Land Of Waterfalls

Over my five day weekend, the family and I wanted an all day cycling adventure. We felt like the best way to do that was to head to the Dupont State Forest in Western North Carolina. With miles of fun singletrack, mountain views, and even waterfalls, it was the right decision.


The trail starts out with a little climbing, end you end up at a creek crossing (the photo above.) The current is too fast and the bottom is too slippery to ride across (although I’ve seen it done once), so we walked our bikes through it. The cold water felt good on our feet since it was a pretty warm day.


Lunchbox was happy to be on the other side and not down the creek without a paddle.

We rode some more singletrack, and I noticed that things have changed a bit since I was there last. Someone has been putting in a ton of work out there, and the conditions were much improved. The trail has been made more sustainable, which hopefully will keep people coming back for more. After riding for a while, we came up to the first of many waterfalls on our journey.

Lunchbox loves coming out here, because you can’t see stuff like this here locally.

Little Miss Sunshine did her best “wilderness pose”, enjoying every minute of our day.

She even made the kid and I get into this cave thingy:

Next up, we did a little gravel road climbing. The goal was to get to a trail called Airstrip, which does, in fact, lead to an airstrip on the top of the mountain. Instead of climbing up the gravel road and bombing down the singletrack though, we decided to climb up the trail. It wasn’t bad, since it had also been reworked.


We made it to the top, and the reward was a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. Lunchbox uses views like this to remind himself why we ride bikes in the mountains.

After making it to the top and taking in the views, we turned right back around and rode the now downhill Airstrip trail. It was fast, full of jumps, and basically a shitload of fun. I hauled ass to the bottom with just enough time to watch the little lady hit the final turn.

After that, the plan was to see some more waterfalls. We headed over to High Falls, which only took a few minutes on a gravel road. We reached the top and took a peek over the edge.

Then we took a ride to the bottom, where the view was much better.

In all, it was a great day for riding. No one crashed, and we all had a really fun time. We even bumped into many folks from our neck of the woods while we were out there. It’s a small world (in the cycling community anyway.)


When it was time to go, we decided to hit up a local place that I’ve never been, but Little Miss Sunshine has.

The Hub, which is a bike shop/tavern (the best combination), is a local mecca for weary mountain bikers in the area. They have a nice shop, and quite a few beers on tap (and in cans and bottles.) As a bonus, there was a bike demo going on there.

Notice that Lunchbox is always pimping Bike29. He’s such a good kid.

Anyway, Mike from Niner happened to be there, and we hung out with him and his family for a little while. We even helped tear down (a little bit anyway), and joined him and some locals for a beer or two. When we closed down the place, we headed over to a well-known Mexican restaurant up the road to get our grub on.

I think this was the best day ever.

Yeah, We’re Still In The Mountains

When I left off yesterday, my crew (consisting of myself, The Dirty Party Cycle, and Lunchbox) were on the airstrip, which pretty much felt like the top of the world. The long climb we had to get there was worth it for the view alone, but there was plenty more. The actual “Airstrip” trail was next, and it was a long, twisty downhill section that made us all pucker up a little. The trail was a little slick with leaves and such, but we still had a blast hauling ass down this fun trail. When we got to the bottom, the sign told us what we just rode:



After consulting the map, we found the quickest way to our next destination, via the Corn Mill Shoals Trail. This particular trail has become part of the usual route for me in my many visits to the DuPont State Forest, so it was a welcome sight. After a little up and down action, we arrived at our destination, Bridal Veil Falls:


Here’s The Dirty Party Cycle chatting it up with a couple of hikers.


After a few moments on the observation deck, we headed down the gravel path to park our bikes:




We walked up to the falls, and we all just took it in. We had started munching on trail mix at this point for a little extra energy, when all of a sudden The Dirty Party Cycle just took off up to the top. We must have purchased different kinds of trail mix, because Lunchbox and I didn’t get that tremendous burst of energy that had befallen the DPC. He almost ran to the top, and we could barely keep up. I guess he was pretty excited to see the falls:



When we finally caught up, he wanted a closer look at this marvel of nature:





Lunchbox joined in, and they both enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the falling water:



It was cold though. Really cold. The sun was starting to go down, which made the temps feel a lot worse. Some of the water on the giant rock formation was still a little frozen too:





Even though we were getting a little chilly, the views were worth it. Watching the water rush down the rock made me remember why I wanted to take this trip in the first place. I just wanted to get away from it all for a while, and DuPont is the perfect place to do that.



We hung out there for as long as we could, but it was soon time to get back. The rest of the trail was fast and fun (aside from a few tough climbs, but those were fun too.) I jumped out in front at one point to catch a photo of Lunchbox enjoying his newly built bicycle:



We made it back to the trailhead with plenty of time to spare, but now we were on a different menu. We packed up our shit and made our way to Asheville for some awesome Mexican cuisine at our favorite spot, Papa’s & Beer. I was starving, so I ordered a big ol’ plate of slop:



Lunchbox and The DPC were chowing down too:



I even got to enjoy a big ass glass of Highland Brewing Company’s Gaelic Ale. Mmmm.



Yup, just what I needed. A great ride with some good people on some awesome trails was just what the doctor would have ordered (if I went to a doctor for such a thing.) I’m not getting the kind of saddle time I’d like to lately, so this kind of made up for it a little. Winter is fast approaching here in North Carolina, so I don’t know if we can do a repeat trip out there anytime soon. I hope so, for my sanity’s sake. I sure as shit don’t want to start putting in miles on the trainer just yet.

