Flat Creek Loop, Blue Ridge, Georgia
Getting There
From Jim Parham's Off the Beaten Track:
From GA 515 in Blue Ridge, take Windy Ridge Road 0.1 mile south, turn left on East 1st Street, go 0.1 mile and turn right on Aska Road. It's 3.5 miles to the Deep Gap Trailhead.Look for signs for "Aska Trails." Turn right into the parking lot.
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| Map at the trailhead. |
The National Geographic Trails Illustrated map #777 is awesome, and great for figuring out what all the junctions are and where all the roads go on this ride.. Jim Parham's Off the Beaten Track contains the 12.5 mile loop which I detail below, and is an excellent resource.
The Route
I highly recommend putting this on the tail end of the Stanley Gap ride for an all-around awesome ride.
Barring that, Flat Creek Loop has the word "loop" in its name for a reason: it is a pretty simple loop, located close to the trailhead. I recommend riding it counterclockwise for a great technical downhill.
Length is about 5 miles.
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| Singletrack leaving from the trailhead. Sorry I didn't get a shot of the technical section... I was going too fast. |
The name of this trail is incredible deceptive. There is very little "flat" about the Flat Creek Loop. Rather, this short loop contains an absolutely rocking technical descent when ridden counter clockwise! It is filled with rocks, more rocks, and baby heads on top of those. There are several rocky creek crossings, and some rocky rollers to launch... you get the picture. It is a blast! I pinchflatted a tube rocking through this section. Here's the review I posted on Singletracks.com shortly after riding this trail:
Nice trail to combine with stanley gap. While this trail is somewhat wider and tamer, if ridden counter clockwise (i think) you will get to thrash some AWESOME technical descents that are just a feast at high speeds! Crazy fun!Yes, it's a great downhill.
The trail is a good bit wider than the trail up on Stanley Gap. Normally I would view this as a bad thing, but it gives you plenty of room to slide around with all the baby heads as you bomb that technical descent at high speed!
Going counterclockwise, the climb back up is pretty smooth, but can be a bit of a grunt especially on the tail end of an almost 18 mile loop if you're including the 12.5 mile Stanley Gap loop. But as you crest the top of that climb, the car is right around the corner. You're done!
Bottom line: Bomber technical descent! Best combined with Stanley Gap.
Other trails in the area include:
Your Turn:
Do you have more information that needs to be included, or do you have information on new developments since I originally posted this review? If so, please leave a comment and help keep this post up-to-date and as useful as possible.
More Posts About this Trail:
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/mountain-bike-tourism-how-to-get.html
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/ellijay-mountain-bike-destination-win.html
2 comments:
Flat Creek is also really fun to run Clockwise. I prefer it this way because you get in a fast, long, & tight true single tract decent that's a blast. Then it' s a real grunt up the technical section of loose rocks & back up to the top.
Rob S.
Hey Rob, thanks for the recommendation! I'll be sure to try that out next time I'm up there.
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