Trail Overview

This side trail branches off Forest Service Road 212 (Chestnut Mountain Road) just over 5 miles in. It’s an out-and-back route primarily made up of dirt, which can become muddy and slick during wet weather. The trail is lightly traveled but remains easy to follow. Around the 1-mile mark, the path narrows significantly—vehicles that are wider than standard off-road rigs may not be able to continue past this point. Once you're in the narrow section, there are very few places to turn around, and the trail borders steep drop-offs, making caution essential.

Photos of Chestnut Mountain Spur - FS 212C

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Difficulty

This trail is rated a strong 2 on the difficulty scale. It’s a single-lane route for most of its length and narrows significantly on the back end, limiting access for wider vehicles. The surface is primarily dirt with some muddy sections, especially in wet conditions, but overall it's manageable and doesn’t present major technical challenges.

Technical Rating

Reese Chadwick

Feb 14, 2026

Open

Do NOT go down this trail. You can go though about 85% of it and towards the end after squeezing past trees (having to fold my mirrors) I drove up on a HUGE tree that was laying down across the trail. 0 way to turn around and 0 way around or over the tree I had to reverse all the way back to this open area. Did not have a backup camera. Long story short I’m 1 mirror down and have a couple dents and scratches on the rig. Could’ve ended worse but also hate that it happened to begin with. Luckily some people came up behind me and I told them to backup before they got too far in and they ended up helping me the best they could. I noticed the report of a tree down in December but assumed it would’ve been cleared by now especially since it seemed like a more known trail since there’s a shooting range along the trail but boy was I wrong. Learned my lesson and I will be packing a chainsaw with me every time I go trail riding now.

Nathan Sanders

Dec 21, 2025

Open

I think the gate to 212C should be closed. Got about 1 mile down and had a difficult time navigating between saplings in my 2016 F150 with mirrors folded in. No areas to turn around, came across 2 downed pines and was able to winch them out. Got further down to a spot before another downed tree that was too big to move by winch and had to do a 15 point maneuver to turn my big crew cab around to drive out. Forrest service needs to clear the path or close the gate