first downhill single track.
      [Reply]
      • - 3
      flag LegitBiker9000 (Aug 11, 2018 at 13:10)
       Defiantly an over hyped trail, with no challenges whatsoever, obviously what do you expect, it's the east coast
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag cleaverwrh (Nov 2, 2018 at 20:23)
       Not really that great. On a long weekend trip, rode in Pisgah first and all the trails there were way better than this one. I guess this might be an exciting trail for someone who doesn’t really ride trails.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      flag Dirt-pilot (Sep 24, 2019 at 4:43)
       If you are looking for a chunky steep challenge it’s not for you but if you want a super fun fast and flowy trail I’ve ridden all over the world and it doesn’t get much better.
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag aacrump (Jul 23, 2020 at 15:40)
       Super fun fast flow trail. Anybody from a complete beginner, all the way to a seasoned pro would have an amazing time on Ridgeline. There were some braking bumps when I rode it, but definitely nothing bad in comparison to bike park trails. Something else to look out for is some wildlife, as when I was riding on my first lap down, a black bear ran across the trail about 15 feet in front of me. I’m not sure how common this is, but it’s definitely something to look out for.
      [Reply]

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      Videos

      more »
      youtuber Dupont, NC: Ridgeline, Jim Branch, Hooker...
      6:22 | 596 | Jun 3, 2018 , Cedar Mountain
      youtuber Riding Down Ridgeline With a Unicorn Mounted...
      8:03 | 118 | Jun 14, 2020 , Cedar Mountain
      youtuber Dupont's Ridgeline | The king of flow
      6:49 | 835 | Feb 8, 2018 , Cedar Mountain
      youtuber Mountain Biking Ridgeline Trail / DuPont State...
      3:41 | 366 | Mar 19, 2017 , Cedar Mountain

      Nearby Trails

      Dupont State Forest

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