Goshen Valley Loop

Baileyton, TN, US

Route Overview

34 mi.

1,807 ft.

The Goshen Valley Loop traverses two picturesque valleys, with a mix of climbing workouts and scenic strolls. There's a serious climb at the halfway point as you make your way over the ridge that separates these two valleys. The beauty of East Tennessee's rolling hills and valleys will have you coming back for more.

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Route Details

**Potential Route Modifications:**

While there are no shortcuts on this loop, you could potentially start the ride on the northeast side of the loop if you’re staying in Kingsport, Tenn.

The Baileyton start has a nice parking area, a couple of post-ride restaurants, and easy access to I-81, but you can start the route from any point along the loop.

You can reverse the direction of the loop, if you’d like. We prefer running it clockwise, as it gives you the full Mountain View climb, and you get a nice gentle downhill on the back half of the loop on Beech Creek Road.

## Getting Started:

This route begins in Baileyton, Tenn., at the @poi[Baileyton Park & Walking Track](123962390), which has restrooms and covered picnic tables. The driveway to the park is gravel, but it’s rideable with road tires.

From the park, turn right onto Horton Hwy and then immediately right again onto Main Street. Despite the name, this is a quiet residential street that will take you about half-a-mile over to Van Hill Road.

Turn right onto Van Hill Road and follow it four miles to a stop sign at Beech Creek Road. You shouldn’t see a lot of traffic on Van Hill, but the traffic you do see may be moving fast. Stay to the right of the road as you ride this route. That’s a good practice no matter what road you’re riding, but it is especially true on these roads with a double yellow line.

At the stop sign, turn left onto Beech Creek Road and follow it one mile until you see Early Branch Road on your right. Turn right onto Early Branch and follow it for two-and-a-half miles until it ends at a stop sign with Grassy Creek Road. While Early Branch has some rough pavement and a small climb, it’s a quiet, tree-covered road that offers a nice change of pace from the open farmland that characterizes the majority of this ride. Just watch the road and pick your lines carefully to avoid the bumpy stuff.

At the stop sign, turn left onto Grassy Creek Road and roll down half-a-mile to the stop sign at Goshen Valley Road, where you’ll turn right. Goshen Valley is a great road with rolling hills and beautiful farmland scenery. After cruising along for a little over six miles look to your right for Mountain View Road. This road is easy to miss as you’ll be rolling downhill through a curve, so keep an eye on your odometer to be ready for it. The turn is at mile 15.

Turn right onto Mountain View Road and stay to the right after crossing the bridge at the turn, which will make the turn feel like a hairpin maneuver. After making the turn onto Mountain View, you’ll go over a small hill and then the road will bend to the right as it passes by River Road. Follow this bend and you’ll suddenly find yourself on a tree-covered climb.

The climb is over a mile-and-a-half, so you’ll need to settle in and use your climbing gears to spin your way up. It is much too long to muscle over. The first third is steady climbing with grades between 6-10%. After a little over half-a-mile, the road bends sharply to the left as it passes by Mountain View School Road. Stay to the left at this bend and push through the brutal 15% grade. Fortunately, the grade comes down quickly after this short wall, and you’ll soon find yourself shifting into bigger gears as the road flattens out for a bit. Use this middle section to recover from the initial climb and prepare for the final push, which kicks off with another 15% wall. Like the previous ramp, this steep section doesn’t last long, and the grade comes down quickly and flattens out as you crest the climb.

While coming over the top of the climb will feel great, don’t get too excited as the grade starts to tilt downward or you’ll blow right past a sharp right. Technically, this hard bend to the right is still Mountain View Road, but it will feel like an actual turn. If you go straight, you’ll be on Bays Mountain Road, which is a long dead end.

After making this turn to the right, you’ll start a fun descent that lasts around two-and-a-half miles. It’s a great descent without any sharp curves or scary steep sections. In fact, you can put it in the big ring and pedal quite a bit of it if you want to push your speed. The climb eventually bottoms out and you’ll come to a stop sign at Beech Creek Road where you’ll turn right.

At this point, you’ll have almost nine miles of smooth sailing down Beech Creek without any turns. While you’ll have a slight uphill for the first mile, the rest of the ride down Beech Creek is a gentle downhill, which will make the miles tick by at a rapid pace. The scenery is beautiful along this stretch, but you may have a few more vehicles than the previous roads, so be sure to stay to the right as you roll along.

Eventually, Beech Creek will bring you back to Van Hill Road, where you’ll turn left and retrace your steps to Baileyton Main Street and to the park where you started. From there, you can head over to the @poi[Baileyton Restaurant](70919560) or the @poi[Corner Deli](70919561) to refuel and celebrate the accomplishment.

## Important Reminders
Bike TN routes often include roads with car and truck traffic. Although the Bikeways are routed on low-traffic and low-speed roads whenever possible, most are designated for cyclists who are comfortable riding in some amount of traffic.

## More Resources
[Experience Northeast Tennessee](https://northeasttennessee.org/)

Goshen Valley Loop

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