WP37.7 Hillsborough

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Carrboro, NC, US

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Route Overview

Orange County, NC and the Carolina Tarwheels

Cycling in the Southern Part of Heaven

38 mi.

1,677 ft.

This route will take you from Carrboro to Hillsborough and back. You will enjoy the transitions from residential, to rural living, to farm and woodlands of Orange County. Your ride will have an abundance of rolling hills and country vistas.

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Route Details

## Overview:
This is a great ride for all skill levels at any time of the year that can do the distance.  You are going to be riding on all paved roads with good surfaces.  With towns with names like Chapel Hill and Hillsborough you're safe to assume that you will be enjoying hills, but nothing too steep to be concerned about.  The route starts at [Charles Herman Wilson Park](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charles-Herman-Wilson-Park/264825533627026) in Carrboro where there is parking and facilities.

## The Route:
From the Wilson Park parking lot you will exit onto Wilson St then turn right onto N Greensboro.   This is the@slice[ warm-up portion](d,125.78,3174.04) of the ride.  N Greensboro is a long slight up hill that has nice bike lane.   N Greensboro changes into @point[Hillsborough Rd](d,1209.08), but most people will never notice.

At the T intersection turn right on to Old 86/Old Fayetteville/Hillsborough Rd.  Take care here as the bike lane disappears.  You will now notice that you are getting into a more rural area.  The @photo[Hogan farm](1826466) on your right is the home to UNC's mascot:  [Rameses the ram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameses_(mascot)).

Carefully negotiate a left turn at the light in Calavander onto Dairyland Rd.  Dairyland is a central road to a lot of our rides.  If you want to add a few miles to the route,  just stay on Dairyland,  but this route takes a shortcut at the next intersection.  Turn right on to Union Grove Church Rd.

Union Grove Church Rd is nicely wooded and is the start of the rolling hills of the ride.  By the end of the ride you will understand that we have a LOT of rolling hills, some steeper and longer than others.  We are going to turn left onto Albert, but be careful as the turn is at the bottom of a nice @slice[down hill section](d,6938.38,7812.08), and it is easy to pick up speed.

Continue on Albert, it puts you back on to Dairyland,  ending the shortcut.  Proceed down Dairyland.  At the top of the next hill you will encounter a great view of Maple View Farm and to your right, the famous @photo[Maple View Ice Cream Store](1730917).   (Exceptional ice cream!)

As you proceed down the hill on Dairyland, you will pass the main barn of the farm off to the right and around the bend will be the Maple View Agriculture Center with a small solar farm.

Proceed on to a nice down hill followed by an @slice[up hill](d,10739.07,11121.66) that is just long enough to get most people breathing hard. 
Level off and turn right onto Dodson’s Crossroads.

On your right you will pass a @photo[beautiful horse farm](1731065).  Continue on Dodson’s Crossroads which is mainly a wooded county road.  When you start seeing some nicely landscaped county homesteads, you will be approaching your next turn. Turn right onto Orange Grove Rd.

Orange Grove will take you into Hillsborough.  It is mainly rolling hills, wooded homesteads and farms.  When passing farms on your right, keep an eye out for a 25 foot tall @photo[rocking chair up on the hill](1730910).  I happened to meet the owner while writing this route profile and I asked him to tell me the story of @photo[the chair](1730909). He said:  “No Story, I just wanted to have something in my front pasture that would make people smile.”  So please smile when you ride by the giant rocking chair.

Proceed past the chair and through the stoplight.  Get ready for a fun, long, fast @slice[downhill](d,23252.6,25050.75).  At the bottom, turn left onto Exchange Club Road.   At the end of Exchange Club Road, you will cross a bridge and run into a parking lot.  On the @photo[opposite side of the parking lot is Weaver Street Market](1730908), the rest stop.  It has lots of good food and drink.

After your rest stop it's best to go through the parking garage to the east of the market and come out of the upper level on W Margaret.  Churton St can have a lot of traffic.   Turn right on W Margaret and proceed across Churton St to E Margaret.  At the end of E Margaret turn left onto S Cameron St and make a quick right onto St. Mary's St.

Enjoy a few hills then turn right onto Miller Rd, proceed through the stoplight, crossing 70 and @slice[up the hill](d,28175.82,28689.57).

As you continue @slice[down the hill](d,28689.57,29314.57) you just climbed you'll be leaving the residential areas and going back into the country side northeast of Hillsborough. At the next intersection you will be turning to the right on Baldwin Road.  You should note that this is an area where folks like big houses and lots of grass.  No push lawn mowers here.

As you go down the hill @slice[near the end of Baldwin](d,33936.05,34062.19) , if you look into the woods, you will see some of @photo[people](1730904).  They are actually @photo[sculptures](1731112).  A bit further are some animal @photo[sculptures](1730906).

Turn left onto St. Mary's and make a quick right on to Laurence. Enjoy Lawrence's gently Rolling Hills and proceed through the stop light at Route 70.  Go past the golf course on your left and proceed through the next stoplight.  As you go through the stop light take a look at the unique @photo[wall](1847315) and @photo[fountain](1847318) built out of the quartz rocks on the right.

At the next stop sign turn left onto Old Route 10.  Old Route 10 has some hills and winding parts, and then it straightens out before your right turn onto University Station Road.

On University Station there are a railroad tracks in @slice[one of the dips](d,43634.32,43865.67).  Be careful to cross them at an appropriate speed.  At the end of University Station, turn right onto Mt Sinai Rd.  Continue on to the intersection of 86.  Here you want to proceed straight across 86 on to Millhouse Rd.  On the corner of 86 and Millhouse is @photo[Allen and Son’s BBQ](1730890) where they serve wonderful classic North Carolina BBQ.

Continue on Millhouse and another railroad crossing.  These tracks cross the road at an angle so once again, be careful.   When you get to an intersection with Chapel Hill municipal buildings in front of you, you will turn right to stay on Millhouse Rd.

At the light, turn right onto Eubanks Rd and again cross those pesky railroad tracks.   Proceed down Eubanks, past the recycling center and turn left onto Rogers Rd.  At the end of Rogers Rd turn left on Homestead Rd and climb a short hill.  At the top you will turn right onto Seawell School Rd.  If your riding around the time school is either starting or ending for the day, there can be traffic, but most of the time it is nice and quiet.  Again you are going to cross the railroad tracks and climb a short hill before descending to Estes Drive Ext. where you are turning right.

Estes Drive Ext can have some traffic, but there is a nice bike lane.  Proceed on to your last railroad crossing of the route.  As you cross, look forward and you will see a @photo[crosswalk](1732968).  This is where you are going to turn right onto Wilson Park Trail, which will deliver you back to your starting point.

## Extras:
* [Tarwheels formatted Cue Sheet](http://tarwheels.net/pdf/14414170)
* [Tarwheels CSV file to format your own cue sheet](http://tarwheels.net/csv/14414170)

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WP37.7 Hillsborough

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