US Southeast NC/SC Gorges State Park Ride

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Sasquatch SC

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3,782
Jefferson County, Colorado, United States
First Name
Trey
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Hayes
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17253

Thanks to everyone that made it out! That was about the best group trip I've been on. The trail was beautiful, the campsite was even more perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better (or more entertaining) group to have! The rain couldn't stop the good times!

Keep an eye on the NC Piedmont/CLT Meet-Up Planning thread! If someone else wants to take lead on this, please have at it! If not, I am open to route suggestions. I've been toying around with checking out some abandoned towns and places around the Wilson Creek area. That would mostly be gravel roads, not much trail (that I have found so far).

Open to ideas. Open to someone else taking the lead.
 
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Jeffrey Dill

Rank VI
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3,364
Greenville, SC, USA
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Jeffrey
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Dill
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Thanks to everyone that made it out! That was about the best group trip I've been on. The trail was beautiful, the campsite was even more perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better (or more entertaining) group to have! The rain couldn't stop the good times!

Keep an eye on the NC Piedmont/CLT Meet-Up Planning thread! If someone else wants to take lead on this, please have at it! If not, I am open to route suggestions. I've been toying around with checking out some abandoned towns and places around the Wilson Creek area. That would mostly be gravel roads, not much trail (that I have found so far).

Open to ideas. Open to someone else taking the lead.
That was a great trip! Bummed we couldn't stay to camp but those trails were a ton of fun.

I've been wanting to explore Musterground Road, just below Gorges State Park. It starts near the Bad Creek reservoir, at the trailhead for the Lower Whitewater Falls. Anyone who came up Highway 130 to get to Gorges passed by it. It has a couple of bridged river crossings – Whitewater River and Thompson River – and what appear to be several non-bridged water crossings.

The trail goes over Whitewater Mountain, down towards Hester Mountain, back up to Gallbuster Mountain, down to Licklog Mountain, and finally down to Musterground Mountain. Past that, it goes down towards Double Spring Mountain but it looks like the road is gated before you get all the way down. The road does continue all the way down to Lake Jocassee though, so you could continue on by foot for a little hike down to the lake.

Here's where the road begins: Google Maps

By comparison, to see how close it is to where Gorges is at, here's where the river campsite was at: Google Maps
 

Sasquatch SC

Rank VI
Launch Member

Member III

3,782
Jefferson County, Colorado, United States
First Name
Trey
Last Name
Hayes
Member #

17253

That was a great trip! Bummed we couldn't stay to camp but those trails were a ton of fun.

I've been wanting to explore Musterground Road, just below Gorges State Park. It starts near the Bad Creek reservoir, at the trailhead for the Lower Whitewater Falls. Anyone who came up Highway 130 to get to Gorges passed by it. It has a couple of bridged river crossings – Whitewater River and Thompson River – and what appear to be several non-bridged water crossings.

The trail goes over Whitewater Mountain, down towards Hester Mountain, back up to Gallbuster Mountain, down to Licklog Mountain, and finally down to Musterground Mountain. Past that, it goes down towards Double Spring Mountain but it looks like the road is gated before you get all the way down. The road does continue all the way down to Lake Jocassee though, so you could continue on by foot for a little hike down to the lake.

Here's where the road begins: Google Maps

By comparison, to see how close it is to where Gorges is at, here's where the river campsite was at: Google Maps
Weren't we supposed to ride this one weekend before but you had to cancel or something? I'm still game to check it out.
 
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Jeffrey Dill

Rank VI
Launch Member

Member III

3,364
Greenville, SC, USA
First Name
Jeffrey
Last Name
Dill
Member #

15578

Ham/GMRS Callsign
W4FOZ
Weren't we supposed to ride this one weekend before but you had to cancel or something? I'm still game to check it out.
Yep, that was Musterground.

I know there's camping available out there – I just don't know how big the spots are. So we could cruise out there just to explore the trails one weekend (anyone welcome to join) and see what kind of camping is available before posting it as an actual Rally Point event.
 

Sasquatch SC

Rank VI
Launch Member

Member III

3,782
Jefferson County, Colorado, United States
First Name
Trey
Last Name
Hayes
Member #

17253

Yep, that was Musterground.

I know there's camping available out there – I just don't know how big the spots are. So we could cruise out there just to explore the trails one weekend (anyone welcome to join) and see what kind of camping is available before posting it as an actual Rally Point event.
Ready when you are. I can do a day trip any weekend you want. Let me know. There are all kinds of unknowns all the way up Highway 11.
 
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