Bikes, bears, gravel and dirt: Pisgah's new "backcountry" Stony Knob Trail links miles of routes and completes loop to Brevard
By connecting Joel Branch and Horse Cove roads, the 1.25-mile trail significantly expands cycling, hiking and horse-riding opportunities in Pisgah National Forest.
By: Dan DeWitt
Pisgah Forest — After four miles of gradual climbing on Joel Branch Road, I came to a stretch of smooth single-track that felt like an open door to all of Pisgah National Forest.
The undulating straightaways and high-banked turns on this new Stony Knob Trail led to the lightly graveled surface of Horse Cove Road.
Taking a left, I easily reached Bracken Mountain Trail. On a mountain bike, I could have descended to the city of Brevard’s Bracken Preserve near downtown. From there, the multi-use Estatoe Trail would allow the completion of a 20-mile loop back to my starting point, near Davidson River Campground.
On my gravel bike, I backtracked on Horse Cove to the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education on Fish Hatchery Road, from which I could have hit Headwater Road and then the descent along Avery Creek. Or I could head west to Cathey’s Creek Road. Or I could ride all the way to Balsam Grove and the stunning, quiet paved path of U.S. 215.
In fact, I had a hard time thinking of a nearby ride I couldn’t access by way of Stony Knob, which is pretty much the whole point.
The 1.25 mile stretch is a rarity in the Forest. It’s a addition to the Pisgah Ranger District’s 380-mile trail network rather than a rerouted or rehabilitated pathway, and it shares a crucial quality with the handful of other new trails.
Most of these “connect two routes and generally allow users to create a much longer route than just the new connector itself,” said Pisgah District Ranger David Casey.
The marque feature is the closing of the 20-mile loop accessible to residents of Brevard strictly by pedal power, but Stony Knob also adds connections to several other rides and hikes in and around the Forest.
“This was just a missing segment that opens things up quite a bit”, said John Cottingham, executive director of The Pisgah Conservancy, which managed the project and raised money to cover the $75,000 in construction costs.
Though the trail is already open, the official ribbon cutting (directions below) is not scheduled until Friday at 11 a.m. And though this event will dedicate Stony Knob, Cottingham said, there is plenty of other work in the Forest it could celebrate:
The Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service’s ongoing projects to refurbish trails near the popular Graveyard Fields hiking area; an expanding parking lot at the base of Black Mountain Trail; a rerouting and rebuilding of Black Mountain being led by the Pisgah Area SORBA mountain biking organization.
“It’s been kind of crazy with Covid,” Cottingham said. But “we’re getting some stuff done in spite of ourselves.”
Besides the Conservancy, contributors to the Stony Knob project included the Forest Service, which identified the link and paid for necessary archaeological and botanical studies, according to a press release sent out by the Conservancy; Transylvania County Tourism provided a key donation, as did Transylvania County, the city of Brevard and the Hub & Pisgah Tavern. A variety of user groups offered volunteer labor.
Stony Knob — formerly known, more literally, as the Joel Branch-Horse Cove Connector — has been renamed after a nearby peak and is open to hikers and equestrians as well as cyclists.
Ed Sutton, of Trail Dynamics, the company that built the trail, described it in the press release as a “rolling trail, rather than a steep, technical one like you find in some parts of Pisgah . . . It gives you a back country feel even though you are near to town, and can be ridden by gravel bikes as well as mountain bikes.”
Though the swooping turns looked like they would be a blast on a mountain bike, I made it through with little problem on a gravel bike.
The woods it passes through are dense and the trees towering. The evening sounds came not from traffic but from eastern towhees and wood thrushes. Even at the height of the summer tourist season, I saw only one group of riders on Stony Knob and none on Horse Cove, which offered a sight that clinched the touted “back country feel” — two large black bears making an unhurried crossing.
Because it was late, I chose to the complete the quickest loop back to the campground, on the paved surfaces of Fish Hatchery and U.S. 276. But I was thinking about my next ride on this trail and links to gravel roads with unmatched views of Looking Glass Rock, to the thrilling descents along falling creeks, to idyllic valleys at the Forest’s quietest entrances — to, really, pretty much anywhere I cared to ride.
Directions to ribbon-cutting, according to The Pisgah Conservancy press release:
From the intersection of NC 280 and US 276/64 (which is just northwest of Brevard) go west into Pisgah National Forest approximately 1.25 miles. Turn left toward the Davidson River Campground. Immediately cross the bridge over the Davidson River. Turn left on Sycamore Circle (do not turn right into the campground). Continue on Schenck Drive, and follow the signs to the ribbon cutting.
We also saw 1 bear on Wednesday on 475c!