There are 40 miles of gravel roads in the Uwharries National Forest. While I stayed on the gravel roads, I did venture onto some of the many single track mountain bike trails. There is a lot of mountain biking to do. I biked this area on a weekday in the fall and there was no ATV traffic and few vehicles. I wouldn’t bike this on the weekend for fear of having to dodge ATVs and other off-road vehicles on these roads. I had a picnic lunch at on the the campgrounds on the lake. It was a nice quiet day for this bike ride.
Useful Links
Here is a link to the Badin Lake area in Uwharries National Forest: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recreation/recarea/?recid=49086&actid=24
Where to Park
Looking at Strava for planning this route, it looks like a lot of cyclists start at this location (Hunt Camp), so this is what I’m going to try.
Description
The mountain bike was the best choice of bike. Some of these roads have steep sections that are challenging. The mountain bike also allows you to hit some of the single track routes. There weren’t many places to get water, so be sure to carry enough. You can get some at the campground, but that’s away from most of the trails. From the link on Strava you can see that my plan is to do 19 miles (about half) of trails and 2,200 ft of climbing. Depending how I feel, I may extend it a little. I’ll definitely bring a map, in case I need it. It might be rather easy to get lost on the numerous trails in this area.
Here is a link to my plan in Strava: http://www.strava.com/routes/2977631651839511126