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Tags:
Level: Advanced
Length: 5.3 mi (8.5 km)
Surface: Singletrack
Configuration: Out & Back
Elevation: +575/ -177 ft
Total: 55 riders
Mountain Biking Turkeypen Gap / 131
#167 of 549 mountain bike trails in North Carolina
This trail is incredibly tough, steep, rocky, and contains drastic changes in elevation. There are a handful of hike-a-bikes, but the downhill at the end is totally worth it.
The first 6 miles you will climb roughly 1500 feet until you get to the Black Mountain trail intersection. Don't let this climb dishearten you, it gets much better.
Turn around and get ready for a rough, rowdy descent!
First added by theish on Jan 22, 2012. Last updated Apr 28, 2020. → add an update
Before you go
- Drinking water: unknown
- Lift service: unknown
- Night riding: unknown
- Pump track: unknown
- Restrooms: unknown
- Fat bike grooming: unknown
- E-bikes allowed: unknown
- Fee required: unknown
This trail information is user-generated. Help improve this information by suggesting a correction.
This trail starts out just north of Brevard, and about 40 minutes south of Asheville. Get to highway 280 and look for Turkeypen Road. If coming from Asheville, its the dirt road just after the Bolyston Creek Church. Drive all the way up the Turkeypen road until you reach the parking lot. The trailhead is straight up the hill on the left (as you come in). If you are climbing up a steep slope immediately, you found the right trail.
A short blast of a trail.
| ThankWhile the loop described above includes Turkeypen Gap, Black Mt, Thrift Cove, and some road riding (both gravel and paved) I am going to focus this review on Turkeypen Gap as I feel like the Black Mt downhill ride has been well covered and no one really wants to read about road riding. Turkeypen Gap was everything mentioned in the description above and worse: rooted, washed out, steep as can be, overgrown, and unrelenting. In either direction, this trail will work you. Riding it downhill is almost as hard as riding it uphill; you'll just exhaust different muscles. I had to rest a couple times to kill the forearm pump. In either direction you get a fair share of hike a bike uphill sections. The majority of the trail gets washed out each time it rains and has become VERY rugged over the years. It has the steepness and pucker factor of Pilot
| ThankRock but is even more punishing on your body and a bit less enjoyable, IMO. Plants have certainly taken over and there is no way to avoid getting slapped around by branches and thorns at regular intervals. With a bit of maintenance (at the very least a good pruning) this trail could be a lot more fun and a lot less physically punishing. If you like getting worked in Pisgah, this will be your trail.