[jglenn6]

A group of friends and I are looking into doing a 3 day downhill trip. The first and third days are reserved for travel whereas the day in the middle is nothing but riding. The days of the trip are July 16th-18th with the 17th being our riding day. We're coming out of Evansville, Indiana. Both Snowshoe and Bailey are about an 8 our drive.

Snowshoe has the women's downhill clinic going on that day whereas Bailey has nothing going on that weekend. Snowshoe has more trails along with a lift but Bailey regulates the amount of people, runs a shuttle, and has enough trails to keep us busy for the day.

Where would you go? Snowshoe or Bailey?

 

[Joules]

Snowshoe is a lot bigger. A lot bigger. I'm not sure you could ride the whole mountain in one day. You won't get bored of Bailey in one day either. Both are wonderful places to ride; Bailey is more like riding at a friend's property, Snowshoe is definitely more of a resort.
OTOH, there's not a lot around Snowshoe other than the park, where Asheville could keep you entertained for a couple nights. Especially if you like BBQ and beer (and if you don't like those things, you probably don't like fun or mountain biking, so disregard the rest of my suggestions).

I guess I'd say other than variety of trails (which favors Snowshoe), if you like jumps/flow/"park" terrain, Bailey is the place to go, if you prefer natural then Snowshoe wins.

Personally, I can't stand 2 days of driving for one day riding. Suggestion on how to get 2 days of riding: Leave Friday after work, drive halfway (or however far you can stand driving that night), then leave early to get to the park Saturday morning.