Cove Creek Explorer Loop
Charisma Arbogast’s GO-TO Ride in Pisgah
Park at the fish hatchery in Pisgah (Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education for GPS purposes). Go back across the car bridge and turn left on the pavement. Take the first right onto a gravel road, called both 475B and Headwaters Road. It is an approximately 3-mile gravel climb.
The road has been gated from the bottom to the Sun Wall (i.e., “the top” of the climb) since Helene due to three landslides, but the bottom was ungated the last time I rode it and they were working on the road. At the top, there will be a false flat, and as the road starts to descend, take a left onto forest (gravel) road 225 (no alternate name). This section has been ungated all summer.
Climb to the top of the hill and stay straight on the road. Take the next left through a gate onto a grassy forest road. There used to be a sign that said Cove Creek there, but it is currently missing.
Take the next left with a sign (there’s a trail that enters in the big sweeping corner that is not on Forest Service maps). It will say Cove Creek in very small letters on an official brown, tall, skinny Forest Service sign.
Head downhill. After the first creek crossing, about a tenth of a mile past it, turn right to stay on Cove Creek Trail, followed by an immediate left on a bridge that can be fairly slick. (If you went left instead of right, you would be on Caney Bottom Trail, which is not bike legal.)
Continue onward until you reach a very steep, rooty, rocky downhill to a bridge. You will likely need to walk down it, but don’t take the trail off to the right at the top—it’s not on Forest Service maps. From here, stay straight on the established trail. If it looks like an active turn-off, don’t take it. (Caney Bottom will reenter Cove Creek further down on your left, and there are some sneak trails down to the campground.)
When you cross the creek at the very bottom, go left. Then turn right onto the gravel road. When you come out at the gate, turn left, then take a fairly immediate right onto Davidson River Trail. I haven’t checked if the sign is still there this summer, but the entrance will be grassy with a narrow gravel path through it. Enjoy the downhill!
When you come out the gate at the end of the trail, turn right on the pavement (technically 475). Continue straight for about a quarter of a mile, then turn right back into the entrance to the fish hatchery. Distance usually comes to between 9 and 10 miles, depending on your computer.
Thanks to Erin Barrett for the map to go with this route.