Mountrussell Loop (Brown Loop)

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E-Bikes Unknown

Ballyhoura is the premiere trail center in Ireland. The trail system features a number of increasingly lengthy, but not necessarily more difficult, nested trails. Greenwood loop is the first of these. The Mountrussell Loop is the second loop in the system.

After you pass the turnaround point for the Greenwood Loop (Green Loop), the climb continues for a short distance along a forest road before it cuts back to the right onto singletrack at about 2.1 miles (3.4km). This begins a one mile (1.5 km), mostly singletrack, descent through the forest.

This section is filled with a number of boardwalk sections to protect particularly sensitive areas of the forest floor. For those not lucky enough to be born Irish, you can't begin to appreciate how green the forest and surrounding countryside is. The singletrack sections twist and dip through the forest with rocks and roots seeking to impede your progress along the way. Enjoy!

After the first descent, you'll climb again. As you turn back towards the trailhead you'll enjoy another quick descent. A final, more gentle climb takes you back to the Greenwood Loop (Green loop) where you can enjoy a final singletrack descent.

If you're feeling good around the halfway point but are looking for more, you can continue on the Garrane Loop (White Loop) which is a longer version of the Green and Brown loops. If you want something just a little more technical, the Tech 1 loop branches off the brown loop just past 5 miles (8 km) overall. Tech 1 is a mostly downhill segment with tight, bermed turns and a few jumps. This is most appropriately followed with the Tech 2 loop which is similar in character to Tech 1.

The trailhead features toilets, showers (for both people and bikes), and bike hire.