Farlow Gap

This trail is very difficult. Don't let the first 100 feet of beautiful flowy trail throw you off. Immediately after that you are thrown into doubletrack absolutely positively covered in large rocks. Expect regular 1 1/2 to 2 foot drops accompanied by some extremely difficult stream crossings and a few brutal climbs. However, once you make it through the climbs you are treated to some awesome riding that is slightly less technical and can definitely be ridden. Enjoy!

Technical Pisgah trail riding at its finest. It takes some time to get to the descent and you'll probably be wondering, "Are we there yet?" Well, you'll know once you get to Farlow. The top of the descent is gnarly. There is a ton of rock here. A couple of rock drop opportunities, so look before you leap! Sadly, it's not all downhill though. There are some short, nearly impossible climbs, unless you're an immensely talented rider. Eventually it links up with Daniels Ridge for even more fun.

Farlow gap is primarily a downhill trail. To get to the top you take a looong gravel road that turns into doubletrack and finally to singletrack for the last bit. Therefore the climb isn't too bad as long as you're in good shape. Farlow gap begins with a steep rideable descent which can mislead you to thinking this as do-able and then BAM you hit the massive STEEP rock garden. Be very careful. I kept trying to ride through the rock garden failing everytime until I endo'd hard hurting myself and busting my derailleur cage. It's kind of frustrating because you think you can ride it but your front wheel will continue to get stuck and send you off. So unless you have mad skill and good medical insurance it's probably best to walk the rock garden. After that there are creek crossings and few other drops that will make you get off your bike making this downhill time consuming. Then you get a short climb before a fun quick decent back to daniel's ridge. Definately the hardest trail in Pisgah, like a much gnarlier version of Pilot Rock.

Rode this trail for the first time last Sunday, starting from the Fish Hatchery. The climb up was rough. From where I started it was partially paved road and mostly dirt road. SR 229 was rocky and rutted out and was certainly the hardest part of the climb. I consider my skill level on a mountain bike to be "intermediate" and a good portion of the Farlow Gap trail itself was beyond my abilities. There was a good bit of hike a bike for me on the way down. Some of the obstacles and creek crossings seemed so difficult that even the most expert riders would have to walk a little. This ride was fun and challenging, but just make sure you have the endurance to do a ton of climbing and the skill level to handle a lot of technical downhill if you choose to ride here. Oh, one cool part is the Daniel Ridge waterfall near the bottom. I was sweating like a prostitute in church at the bottom and it was really nice to stick my head under that waterfall.

There are three other great loops in this area that are part of the Swank 65 race. They all can be started and/or ended at the Daniel Ridge trailhead. Farlow Gap is definitely the toughest climb and decent in that area. A good workout is to start at Daniel Ridge trailhead and ride up and do Butter Gap/Long Branch then ride back up and over Farlow. Whew!