Agile Trekker: Flat Rock Trail, Shoal Creek Trail, and Rifle Trail, Dupont

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/28/2026	5.2 miles	2 hours 38 minutes	499'	2.2 mph	26.3

Parking:

Guion Farm Access Area

Map:

Gaia GPS app
Pisgah Map Co. Dupont State Recreational Forest

Directions:

Walk south on Sky Valley Road (gravel road with occasional cars). Pass Tarkin Branch Road and Shoal Creek Trail. There are 2 small parking areas for Flat Rock Trail, neither marked on the Pisgah Map Co's map. Turn right onto Flat Rock Trail. Hike to the end where there is a wide stream. Turn around and return to Sky Valley Road. Turn left on Sky Valley Road. Turn right onto Shoal Creek Trail. Turn right onto Sky Valley Road. Shortly after the turn, turn left onto an unmaintained trail and hike a very short way. Turn left onto Ruffled Grouse Trail (Pisgah Map Co.'s map shows this as the Rifle Trail). Keep straight/right to take Rifle Trail (Ruffled Grouse Trail leaves to the left). Turn left onto the Boundary Trail. Turn left onto Hickory Mountain Road. Turn right onto Ruffled Grouse Trail. Turn left onto Hooker Creek Trail (Pisgah Map Co.'s map shows this as White Pine Road). Turn left onto Buck Forest Road. Turn right to return to the parking area.

Another hike in Pisgah to do some new-to-us trails. Dupont is busy on sunny weekends, but this hike worked out well. We didn't run into any hikers and only ran into 1 biker. We walked down Sky Valley Road and first looked for the Flatwoods Trail, but there was no sign. I re-checked Dupont's trail status page, and its listed as closed. I noticed there are fewer closed trails now though, so progress is being made. We ended up walking down Sky Valley Road. The road is open to cars, but few cars go down it, so most of the time it's fine to walk down the middle of the road. It turns out there are two parking areas for the Flat Rock Trail. One is shortly before the trail, and one is at the trailhead. Each has room for 2 cars. Flat Rock Trail has some winter views. On Pisgah Map Co's map, it looks like there is a small pond at the end of the Flat Rock Trail, but it really is just the intersection of two streams. Not even deep enough to swim. But we did take a break there and threw Krumm's floaty toy for him. From there, we returned to Sky Valley Road and headed up Shoal Creek Trail. This trail looks like it either has lots of blowdown or logging. We did see a side trail which was marked as closed due to logging. We continued on to the Rifle Trail and then made our way back. We took a detour due to an oncoming off leash dog.

Tonight, I finally ordered a new version of Pisgah Map Co.'s Dupont map. I emailed the business and found out they have a newer version of the map. We've only been here 4 years, but our map is ancient - so many of the trails have been renamed or decommissioned.