Finished The Ride

When I left off yesterday, I had my trusty map in hand as we decided which way to go. Sure, we were out there to ride bikes, but we thought it would be a much better experience if we tried to see a few more waterfalls. We planned the route, hoping to stay safe on the trail:



As we left Bridal Veil Falls, we headed up a fireroad to our next destination. The ride was nice, even though it wasn’t singletrack. We saw some nice sights on the way, including this little river:



We continued on, and briefly considered hitting some of the optional trails that looped off of the fireroad. We decided not too though, because we really had no idea how much riding we would have to do to get to the next waterfall. Suddenly though, a beautiful covered bridge appeared in the distance:



This bridge crossed another river, and it happened to be at the top of High Falls. We peered over the side and took a look:




This looked like a good stopping point, so parked our bikes and hung out for a while. Little Miss Sunshine gulped down some water and I caught her in the act:



She quickly grabbed the camera and caught Lunchbox and I looking over the falls:



I regained control of the camera and took this Awesome photo of my bike with my new Cane Creek sticker:



It looks like my bike was holding up, so we decided to head down to the bottom of the falls for a closer look. Here’s what we saw:



You can actually go down to the bottom of the falls, but we opted not to since the bikes would be unsecured. Next time we’ll bring a bike lock. Anyway, we hopped back on the road and we were in for a treat. Even though it was still fire roads, it was swooping, super-fast downhill action. We all flew down the hill to the next stop. Right up the road was the next waterfall. Triple Falls, as I recall:



We stayed there for a while, just taking it all in. I’ve never seen this much beauty on a mountain bike ride before, and I was happy. Lunchbox was enjoying it too, because he just plopped down on a pile of rocks to stare at this natural wonder:



Little Miss Sunshine snagged some passers-by to have them take a group photo, but I guess I wasn’t ready:



Did I mention that we were there to ride mountain bikes? Well, we did get some actual trail riding in. The waterfalls were incredible, and so was the actual trail. We hit a few things on the way back to the parking lot.

Someone left a nice log on the trail for me to ride:



Little Miss Sunshine decided to show off her climbing skills:



Not to be outdone, Lunchbox saw a rock that he wanted to ride over:



We capped off our day by hitting up the best Mexican restaurant in the area, Papa’s and Beer:



While the food was indeed awesome, it was the beer that I found the most refreshing:



What a great day. DuPont is absolutely my favorite place to ride now, and I can’t wait to go back again. I’m pretty sure the rest of the family will be asking to go again soon too. Hey, Dirty Party Cycle, you in? I hope you don’t miss the next trip out there, which will be very soon I might add. Also, any of you other locals that want to plan a trip out there, just let me know. I’ve got the fever for sure. The only cure? More waterfalls. Later.

Continuing The Journey

If you've been following along, then you know we just completed a fun, yet difficult ride. After tackling the trails at Kitsuma, Mr. Shepherd, The Dirty Party Cycle, and I all headed over to the hip little city of Asheville, North Carolina to grab some grub. We hit up my favorite place to eat over there, Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria. After some choice hoppy beverages and a monster sundried tomato and mushroom calzone, I was ready to ride again.


Mmmmmmm.

After our meal, we had one more stop before the next trail. We headed down the road a few miles to see my peeps over at Cane Creek Cycling Components. It was similar to my last visit over there, but this time I brought along the DPC and Mr. Shepherd. I picked up the “special” phone at the front desk, but the operator never answered. I started to worry that we might not get in. After a few minutes, a nice lady walked up and asked if she could help me. I told her who we were, and she disappeared into the back to get my good pal Jason. He greeted us and asked if we wanted “the tour.” We replied that we did, and he proceeded to show us around the facility. Even though I’ve been through there before, I was just as excited as the last time. Jason took time out of his busy day to show the B-43 team around, and we were much obliged. After the tour, we mentioned that we were headed over to ride one of the local trails, Bent Creek. He gave us the info and we were on our way.


When we arrived at Bent Creek a short while later (after a short stop at a local bike shop for a map), and we were ready to go. It would prove to be much like the start of the trail at Kitsuma (a long, gravel fireroad climb), but it wasn’t as steep. As we went deeper into the forest, we came upon a peculiar sight:



I’m not sure of the significance of this statue, but it made me question my bike choice. Was the full-squishy Goose the wrong bike for these trails? More imporatantly, was this some sort of sign that we were biting off way more than we could chew? Only time would tell. We climbed up the mountain some more, and reached what we thought would be a good point of descent. After consulting the map, we decided to follow one of the trails down the mountain at full speed, and it was nothing but fun. When I finished my run, I found Mr. Shepherd at the bottom, waiting for me.



The DPC was next:



After riding for a little while, we started to make our way back. We could have spent a lot longer out there, but we just didn’t have the time. The final trail we rode had a little jump, so we all took turns blasting down it.










When we arrived back at the parking lot, we all agreed that we had a great day of riding. It was day two of our week-long cycling extravaganza, and there was much more to come. We loaded up our bikes for the long trip back to Charlotte.





We were starving, so we headed over to a popular local restaurant, Papas & Beer for some fine Mexican cuisine and brews. We enjoyed our food and drinks while we plotted the next day’s adventure. Of course, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Thanks for playing.