2018 Great Lakes States – Brevard, N. Carolina, DuPont State Forest
Tuesday October 2nd – Thursday,
October 11th
Adventure Village RV & Lodging, Brevard, NC
During the last couple of years, after speaking with many mountain bikers, one specific place always came up, DuPont State Forest in Brevard N. Carolina. Because of this information, we were determined to visit this area and try out the trails. We found a great RV park, Adventure Village, just west of Brevard and convenient to DuPont. Since we wanted to enjoy the area, we booked for 10 days.
Our first activity was to get on the mountain bike trails. After driving through the beautiful, hilly countryside we arrived at one of the DuPont Trailheads, Lake Imaging. Out of this trailhead we found several challenging uphill climbs. Some of the trails included double track, gravel forest service roads. This part we didn’t enjoy, but it was necessary to get to the top of the mountain for a rollercoaster fun ride downhill. The trails were a lot of fun and really forced us to get used to more climbing. Most of the trails were very fun to ride. We rode out of various trailheads for 6 days, which really helped improve our climbing and trail skills. We did have two days of rain stuck inside the camper, some outer remnants of Tropical Storm Michael.
The DuPont Forest has several great waterfalls and we were able to hike one loop with the dogs. We all enjoyed the beautiful views. We also visited a series of waterfalls near Balsam Grove in the Pisgah National Forest.
Kurt was also able to get his kayak on the lazy, flowing French Broad River. I dropped him off at a put-in in the town of Rosman, then picked him up later at another public launch 8 miles downriver. It is a lovely river that’s easy to paddle.
The town of Brevard is such a wonderful mountain town that so far has not been over commercialized, like Bryson City or Gatlinburg. It still has that small town feeling, with great shops, restaurants and breweries. One of the most interesting things is the local white squirrels that inhabit the area. They are most prevalent on the Brevard College campus, as the students love and feed them. With both the Pisgah National Forest and the DuPont State Forest nearby, this is a definite mecca for mountain bikers. We have already decided that this will be on our go back list for next summer. We will probably stay here one month, there is so much to do. Love Brevard, N.C.!
