MtbREVIEW.com supports IMBA and responsible riding. Please submit only legal
trails to our list. If you discover a trail posted on this site that is not
open for public mountain biking, please email our IMBA friends at
info@imba.com with detailed info.
They'll help us remove the unauthorized trail from the site.
Click here for info about keeping our trails open.
If this is the correct location, click "Save Point" below or type the nearest location (country, city, Zip, or land mark) and the map will pan over to the location if the location is found.
Save Point
Go to Nearest Location:
Lat:
Lng:
Montgomery Bell State Park Mtb Trail
28 reviews
4.25 of 5
This trail is now open after ten years of intense volunteer effort and is a
true testament to all those who gave of their free time to build it. It is
all singletrack and follows the IMBA design guidelines with something for
every level of ability. There are five distinct sections all designated by a
color code and signs, White (beginner),Blue (intermediate),Red
(intermediate/advanced), Yellow (advanced), and a downhill section with some
very deep drops and mogul section (advanced ONLY!). The trail follows the
natural contours of the property through deep hardwood forest and
overlooking a spring fed creek that runs down the center. On the Downhill
and Yellow loops you will find some very challenging climbing, deep
drop-ins, bridges, and jumps for some serious white-knuckle fun! The nicest
feature of this property is the soil which drains exceptionally well year
round when other local trails stay too wet. There is a temporary closure
policy that will observed during the months of Jan/Feb/March when we have
freeze/thawing of the topsoil. The rule is, if it is below 32 degrees and
frozen then it is rideable, if not then it is closed. The park office has a
trail condition line that will have current updates before you make your
trip (615-797-9051 ext 18). Please be aware that there is a very stiff fine
for violating this rule ($165.00) and it is patrolled daily.
Montgomery Bell State Park is one of the largest parks in the Tennessee
system and boasts excellent camping facilities as well as their Inn with
beautiful views of the lake. After you ride, make it a point to take in the
buffet which has something for every appetite! Truly outstanding food and
natural scenery! If you are interested in becoming a part of the ongoing
trail maintainence, please contact or the staff at
the park. We sincerely hope you enjoy your riding experience in middle
Tennessee!
From Nashville Tn, take Hwy 70w to White Bluff, Tn.(Approx 30 miles) After passing the Shell station on R and the Park Motor Co.on L, take your first R onto Jones Creek Rd.Passing the Ebbtide boat plant, take the next R onto Bill Duke Rd and immediate R into trailhead parking lot. Alternate interstate route is I-40w to Hwy 96 exit (Fairview/Dickson). Take L off ramp towards Dickson. Stay on 96 until it tees into Hwy 70 (approx 10 miles)then take R following signs to the park. Take L onto Laurel Furnace Rd (last L before park main entrance)and it will T into Jones Creek Rd. Take a R and 2nd left into Bill Duke Rd. Take immediate R into parking lot.
Summary: Since I have been riding now officially for about 10 months I have been to about 4 trails in the middle Tennessee area. I started off at Lock 4 an have made my way to Montgomery Bell. Being from the West Nashville area this is by far the easiest trail to get to. I would venture to say that if you live in Franklin or anywhere around there, this would be the same for you as well. The trail head is very easy to spot as it is marked by bushes and posts. The parking is awesome by the way! Everything is paved an you don’t have to worry about making your own parking spot. I would say that they need to put maybe a covered picnic area next to the parking lot being that it is a state park it should be easy to do. As far as the trails go, I thought they where awesome for whats around. They beat the hell out of Hamilton Creek IMO and are very well marked by engraved 4X4’s , street signs and of course markings on the trees. I rode blue to green(downhill) to yellow. The green by far is my favorite pic. Watch out for some run off from rain water in some areas especially in the downhill. I almost ate Sh!t one time coming down a pretty big hill due to ruts in the trail. Yellow is a cardio workout an the trail is under a lot of pine trees so it can get slick from the needles. Also you can loose the trail from the amount of needles on the trail. The creek that runs through the trails is pretty nice in the fact that there is Not a lot of slime in the water so you don’t have to worry about wrecking there either. The first time I saw that I was getting ready to go thought the creek I was like “ooo sh#t SLIMME” I was def. worried but my tires gripped pretty well. All in all this will now be my home trail!
