Richland Gap & Brown Mtn

[NCgx470]

I've read some older posts here about the Richland Gap trail and the Brown Mtn OHV trails. Has anyone been to the area lately? I used to cruise Globe/Mortimer/Brown Mountain Beach in a Subaru Justy during my time at ASU in the 90s and will be taking the family camping there soon.

Your recent experiences and info would be greatly appreciated. I did visit the ONS Rovers page too, but other than the map of Richland Gap, there wasn't much info. . .

Thanks!

 

[strong_toy]

I don't know anything about Richland Gap, but I believe they might be closed. The club had a trip to Brown Mt last July and the trail is worth driving if you are in the area. If you've been to Brown Mt, you probably know that the trails are mostly for motorcycles and ATVs, but there is one truck trail. If you're going somewhere to wheel, I would choose Uwharrie any day of the week over Brown Mt, but if you're heading to the area primarily for camping, it is worth spending a few hours to drive. You will need to pickup a Brown Mt day pass for $5 from a local convenience store (check Brown Mt website for locations).

 

[lt1fire]

camping up near brown mountain is a great summer get a way from the heat. The trails are dead simple and only the very top is something you might actually consider "off roading". We did it last year with one stock 80, one lightly built 80 and my beast.

Pack a lunch and eat it when you finally reach the top with the family.

Never heard of Richland Gap but i'm not from around here

 

[LakeNorman_FJ40]

I ran Richland Gap over 5 years ago w/ ONSLRs. It wasn't much more than what Brown Mountain sounds like...if it's even still open...and nothing there re: camping.

What about Culowhee in Silva? Is it really closed???

 

[waldrtw]

I was up at Richlands last year. It is a state road so i dont think it can be closed. Not much there. I would not drive to far to go there. I think Brown Mtn is pretty fun but it is nothing great.

Tim

 

[lowtops]

Brown mountain has some excellent primitive camping off of the Forest Service roads. If primitive camping is out of the question with the family, then spend some time exploring the service roads. There are some beautiful streams up there.

Take 181N from Morganton. Pass Brown Mountain Beach Rd. (on rt.) and start looking for dirt roads. We took a service rd. to the left. Drove about a mile and ran into some nice camp sites right by a cool mountain stream.

Have fun.

 

[NCgx470]

Thanks for the info.
We did two nights at the Mortimer U.S. Forest Service campground -- great facility. The campground is at least 8 miles from the nearest paved road (via Brown Mountain Beach Rd.) and the other ways in/out we took were longer and "funner." With the wife and children (3 and 6) in tow, I avoided the real ORV area, but cruised some FS roads that were interesting enough instead. Amazing places -- followed Old Jonas Ridge Rd (?) from Linville across the Blue Ridge Parkway and into the national forest. The road dropped 2000' relatively quickly. Coming out on Wednesday, we followed Roseboro (?) Rd. up and out for an even more impressive ride. All in all, the GX got a good coating of gravel dust and a little mud, stretched her 4Lo muscles a little, and broke in the new Toyos.

 

[jfz80]

Glad you guys had a great time.

In the mother of all honey holes for trout fishing there. I used to run up 181 to the parkway then down roseboro road into the Wilson Creek area. Couple great camping spots right off the road there and top notch fishing within a walk of camp.

theres a "funner" bypass going up roseboro to the right that ties right back in as well, at least it was seemingly challenging in the tacoma at the time