Explorer Loop Trail
At A Glance
3 mi one-way
Difficulty Rating: 3 
Steepness: Few Hills
Tread Condition: Some Obstacles
Blaze Color: Yellow
Trail Number: 337
Description
Travels on mostly old roadbeds; only a couple of steep sections. Crosses Beaten Branch a couple of times on the northeast end; this can be wet. Re-routed section near Cold Creek Knob Road is steeper with several switchbacks. Explorer Loop Alternate eliminates this section.
Intersecting Trails
This trail is located in the Bent Creek area. For a list of all the trails in that area, see the Bent Creek trails list page.
All Photos from the Trail
GPS Map
Map Information
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Data Formats
KML (Google Earth)
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GPX
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GeoJSON
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About the Map
Copyright
Base Layers
Base layers provided by OpenStreetMap, the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, and NC OneMap. Base layer images are subject to the respective copyright policies of their owners. Base layers may not be available at all times due to system maintenance or outages.
WNCOutdoors Base Layer
The WNCOutdoors Base layer is provided by WNCOutdoors.info. It is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.
Trail and Marker Overlays
Trail layers and downloadable data are all original works created by WNCOutdoors with guidance from a variety of sources, including ensembles of our own GPS tracks, user contributed GPS tracks, official maps and GIS data from government agencies, and field observations. WNCOutdoors data is made freely available under the Open Database License - you are free to copy and use it for any purpose under the terms of that license (summary).
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Trail Segments
Trails are often made up of several connecting paths which may have different characteristics, allowed uses, and seasons. This trail is divided into multiple segments as follows:
Explorer Loop Alt.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 528 ft
Explorer Loop - FS 479H
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.31 mi
Explorer Loop - FS 479H to Chestnut Cove Tr.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.35 mi
Explorer Loop - Chestnut Cove Tr. to Alt.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.52 mi
Explorer Loop - Alt. to Sleepy Gap
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.71 mi
Explorer Loop - Sleepy Gap to Pine Tree Conn.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.42 mi
Explorer Loop - BCGR Connector to Pine Tree Connector
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.11 mi
Explorer Loop - BCGR Connector
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.16 mi
Explorer Loop - FS 479H to BCGR Connector
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.91 mi
Total Calculated Length: 3.59 mi
This value is derived from our underlying map data, and it may not match officially published information.
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