Which Trails To Ride?

[stumpbumper]

Sometime in the next few weeks I will be camping for several days at Petersburg and want to ride some trails I have not ridden before. Beginning with the most fun and working down to the least fun, in what order do you folks rank the following trails?

Baker Creek State Park
Hickory Knob SP
Keg Creek
Lick Fork (Horn Creek)
Modoc
Turkey Creek
Wine Creek
Boyd Pond

Many thanks for your assistance, opinions and advice.

[jtaylor]

Baker Creek is unrideable. You didn't list Mistletoe, which I would try first, but you may need a guide, or at least talk to someone with a map in front of you. Next would be Modoc, Hickory Knob, Wine, Keg, Boyd Pond (you need a guide or good directions the first time), Turkey, Horn, Canal singletrack. You will get lots of opinions. There are no bad / junk trails- they all have interesting features, whether it is a good view or some tricky technical parts.

[brianW]

Hickory Knob! In my opinion the most scenic trail in the CSRA. Wine and Turkey can be combined for a 25 miler. Keg Creek is one f those trails that you either love or dislike. I call it the anti-FATS trail, little flow, rocks, roots, creek crossings, it keeps you on your toes and have to work some skills. Mistletoe, IMO, is the most technical ride in the CSRA. Lots of fun. Can be combined with keg for a longer ride (Christmas party Ride) N bad trails, they all have their own flavor.

Of course you still have Bartram for quick rides from the campground.

[Angela]

I think I would group our trails geographically to keep from spending too much time driving back and forth between trails. Not knowing how much riding you normally do in a day I would group them like this:

Day 1 - Long Cane Trail (not on your list but an amazing trail system that is over 20 miles long) and Hickory Knob first - this will give you about 30 miles of riding.

Day 2 - Modoc, Wine/Turkey, Horn Creek - would give you 43 miles - you could add Modoc to that first day it's an in/out trail so 12 miles

Day 3 - Keg and Mistletoe - you can connect the two together (it's called the Christmas Party ride) to get 25 miles here are the details but you might need that guide sorbacsra.org/Trails/ConnectorRoutes/ChristmasPartyRide.htm

Day 4 - ORA or Boyd Pond is over in Aiken, SC so about 45+ minutes away from Petersburg I would guess - off by itself - you could come back through Augusta and hit the Augusta Canal Singletrack but even if you did the two trails.... would only get you 8 or 9 miles of riding between them.

This would keep you in the same general area for each day of riding.

[stumpbumper]

I've done Long Cane HT (see below)
sorbacsra.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pictures&action=display&thread=2468

Have also ridden FATS and Bartram in both directions a bunch of times.

This time I want to ride trails I have not ridden before and appreciate you folks pointing me in the right direction. And a special thanks to Angela for the daily ride plan.

By the way, we just returned from four days of camping at Davidson River and riding various trails in Pisgah. Among them was the new Bracken Mtn trail out of Brevard. Nowhere near as technical as the other trails we did and a bit wide to be considered singletrack, but fun just the same. Long climb to the top and a nice, long descent on the return with some extremely tight and steep switchbacks. I recommend you guys trying it on your next trip to Pisgah. A map posted at the trailhead tells you everything you need to know about the trails. At the upper end of Bracken Mt. Trail you can continue on 475C all the way to the fish hatchery.

[wala]

My favorites are in order:
Modoc
Mistletoe
Turkey
Keg
Wine

Haven't made it to Hickory Knob yet.