Paris Mountain Trail

Promptly after work I jumped in the Jeep and drove to Paris Mountain State Park.  I changed into riding clothes and geared up in the parking lot.  Before hitting the trail I talked to another mountain biker, he suggested a slight modification to my intended route.  With a map and a plan I rolled out.

The trail intersections at Paris Mountain are

prominently marked and the map is good.

After some fun, flowing trail I came out to the only road section of the ride.  But it was a heck of a road section, it was a looong climb.  I was breathing hard pedaling up what must have been Paris Mountain and the uphilll corners just kept coming.  At the top I did a map check and was back on singletrack.

A long, twisty downhill brought me to a lake.

The trail around the lake was flat but entertaining, then it was time to climb.  The climb was sort of long, there were a couple switchback but it was mostly just a meandering, uphill trail.  Rocks and roots made things interesting.

At the top of the climb I was back to the downhill section I had done prior to the lake.  I road the downhill again, faster this time knowing what was ahead, and turned away from the lake at the end.

The guy in the parking lot, some guys in a bike shop and people online had warned not to do a certain trail back to the parking lot unless you are on a downhill bike.  I decided I'd hike a bike down it and hopefully there would be some rideable sections for me.  It was steep, dropping parallel to the road I had ridden up, and I only road about a fourth of it, but I thought this was more entertaining than riding down a road.

Too steep for me.

The final section back to the parking lot, the same section I road on the way out, was really fun.  Twisty and flowing with the occasional rocky or rooty section.  It actually felt somewhat similar to Mohican only the trail was a little sandy.

I was really happy with the riding at Paris Mountain.  What is missing in quantity is made up for in quality.  This would be a great place to ride after work.  However, I wouldn't make the drive down from the Asheville area just to ride here.  But if in the area already, it's a worthwhile destination.

There were many interesting fungus
growing along the trail.  I ate none.