Anyone ever been to Beech Mountain or Emerald Outback? I wanted to get some opinions before I go up there. Wanted to see if it was feasible to do it with a hardtail and still have a good time or should I rent a trail bike package they have up there. I do not think I am ready for Bailey (of course) but since I am a teacher and the year is almost over, I was looking for something different to do this summer.

emerald outback is a series of singletrack and doubler track trails. They are up on the mountain, but there isn't a whole lot of climbing. I thought they were alright but a bit confusing. You can ride a hardtail on them. Now the Beech mountain Downhill is a whole different  animal. You would need to rent a downhill bike and wear a full face helmet. They are shuttling riders up the mountain now. No chair lift

pmedly wrote on 06/05/18 at 4:04pm:

You must not be doing the same trails that I saw. I thought a couple of runs looked fairly wicked

My son and I were there on Saturday for the 2018 season opening. I brought my Canfield DH bike and we brought his Trek Stash 29” hard tail for him figuring we could always rent a DH bike if it didn’t pan out with the 29”x 3” hard tail. Conditions were VERY slick and due to the construction they only had black bear open from the top. All other trails were available from the mid point road down to the bottom. 

While the boy managed to ride the bottom half of green mamba and blue ridge rocks on the fat tire hard tail I will caution you that he is a 21 yr old Red Line Cup BMX winner and took it VERY slowly. His comment was that it was very sketchy even at that speed. So yes it can be done by a skilled rider but I don’t think I’d recommend it as that’s not the type of riding experience you would want from a bike park. 

Second half of the day self preservation kicked in and and I gave him the 203” travel Jedi. He spent the second half of the day on that bike and had a great time riding black bear from top to bottom several times. Conclusion, while Beech isn’t Bailey or WindRock, it is a legitimate bike park and you will have much more fun with a 140” travel or better bike. While renting ain’t the cheapest it would far more preferable to spending the time and money to drive up and have a rotten time - or worse yet getting hurt. 

Two other points to the group at large. First, with the lifts being replaced Beech has gone to shuttles to get you to the top of the hill. This takes a bit of time and I want to say thanks to the Management for adding a second shuttle bus which cut the dwell times to a manageable period. Second due to the slower service Beech has limited the number of reservations they will take on a given day. This past weekend I understand they capped it at 25 pre registrations and 10 day of slots. Point being if you are making a drive I would book in advance rather than run into issues. 

Ultimately we had a great time and will be planning to head back soon; but this time will rent the second DH bike. If you are planning to stick with the hard tail I think there were some good suggestions posted previously as alternatives.  I would add DuPont and Uwharrie to the list for you to consider. Enjoy the summer and the great rides we have available to us!
Cheers 
Jeff