This five-year effort began in 2015 when the Grandfather Ranger District began a partnership with local mountain bike users and volunteers — and in particular the Northwest North Carolina Mountain Bike Alliance — to improve maintenance of the Wilson Creek Trails. Under this partnership, users saw restoration of some of their favorite area trails, including Woodruff Ridge and the “21 Jumps” section of the Wilson Ridge Trail.

Work began to formally assess needs for changes to the current trail systems, and greater connectivity for the area’s mountain biking trails was identified as a need — hence the recently approved project. 

Work will begin this winter to construct new sections of trail on Yancey Ridge, Schoolhouse Ridge and Jackson Knob Trails. This work is funded through a Santa Cruz Bicycles PayDirt Grant awarded to the Northwest N.C. Mountain Bike Alliance and an N.C. Recreation and Trails Program Grant awarded to the Grandfather District. Additional work will take place on surrounding Forest Service roads through a partnership with Trout Unlimited.