What Actually Closes Standing Boy in November

If you're planning a November morning on Standing Boy Trails, check the rain before you check the hunt calendar.

November brings two archery quota hunt weekends, a trail festival and the usual Sunday and Thursday group rides to the 1,580-acre property on Lake Oliver, and a third hunt weekend follows Dec. 4–6. The hunts don't close any trails. Wet ground does, and when it does, the closure applies to hikers, runners and riders alike. If you plan your November around that fact, you'll lose fewer mornings to a locked gate.

The Hunt Weekends Leave the Trails Open

Standing Boy's Users Guide says the trails stay open regular hours during archery hunts. The only hunt-related closure on the property comes during the spring youth firearm turkey hunts, when trails stay closed until 10 a.m. The guide asks trail users to be welcoming and respectful to the hunters. The Georgia State Parks page for Standing Boy Creek says the same thing: all quota hunts there are archery, and the trails stay open, except for the spring youth turkey hunt.

These are the dates on the Standing Boy calendar for the rest of the fall:

Normal trail hours are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Every row in that table still depends on one variable the calendar can't predict.

Rain Closes the Gate for Everyone

Standing Boy has three kinds of trail: hiking-only routes for foot traffic, multiuse trails shared by walkers and bikes, and gravity trails, which are downhill and bike-only. Old roadbeds the site calls troads are also signed and well used. The multiuse and gravity trails close whenever they're wet enough that use would damage them.

That second rule catches some hikers off guard. A multiuse closure applies to everyone on foot too. When those trails close, the gate to the Biking Trailhead and Overflow Parking closes with them. The hiking-only trails and troads close only in the very wettest conditions, so a damp morning can still mean a good walk, starting from the hiking parking area farther along Old River Road.

Some trails need more time than others. The live status page lists six "finicky trails" that are more easily damaged and may stay closed longer after rain:

• Lickety Split
• Cyclone Gallop
• The Bug
• Swaveys
• Sky Shark
• Flyin' Shoes

Even when other trails are still tacky, Standing Boy asks riders to give these extra drying time. When a large storm is forecast, the crew tries to tarp Swavey's and Sky Shark before it arrives. That can close those two jump lines the afternoon or evening before the rain, so they may be off-limits on a day that's still dry.

Why the Closures Are Enforced So Firmly

The strictness makes more sense once you know who pays for the trails. The nearly 30 miles of natural-surface trail were built with more than $2 million in private donations and thousands of volunteer hours, with no government funding or grants. Standing Boy, Inc., a nonprofit, maintains and manages the trails, parking areas and trailheads. The City of Columbus manages the property through Standing Boy, Inc.

The organization says it puts protecting that donor investment ahead of keeping the biking lot open. It also says what happens to anyone who rides closed trails: their annual pass can be revoked, and they can be blocked from buying day passes for a while. The guide credits trail users with outstanding compliance so far.

Parking is how most visitors help fund the system. A day pass costs $5. An annual pass is $100 for one vehicle, and an extra vehicle tag is $50. The guide estimates the annual pass pays for itself at about 20 visits a year. Georgia State Parks passes aren't valid here, and all parking revenue goes to Standing Boy, Inc. Supporter memberships at $250 and Patron memberships at $500 add household parking passes and a text message whenever trail status changes, which is handy in a rainy month.

A Wet-Morning Routine That Saves the Drive

The guide asks trail users to use their own judgment alongside the posted status. In practice, that means four habits:

1. Check the trail status on the Standing Boy homepage before you leave home.
2. At the trailhead, make sure the kiosk sign matches the website. If you see someone riding a closed trail, the guide asks you to explain the closure rules politely.
3. If the status says "open" but recent rain makes that seem unlikely, stay home anyway.
4. If the trails turn out to have reopened too soon, get off them and let the organization know. Volunteers can't physically check every trail before reopening.

The guide also says the organization is working on a texting app that would let users alert key volunteers when trails reopen too early or the gate malfunctions.

Picking Trails for a Damp Month

The trail descriptions and the finicky-trail list overlap in a way that matters this time of year. Standing Boy calls The Bug a fast, flowy green trail and Cyclone Gallop a flowy blue one. Both are on the finicky list. So two of the trails newer riders are most likely to pick are also among the slowest to reopen after a November rain. Riders working up to harder terrain get Tie Snake and Scrambled Dog as the suggested first black trails.

Hikers who want more challenge are pointed to Lonely Hunter and Tie Snake. On the green multiuse trails, hikers and bikers travel in opposite directions, and the direction changes by day. Trail signs are good, but the guide recommends Trailforks or AllTrails for navigation. Hikers and runners tend to use AllTrails, and riders tend to use Trailforks.

Some trail rules apply in any season. Riders should wear an appropriate helmet, ride within their abilities and scout difficult features first. Dog owners need to keep their dogs under control. Class 1 e-bikes are allowed. Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes are not, and neither are modified Class 1 bikes. Riding one can cost you your annual pass and your ability to buy a day pass for a while.

Families with young riders have a newer place to start. In March 2026, the Ledger-Enquirer reported on a new children's bicycle playground in Midtown, built for about $600,000, that Standing Boy Inc. helped develop. The paper presented Standing Boy as a natural next step for kids who outgrow it.

Nov. 21 and the Weekly Rides

The biggest date on November's calendar is the CVA SORBA Trailfest on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CVA is the Chattahoochee Valley Area chapter of SORBA, the regional mountain biking organization, and it covers Columbus. Standing Boy's alert lists only the date and hours, so check the homepage closer to the day for the program. Plan for regular parking rules too. Nothing on the site says the usual pass requirement changes for the festival.

Last fall had a different event at the same property. The Ledger-Enquirer listed a free Standing Boy Fall Festival on Nov. 1, 2025, with group rides, food, jumps, trail sessions and a bike demo from Brickyard Bike Co. That event and this year's Trailfest are listed separately, so don't expect the same lineup.

Group rides leave the Upper Lot every Sunday at 3 p.m. and every Thursday at 6 p.m. A ride listing for the Sunday group says Standing Boy, Inc. hosts it and that it's free, though you still need a parking pass. Like everything else on the property in November, both rides depend on that day's trail status.

Part of what I enjoy about helping people find a home in north Columbus is talking about how they'll actually spend their weekends, and for plenty of people Standing Boy is a big part of that. If you're thinking about a move that would put the Old River Road trailheads a short drive away, or you just want to compare notes on Lake Oliver, Lisa Raines would be glad to help. Let's Connect.