Recommended Route: Take 40 west from Nashville an get off at the Dickson Exit. Or get off of 40 in Bellevue an take 70 all the way out there. 70 will run into the state park an the road to get to the trails will be on your left. All in all about 30 min away from the Vanderbilt area.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Lock 4
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: So I finally made it up to this bike trail. Very glad I did! Not from around here and haven't been riding my bike very much lately down in the Savannah area. This trail was fun and it was also a eye opener for me. I did all of blue and some of white to check it out for my girlfriend. Then I jumped on the downhill and part of yellow out of curiosity. All were much better than Rotary Park in clarksville. As far as technical.....like I said, it's been a while since i've ridden by mountain bike and I still feel sketchy on it. I didn't see anything on the Downhill or yellow trails that would make it an expert trail and I rode them on my HT. Intermediate I think I would classify them as. Still they were very fun! Now the eye opener is they did kick my butt cardiovascularly. Do I plan on going back? OH YEAH! Kudos to the guys that built this!
Recommended Route: Ha ha....i'm still working on that.
Other recommended trails in the same area: ummmmmmm......you tell me
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Not sure what was wrong, probably operator error, but when I punched the coordinates into my Garmin, this Lat/Long had me in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, this was my first time riding Montgomery Bell and it was totally worth the drive from Clarksville. Went with two friends who I consider to be in much better cardio shape and this system proved it. Boy was I smoked. Totally awesome group of trails. The parking lot has a great map that allows even first-timers to plan out the route best suited for their riding ability/style. All of the trails were well marked. The bridgework is in really good shape. Even though it's early Spring, the trails were in great shape.
Recommended Route: Being my first time out, I'm not sure I know which route is best. We hit red and white on the way out and then caught green for a while. Thought we were doing the downhill course but there was a ton of climbing. Maybe we made a wrong turn. Met a guy in the parking lot and he mentioned that green and yellow are a great cardio course and having ridden some green, I would have to agree. There's a lot to do out here and tons of trails left to explore.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: following up to a review i wrote in march, i have a few other things to say. first of all this is probably the best trail in middle TN. the downhill trail cant really be called downhill but super technical xc/all mountain best describes it. if u like going fast, the 'downhill' trail is great. especially the first part. for the first part body armor and a full face helmet wouldn't be a bad idea, but then when the trail levels out a bit, it would just get in the way. but shin guards for the whole thing would be great.
Recommended Route: "downhill" trail and yellow advanced trail
Other recommended trails in the same area: monty bell is the best but ham creek in nashville is good
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Trail is now finished as of August 2006. We were planning to add about another 3/4 mile in the one area that has some open woods, but the park shut us down. They just said we had enough trail. Well, we still got a decent amount of trail done, and it is all hand built singletrac. The effort took over 10 yrs. Special thanks go out to Tommy Hatcher for his tenacious effort to keep this work going all these years. The yellow is the newest, and is pretty smooth and fast, but quite aerobic with repeated short and a few longish climbs. I have been continuing to improve the trail when I get time, and have added quite a few banked turns over in the yellow that are pretty fun to ride, especially when you know they are coming up and can carry your speed.
We still need better signage, and you can get lost. but the system is so compact, you never are more than 1/2 mile from a road. Download the trail map at the State Park Web site. Usually maps are available at the entrance, if not go over to the main park office. As said below, note the location posted on the map is slightly off. Trail is north of Hwy 70 entirely.
Recommended Route: Perimeter Red, to back blue, then in to green, then into yellow, then east on expressway (red), to west end at 4 points, Then back around to the west on Red Perimeter again (other direction) this is about 12 miles, and is a fast great workout,.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Chickasaw Trace, Hamilton Creek, Fall Creek Falls, Lock 4
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
4.25 of 5
5 of 5
4 of 5
3 of 5
4 of 5
5 of 5
