By Jason Bryant
The trails at Doughton Park are some of my favorite that I’ve run anywhere in the world. One of the things I like most is how often I have the trails all to myself. Of course, Old Man Caudill is always there to converse with me.
A little explanation before you think I am mad. One of the great trails in Doughton Park is the Basin Creek Trail. It hops from one side of Basin Creek to the other until it dead ends at Caudill Cabin, a restored cabin sitting in a cove surrounded by three steep mountainsides. Martin Caudill lived and raised 14 children in a small cabin at this remote spot until a severe flood in 1916 prompted them to move. I often run at Doughton Park and think about what it was like to live on this mountainside at that time, imagining conversations with Old Man Caudill, as I call him.
Basin Creek Trail is not even my favorite trail. There are four other trails that connect the foothill terrain below to the crest of the Blue Ridge. All four of them join the Mountain to Sea Trail (MST) that traverses the ridge along the Blue Ridge Parkway, bottoming out at around 1400 feet elevation, and topping out somewhere over 3,000 feet. The old Grassy Gap fire road is the most gentle route, meandering with a stream for a way and then the mountainside.
Along the eastern edge of Doughton Park, Cedar Ridge Trail follows one of the many sharp ridgelines that are only 20-30 feet wide in many places before tumbling steeply down either side. Flat Rock Ridge trail traverses the western-most ridge of Doughton Park, offering a couple of spectacular views of the mountain valley of Basin Cove below and the rocky slopes of Bluff Mountain above.
Then there is the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail, which tops out at a primitive shelter near the peak of Bluff Mountain at over 3,700 feet. Whereas the other trails provide 4-5 miles to cover that elevation, Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail is only 2.8 miles of steep, tight trail. Flat Rock Ridge and Bluff Ridge are my favorite trails in Doughton Park.
The outermost trails of Flat Rock Ridge, MST, and Cedar Ridge can be combined for great 17-mile loop. Combinations of the other trails can be connected for loops of 12 or more miles. A run to Caudill Cabin is a 10-mile out-and-back from the lower parking lot on Longbottom road, an aptly named road that traverses the remote valley between Highway 18 and Stone Mountain State Park. There are also several options for beginning a run at any of the overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Doughton Park. For those looking for a truly long run, you can loop up and down all four trails that connect ridge to valley with the out-and-back run to Caudill Cabin thrown in for kicks and giggles. There is a campground along the parkway and primitive camping in Basin Cove below.
For those adventurous enough for a winter run, come prepared for the sometimes drastic changes in conditions from the ridgeline up top and the valley below. I have experienced as much as 20-degree temperature changes between the top and bottom.
Finally, do me a favor and don’t tell too many others about these trails. I like having them in such a remote area all to myself, especially on my winter runs. If you do venture out there, Old Man Caudill will be waiting to share his stories of mountain life from a bygone era.
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Jason Bryant is sadly confused in thinking that he will someday turn into an actual mountain goat and start a tribe on a remote North Carolina mountain. He can often be found doing a poor impersonation on mountain trails in North Carolina, around the United States and, when possible, in Europe. Jason used unique dating tomfoolery to beguile the most patient and supportive woman, Alison, into marriage. He pretends to work as a gypsy moth hunter, farmer, and factotum, and bewilders youth as the head cross-county and track coach at Surry Central High School. He has been running from something since 1989 and has stumbled into 10 podium finishes at USA Championships in Mountain, Ultra, and Trail Running. All 10 were third place.
