Pilot Rock Trail
At A Glance
3.6 mi one-way
Difficulty Rating: 3.6 
Steepness: Climbs Steeply
Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Blaze Color: Orange
Trail Number: 321
Rides That Use This Trail: Laurel Mountain
Description
This trail is a blast and is nearly always ridden downhill. It's steep, with many sharp switchbacks. Very rocky; has a rock garden that's nearly impossible to ride, and many waterbars. Test out your suspension here! Great views from the top of Pilot Rock and nearby outcrops. One creek crossing near the bottom. I would not recommend riding this one uphill!
This trail is the south side of a classic Pisgah loop which includes Laurel Mountain and the Laurel Mountain Connector for the climb up, and Pilot Rock for the descent. See the Laurel Mountain Best Ride.
Trail intersects Blue Ridge Parkway property (you must carry bikes on Parkway property if you're heading up to the Parkway or the Pisgah Inn).
Intersecting Trails
This trail is located in the Mills River area. For a list of all the trails in that area, see the Mills River trails list page.
This trail also crosses into these trailhead areas:
All Photos from the Trail
GPS Map
Map Information
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Data Formats
KML (Google Earth)
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GPX
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GeoJSON
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About the Map
Copyright
Base Layers
Base layers provided by OpenStreetMap, the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, and NC OneMap. Base layer images are subject to the respective copyright policies of their owners. Base layers may not be available at all times due to system maintenance or outages.
WNCOutdoors Base Layer
The WNCOutdoors Base layer is provided by WNCOutdoors.info. It is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.
Trail and Marker Overlays
Trail layers and downloadable data are all original works created by WNCOutdoors with guidance from a variety of sources, including ensembles of our own GPS tracks, user contributed GPS tracks, official maps and GIS data from government agencies, and field observations. WNCOutdoors data is made freely available under the Open Database License - you are free to copy and use it for any purpose under the terms of that license (summary).
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Trail Segments
Trails are often made up of several connecting paths which may have different characteristics, allowed uses, and seasons. This trail is divided into multiple segments as follows:
Pilot Rock - BRP Boundary to MST
- Allowed Uses: Hiking
- Length: 0.42 mi
Pilot Rock - Thompson Creek to BRP Boundary
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.34 mi
Pilot Rock - Laurel Mt. Connector to Thompson Creek
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.13 mi
Pilot Rock - FS 1206 to Laurel Mt. Connector
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 2.29 mi
Total Calculated Length: 3.18 mi
This value is derived from our underlying map data, and it may not match officially published information.
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