Strenuous 15 miles of mostly fire roads in South Mountains State Park with 3,000 ft of climbing. Some of these climbs are so steep that I have to hike my bike, but the downhillls are thrilling as well.
Useful Links
South Mountains State Park
https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/south-mountains-state-park
Where to Park
Take the park road all the way to the end and there is a large paved parking lot called the High Shoals Falls Parking Lot. There are bathrooms here with running water. However, this parking lot serves several popular hiking trails and will fill up. So, plan to get there early and on the trail before too many hikers show up.
Description
Leaving the parking lot you start with a nice wide flat gravel road, but as you turn off to the right to start the loop, you immediately start riding rough and rutted fire roads with lots of climbing. Some of the climbs are so steep that I had to hike my bike up them. Some grades are over 20%, and the surface can be loose with gravel and stones. There are several hiking trails, but this route is the only route for biking. There is good signage for the bike route, but I suggest you take a good map or GPS. There is a short paved section just past the half way point in the loop.
Here is a link to my statistics in Strava for this ride: