Singletrack at the Hampton Watershed dates back to 2003 when Troop 29 of the Boy Scouts of America cut trails in the area. These were old-school, cross-country style loops that stood the test of time. Despite being worked on, maintained, and somewhat updated, Carter County mountain bikers are still riding those same Boy Scout trails.
“The original history of the trail system started out with three small loops,” Bradley explained.
Pine Loop is a mile-long green trail from the trailhead, climbing and descending about 100 feet as it makes its way back to the trailhead. Roughly halfway through the Pine Loop, riders can connect to the intermediate trail, known as the River Loop. The River Loop is longer, with a 170-foot elevation gain, and features more rock and technical elements.
Green graduates to blue, which eventually moves to the black, advanced loop, named The Cat’s Pajamas. The black trail branches off and reconnects to the River Loop, spanning over 1.5 miles.
“It's a steep climb up basically an old mine mining road,” Bradley said about The Cat’s Pajamas. “And then, a really fun flow, rake-and-ride style trail through a lot of rhododendron and hardwood forests back down”
The Hampton Watershed trails consisted of those three loops for well over a decade. In 2017, Bradley and SORBA Tri-Cities began considering an expansion, and they established a master plan.
Phase one of the plan called for three more miles of trail, and they were completed in 2022. Two directional trails were added on the backside of the three loops — Bee’s Knees and Stemwinder.
Bee’s Knees is an intermediate climbing-only trail, extending roughly a mile and a half and climbing nearly 500 feet above the River Loop. It ends at Stemwinder, a descending-only intermediate flow trail that drops almost 600 feet in roughly the same distance.
-Travis Reill
