I can remember visiting Horsepasture Road as a kid and being absolutely blown away by the views from Jumping Off Rock, and to this day it still strikes me every time I go up to this area. Between Horsepasture, Mustergrounds and Gorges State Park there is about 50 miles of offroad trails, and thousands of acres of wilderness to explore. One of my favorite places on earth, come and see it!

Note: Large sections of this map are SEASONALLY OPEN! The best time to visit this area is in the fall, September-December both for the views and open gates

I can remember visiting Horsepasture Road as a kid and being absolutely blown away by the views from Jumping Off Rock, and to this day it still strikes me every time I go up to this area. Between Horsepasture, Mustergrounds and Gorges State Park there is about 50 miles of offroad trails, and thousands of acres of wilderness to explore. One of my favorite places on earth, come and see it!

Note: Large sections of this map are SEASONALLY OPEN! The best time to visit this area is in the fall, September-December both for the views and open gates

Details:

Difficulty:

Scale: 1 for 95% of the trail, there is a section between the NC entrance and Horsepasture river that can get rough but is manageable as a 2 Difficulty Scale can be viewed here.

Details:

Note, airing down is optional as most of the route is just light gravel roads. I have marked air up/down spots.

While these areas are beautiful, you can easily run the core trails from end to end in a day, I wouldnt really call it an "Overland" route unless you really want to explore every nook and cranny, though it's still a bast to explore and Camp! There are several great overlooks, lakeside lunch spots, and river side camp grounds dotted all throughout it. 

Horsepasture Road: I've always said this is one of my favorite trails in the south east. It could just be that I've been riding this road most of my life, or maybe it's the scenic overlooks, but it's always been home to me no matter what phase of my outdoor journey I'm on. Most of Horse Pasture is seasonal, only open September-January in the fall/winter or March-May in the Spring... If you're familiar with the dates, it's because those are popular hunting seasons... And yep, it's not a coincidence. This is a very popular Deer and Bear hunting area, be careful and prepared for full camp sites if you decide to go up for more than a day trip.

You can enter year round to to Highway 178 in Rocky Bottom, SC year round this will take you straight out to Jumping Off Rock, one of if not the best overlook in the state. Seasonally, you can enter through Cleo Chapman Highway onto Shooting Ridge road. 

Musterground Road: This is admittedly just hunting land with a seasonal cut through to Auger Hole Road leading into NC. There is a beautiful crossing over the Thompson River, but outside of that be prepared to encounter a lot of hunters. There are a few hunting camps littered at the end of the many fingers, but not much in the way of scenery after you cross the Thompson. If you are up for a hike, Mill Creek Road and Wright Creek Road both lead out to beautiful waterfalls, but are several miles behind a closed gate.

Musterground Road does have a connector trail that leads to Auger Hole road in Gorges State Park just over the state line. I have received a lot of conflicting information on whether or not this is open to the public. The gate is not always open, and when it is I have had some wardens tell me it's public and some say it's not, there is also plenty of signage saying no vehicles allowed. Travel at your own risk, and use discretion. 

Gorges State Park, Auger Hole Road, Chestnut Ridge Road: One of my favorite areas in the world is Gorges State Park, just a big beautiful spot out in the middle of nowhere WNC with some beautiful river sites. There are two entrances, as noted above enter from Musterground road at your own risk, the official entrance is near the Gorges State Park office off of NC 281. The road down to the river is rough in some spots, it's doable in a lightly build 4x4 rig, I wouldnt recommend taking a sedan down it though. After you weave your way down to the Horse Pasture River you are in for a treat with a gorgeous river campsite!

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From the trail...