Intermediate to Advanced
Featuring the downhill trails of Fayetteville’s Centennial Park at Millsap Mountain and Kessler Mountain Regional Park, this Intermediate to Advanced mountain bike route combines Fayetteville’s hilly landscape with the technical rock gardens, jumps and drops some mountain bikers seek – including a gap jump over an antique pickup truck!
Rolling from the main trailhead at Centennial Park, our Down Mountains route begins with a few warmup miles around Millsap Mountain including portions of the Fayetteville Traverse and Learners Permit – before heading down the popular Junk Drawer trail. This playful directional trail offers ample booters and berms as it descends 200 feet off the mountain’s southern slope. Discovered by the trail builders and incorporated into the trails design, an iconic gap jump over the bed of an old pickup truck awaits at the bottom. Riders not ready to send it can roll an alternate b-line around the feature.
Millsap Mountain’s steep southern slope offers 4 different intermediate and advanced directional downhill experiences to choose from, including the Captain Fantastic and Hail Mary trails. Difficult by design, cyclists are reminded to ride within their limits in the park. From the bottom, the route utilizes portions of Junk Drawer for a short ½-mile return line to take another run.
After a couple downhill runs, the route continues south along the Fayetteville Traverse to Centennial’s sister park – and the daunting Kessler Mountain. A milelong climb up Kessler’s northern face leads to the top of Flight Training. Optimized for mountain bikes, this advanced downhill trail takes advantage of Kessler’s steep slope with vertical grades that reach -35%. At the bottom, a series of dirt jumps allows mountain bikers to make the most of the high-speed descent. The route finishes back along portions of the Fayetteville Traverse trail, guiding riders back up to the top of Centennial Park for celebratory fist bumps with their buddies.
Where to Park
Centennial Park at Millsap Mountain features a 12-mile trail system that includes purpose-built cyclocross and cross-country mountain bike racecourses. Since opening in 2021, the park has hosted some of cycling’s most prestigious events – including the 2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. The park’s primary trailhead includes free public parking, a pavilion, restrooms, and water bottle filling station.
