Sugarcamp Mountain Trails in Prestonsburg, KY brings burly, natural-style, hand dug trails to Eastern Kentucky’s mountains. A grass-roots effort between some very dedicated mountain bike enthusiasts, an overwhelmingly supportive City Mayor, Jenny Wiley State Resort Park, US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Kentucky Division of Forestry. SMT is a nod to the old school Build It and They Will Come stories core mountain bikers typically read about in magazines.
Quick Info:
Free to ride
Three main access points:
Jenny Wiley Campground - bottom of mountain
Arrowhead Trailhead - bottom of mountain, a short distance from the campground
Sugarcamp Mountain - top of the mountain
Lots of vert! Shuttle if you can.
Trailforks and MTB Project both have accurate, up-to-date maps
The Sugarcamp Mountain Trails Facebook group is very active with updates and announcements
Bike Shops:
Pro-Fitness Multisports - 1243 South Lake Drive, Prestonsburg, KY - Bike parts; Cannondale, GT, Schwinn, Trek Service and Sales
Restaurants:
Lizzie B’s Cafe Bakery - Craft beer, west-coast inspired eats
The Brickhouse - Draft beer, cocktails, live music, bar and upscale food
Prestonsburg Pig In A Poke - BBQ, draft beer, and cocktails
Blog
The first time I heard of Sugarcamp Mountain Trails (when I created this post in 2016, it wasn’t even named yet), a buddy of mine working for the forestry department told me, “I think there’s some guys building bike trails here at the lake, looks pretty bad ass.” Bad ass indeed. The guys responsible for this trail system have hand dug just about every foot of these trails over the last few years and in the process have, literally, created mountain bike culture in a small pocket of Eastern Kentucky that was completely devoid of such.
Outside of the very small amount of trails at Breaks Interstate Park, Eastern Kentucky had no actual mountain bike trails. Cave Run Lake, probably due to its proximity to Lexington and Cincinnati, has had bike trails for a long time; and though it’s technically in EKY, it just ain’t the Eastern Kentucky mountains that I grew up in. Somewhere in my deep dives into mountain bike trails around my homeland I found Harlan County’s Black Mountain Off-Road Park had bike trails some years ago, but I found no mention of those when I made a trip on my moto bike. A shame, too. I bet those were some old school, gnarly MTB trails.
Sugarcamp Mountain Trails have blown up in MTB circles across the state and elsewhere. Not to get too much more into the weeds, but these trails have brought a significant amount of attention to Prestonsburg and have really shown the impact that such efforts can make. Being from the area, it’s been really cool to watch it development and to imagine what it could potentially spark in the future. I just wish I lived close enough to be able to get directly involved with it…