Stats
42 miles, 3,860 ft elevation gain, 91 ft/mi. Counter-clockwise direction suggested.
Difficulty
Intermediate due to prolonged climbing. Moderate bike handling skill on easy singletrack.
Terrain
Gravel with flowy singletrack connectors. Preferred bike rank: Rigid MTB, Hardtail, Gravel Bike, Full Suspension.
Camping
Primitive, backcountry camping (no reservations needed).
Number of Nights
1 night ideal, 2 nights for a slower pace (but no resupply until Brevard).
Food & Water
No food options day 1, but day 2 will end with plenty of beer and food in Brevard. Bring filter for water.
Bikepacking Roll Call
Roll Call is an overnight bikepacking trip starting from The Hub in Brevard, NC. Ridden counter clockwise you will climb up gravel roads and enjoy fast and flowy singletrack descents in the Pisgah National Forest, Ranger District. Camping options are sprinkled throughout the route at campgrounds or primitive riverside tent sites. Great views of Looking Glass Rock and riverside riding make this one of our favorite quick overnights in the area.
Highlights
- Flowy Singletrack Descents
- Riverside Camping/Swimming
- Looking Glass Rock Vista
- Downtown Brevard
- Oskar Blues Brewery
Trip Beta
The Hub has given the green light to leave your vehicle in their gravel lot behind the store. However, it’s best to check-in to let them know when you expect to be back. Once ready to roll you will head into Pisgah on route 276 and quickly turn onto gravel at Avery Creek. This begins your climb up to the Pisgah Forest Riding Stables where you’ll turn onto the Clawhammer climb. At the top of Clawhammer you will take the Buckhorn Gap Trail for a flowy singletrack descent to South Mills River. This leads you to Wolf Ford group campground where you have an opportunity to camp on the river off the Pink Beds singletrack or continue on via Yellowgap road (gravel).
A quick turn off 276 brings you to a short gravel climb then to a singletrack descent into the group camping area of Cove Creek. Follow the flowy Davidson River Trail to the last big climb on 475C. The route ends with an excellent descent on the Bracken Preserve which spits you out in downtown Brevard to finish off the trip on easy greenways to Oskar Blues Brewery or beers at The Hub. More East Coast S240 routes can be found on our Routes Page.
ROLL CALL – Trip Gallery
Photography: @the_mr_spencer, @rockgeist
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Rode Roll Call at the beginning of October as my first bikepacking venture. I had a great time with perfect weather and no mechanical faults. The singletrack descent back into Brevard was a great way to finish the ride.
Rode this a couple weeks ago on my Salsa Vaya. Great fun all the way around. Pink Beds was a little slow (sandy, muddy) and coming down Bracken is definitely more fun with suspension, but otherwise the route is totally doable on a gravel bike. Lots of great camping options and beautiful scenery all along the way. Ending up at The Hub (beer!) is a bonus. Thanks for the route, fellas. Good stuff.
Thanks for giving it a ride Cody! Yeah i went back and road bracken with my hardtail and it’s such a blast.
This was a super fun route which could be done with a variety of bikes. The fall scenery was amazing during this ride. The majority of the miles are on gravel roads with a mix of remote roads with cars, and fire roads with chunkier gravel and no traffic. The majority of the descents are on easy single track. I rode this entire route on a fully loaded gravel bike with 34c tires and it was doable. There were a couple spots where I had to hop off my bike for ~5 to 10 yards to get past something I wasnt comfortable riding over on skinnier tires. This was a great route for me as a beginner bikepacker and you couldnt ask for a better setting in the Pisgah forrest.
Due to an inconveniently timed wedding I was not able to ride day 1 of this route with Greg and Mark. Instead, I parked at the HUB and took short cut (9 miles) to meet up with them around mile 23 to camp. The morning started out with a few miles of easy riding before we started climbing 1,300 ft. in about 7 miles. Most of the climbing was on remote gravel roads and the climb was a good challenge, but very doable with no hike-a-bikes. This area is so beautiful I didn’t mind the slow accent which gave me time to enjoy the scenery. Coming down the mountain you are treated to some fast, mostly non-technical, singletrack. I was on a fully loaded Salsa Fargo with 2.35′ tires and it handled the terrain quite well. At the bottom of the mountain the ride back to The HUB is easy and avoids most traffic due to a really nice bike path that takes you most of the way. I had a blast on this route, it was the perfect balance between challenging and fun and the scenery is second to none. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to ride the entire route!