Beech Mountain

Just 125 miles from Charlotte, the highest incorporated town east of the Rockies feels like another land, especially in summer

- Jodie Valade

STEPS AWAY FROM THE BREATHTAKING, 5,506-foot summit of Beech Mountain, I don’t pause to gaze at the hazy, green mountains on the horizon or try to locate the three different states I can see from the magnificent height, or even stop to breathe in the kind of clear air that comes only from being this close to the clouds.

I look down. Way down, at the narrow groove of dirt that will be my path descending from the highest point of the mountain town while riding a bike. I look down at the rolling hills and the rock ledges and the banked turns through trees, and glance over at my husband worriedly. He smiles encouragingly.

“Just don’t look down,” my mountain bike instructor, Clancy Loorham, cautions too late. “That’s when you get into trouble.”

It is my first time attempting to mountain bike— “down hilling,” as a bike-aficionado friend calls it—and it is on the six-year-old trails at Beech Mountain Resort that were renovated this year. A couple of new trails were added and all were widened in 2017, but they still are essentially the same pathways used by competitors in professional mountain bike national championships in 2011 and 2012. They are that challenging.

They snake down the mountain along paths that sometimes stay within the confines of the open areas cleared for ski runs used in the winter, but also dip into the tract of land thick with forest. The trails were opened to the public in 2013 and have been a tourist hit ever since.

I’m wearing protective plastic guards on my shins and forearms, and a full-face helmet with a sturdy shield that stretches over my mouth. Still, knowing my natural ability for klutziness, I’m not sure if all of it—or the short practice session Clancy gave us on the essential skill of braking—is enough to protect me.