It's been a while since I have been to the Big South Fork. I used to do some back packing and mountain biking there a few years ago. My wife and I took our travel trailer down there a few weeks ago. After some hiking and exploring in the truck I decided a dual sport exploration day was necessary. I made a spur of the moment decision on Tuesday to head down there. It's about a 3 hr drive from my house which is about my limit for a day trip. Here is some info on the Big South Fork https://www.nps.gov/biso/index.htm I used this map for my basic planning. https://www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/upload/BISO Brochure 2009 map Reduced.pdf My basic plan was to park at Bandy Creek Visitors center. Ride to Divide Road off of hwy 154 near Picket State Park. Then ride to Yamacraw bridge and back on different routes I made a quick stop at the overlook on the way in The Visitor Center at Bandy Creek There is a large campground here for both tent camping and RVs. Also a large group camping area. Big South Fork is very popular for horse back riding. BSF is to horse riding like the Cherahala Sky Way is to motorcycles. Since horses are not allowed in the campground there is a nice stable area where horses are boarded. Trails are classified for horses, hiking, mountain bikes and multi use. Not many folks here on a Tuesday morning, only retired dual sport guys Headed out around 10:00 am. After a short gravel section called Bandy Loop and a few miles of black top I arrived at the start of Divide Road This is an easy ride that can be done on any dual sport or adventure bike in dry weather. The road starts out fairly wide. It has a number of different turn offs to various trail heads, campsites, overlooks, ect.. Some of the more popular places are Twin Arches (2 natural stone arches) and Chariot Creek Lodge (a back country lodge which requires hiking into). www.ccl-bsf.com/ After a few miles the road becomes less traveled and more narrow. I took a number of different side trips. Several places I seen signs for multi use trails. These trails were very interesting and I rode some of them for a short distance. They didn't show up on my map or GPS so I decided to save them for the next trip. Here are my tracks
Continuing on I came across a number of different side trips that had me already planning the next trip Finally I made it down to the Rock Creek River just above the Big South Fork River Just down the road was Yamacraw Bridge where it crosses the Big South Fork. Part of my route followed the KAT (Kentucky Adventure Trail). From here the KAT goes across the bridge and heads east. At this point it was 1:30 pm and I had ridden about 40 miles Heading back towards Bandy Creek I decided to follow the KAT back towards the west After a short distance on a 2 lane hwy the tracks turn off on Rock Creek Road. This was a really nice section headed back towards Bell Farm Horse Camp. Nice campsites along the way with a rope swing and swimming hole After 10 -12 miles I reached Bell Farm Horse Camp. Surprisingly no one here. It's a really nice setting
Now it's 2:30 and I still wanted to check out Hemlock Grove Picnic area and Great Meadows Camp Ground It was about 3 miles to Hemlock Grove. A great place for a place for a cook out and a dual sport gathering There was not enough time for me to continue on to Great Meadows. I'll have to wait until next time. The last section of road turned out to be much nicer than I expected. There were 3 overlooks along the way This was the nicest one. At this point its going on 4:00 pm so I need to get back to the truck. Overall BSF is a nice place to ride. It's not difficult or challenging but a great place to explore and combine riding, hiking, and site seeing. I'm hoping to make it back 1 more time before winter 91 Total trip miles
I use a hitch hauler. When I first got the 450L I hauled in my truck but I have a hard bed cover and it was a pain to remove and install. The hitch hauler is a lot more convenient.
I made another trip back down to Big South Fork yesterday to continue with the exploring I started a few weeks ago. There were not a lot of folks there so I decided to ride some of the roads close to Bandy Creek Campground. Some of them are fairly long but most dead end at Trail Heads. Looks like some good single track. To bad they are not open for motorcycles There is a Multi Use Trail that takes you out to the Bandy Loop Road I also rode another Multi Use Trail that was off of Divide road. It was really nice but was also a dead end. I headed over Peter's Mt Road and checked out the Great Meadows Campgroud It's a really nice area One loop was open with several folks camping with tents and RVs The other loop was closed. There are several sites right on the creek The road continues on for several miles along the creek
I was at Pickett State Park a few weeks ago. My plan was to do a lot of riding, but I didn't realize how many natural wonders there were to see in the area until I got there. Ended up only riding one day because I spent the rest of my time exploring the natural bridges and arches. Definitely a place to enjoy hiking as well as riding. Even a little canoeing.
Great pictures. I plan on camping down at Pickett next year and hiking those areas as well. It's also a lot closer the the areas I've been riding. I also see they have cabins. If we have some nice days over the winter I thought about renting one.
They have been remodeling the cabins. I didn't get to peek inside, but if they are doing to the inside what they are doing to the outside, they should be amazing!
Copper downspout connected to black PE pipe. Proverbial turd in the punchbowl. Rode mountain bikes all over that place in the late '80s. No Business Creek aptly named (got no business taking a MTB into that hollow). Good times.
Yeah, they could have trimmed that a little closer to the ground, but they were still working on that cabin so hopefully they finish out the details. If you have ever been in a state park bath house you will see all kinds of creative plumbing. LOL!
