The Pisgah National Forest covers 1,076,711 acres across Western North Carolina. This large area includes tracts surrounding the town of Asheville and the French Broad River Valley. Recreational opportunities, including mountain biking, abound within its boundaries.
This forest is divided up into 4 ranger districts: Grandfather, Toecane, French Broad, and Pisgah. The Grandfather and Toecane Ranger Districts lie in the northern mountains of NC and include areas such as the Linville Gorge Wilderness, Wilson Creek, the watersheds of the Toe and Cane rivers, Roan Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens, and the trailhead Coleman Boundary. The French Broad Ranger District stretches along the NC-TN line from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park north to Hot Springs. A few trails, including Mill Ridge and Laurel River, are open to bikes in this district.
Many of the trails used for mountain biking, and the trailheads Bent Creek, Mills River, and Davidson River are located in the Pisgah Ranger District, which lies on either side of the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville, along the Pisgah Ridge and Balsam Mountains.
Choose a Pisgah National Forest trailhead from the list at the left for all the mountain biking information! Click here for information on trails outside of the trailheads in the list.
This section contains important information about signed, multi-use trails open to bikes in the National Forests. Please read before riding!
Trail names shown in the National Forest sections of the tables are official Forest Service names. Trails are usually signed at their beginning/end or at important intersections.
Trails are listed by name in alphabetical order within each section of the tables. I tend to describe them in the direction I happened to ride them.
There are three official trail difficulties: easy/easiest, more difficult, and most difficult. These can be deceiving, though; they're usually more difficult than listed since they're rated for hikers. I have added my own rating of "More Difficult Plus" to some trails (these are officially "More Difficult").
The "Numbers" for each trail may consist of the following:
A few trails are designated as "seasonal", meaning they are only open to bikes during the less crowded winter season. Seasonal use for bikes is from Oct. 15 to Apr. 15 only!
All singletrack trails are considered closed to bikes unless the bike symbol is shown on the trail sign and it is not crossed out with a red slash, as in the example to the left.
However, all gated gravel/dirt/logging/fire/forest roads (wide enough for vehicles) are considered open to mountain bike use, unless specifically posted otherwise.
