Flagpole Route

[RRRJ]

Went out west of harrisonburg yesterday to get some riding in - the plan was the flagpole route - up the road (924) from briery branch parking towards reddish knob, and then head straight/right to flagpole knob and then back down. We couldnt find the trail that drops down the mountain from near flapole knob, where is it? Lots of little clearings/campground areas that we looked around, is it hidden back in one of those?

We ended up heading a little further down the fire road to meadow knob and dropping down the mountain there to hone quarry (and even that trailhead was hard to find), and up and over the ridge to the start.

Ride route here - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39248383

[pete]

What trail were you trying to ride back down on?

Hone Quarry should be first right after you get on 85 from 924, thru a gate (usually open).

This time of year everything is overgrown there so even with a map it can be tough to spot trailheads - although Hone Quarry is pretty much a 4x4 road at first.

Do you have a Nat Geo #791? Crucial.

[RRRJ]

Yeah we were using the Nat Geo map - I need to get it out to get the trail # but there was a trail that supposedly went east down off the mountain not too far past flagpole knob, maybe 50-100 feet vertical below it and right before another fire road intersection that heads west. We found the fire road, but not the other trail.

Heading down from meadow knob was a great ride too, so no complaints there. I think next time I'll head down from reddish knob or maybe make a bigger loop with the same trail off meadow knob heading down the mud pond/blueberry trail, those jumps are fun.

[pete]

Yeah Mud Pond is a great finish to that DH.

A huge ride we did once was to park at Union Springs Dam and climb up 225 all the way to Meadow Knob then Flagpole then Reddish to Lil Bald and come down Chestnut DH to a car we had at the bottom there.

Then I started doing the race and now everytime I go down I do some kind of a preride...kinda miss the bushwhacking.

[Bandit]

It has been a few years since I have ridden it, but the big downhill off the top of Flagpole is called Red Diamond. I believe that it is trail 428 on the map. It is one of my favorite downhills in the GW and was my first real ride down there (the mountain won that day).

The start of Red Diamond is about 100-200 yards on the right after you pass Flagpole Knob. The entrance is really small and really easy to miss if you are going to fast on the fireroad.

[Evan55]

It has been a few years since I have ridden it, but the big downhill off the top of Flagpole is called Red Diamond. I believe that it is trail 428 on the map. It is one of my favorite downhills in the GW and was my first real ride down there (the mountain won that day).

The start of Red Diamond is about 100-200 yards on the right after you pass Flagpole Knob. The entrance is really small and really easy to miss if you are going to fast on the fireroad.

is it off of the main gravel road, or is it off of the actual flagpole knob clearing area?

we must have ridden up and back the gravel road 3 times looking for a trail opening and couldnt find a thing :(

[Bandit]

is it off of the main gravel road, or is it off of the actual flagpole knob clearing area?

we must have ridden up and back the gravel road 3 times looking for a trail opening and couldnt find a thing :(

It is off the gravel road about 100 yards or so after the entrance to the flagpole knob clearing. I believe that you can also look for a red diamond trail marker attached to a tree. The beginning of the trail cuts back the opposite way and is very narrow off camber bench cut.