Re: Blue Ridge Trail
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:16 pm
Day 3: Monday- We woke and had another leisurely breakfast, this time at the Best Western down the street from the Pinehurst. After some slow packing we were finally on the road by 10’. It is actually pretty amazing we were able to cover the distance we did each day considering our late starts, leisurely lunches, multitude of breaks and plethora of incidents. While leaving Covington, I missed a turn and hating U-turns tried to get back on course by taking the very next turn instead. Unfortunately, this led us into a very dense housing development where many of the residents were out and about; I wondered what they thought as 4 dirt bikes rolled down their neighborhood street. Thinking we could get back on course by cutting through the development did not work out as every street only lead to a dead-end or cull-d-sac; I guess I should have believed the GPS when it kept saying to go back out the way we came in; and eventually that is what we had to do to escape the development. Not long after we found our way out of Covington and back onto the BRT. The rest of the morning went more smoothly and the highlight was Bald Mountain Fire Road which had some great views (sorry no pics). It also had some hilly sections with erosion that was nasty enough to get your attention. It was also on this road that I saw 2 wild turkeys and later, a black bear not 20’ off the road who actually raced along side of us before finally turning deeper into the woods. Eventually we popped out on RT 311 just east of Paint Bank. It was a little early for lunch but having been to the Swinging Bridge Restaurant in Paint Bank before; we decided we did not want to pass up the opportunity since the food there is so yummy. For anyone who has been to this place, you are undoubtedly familiar with were all the bikes used to park on the lower side of the building; that was part of the cool thing about the place. However, I had heard that the place was getting so swarmed with Pirates on the weekends that customers couldn’t even get to the gas pumps so they were forced to make the whole lower side no parking. I didn’t want to believe this but sure enough, we had to park up in the upper lot with all the cages; if the Pirates can fuk this up, what’s next? Lunch was delicious as always, even more so being served by our hot waitress Carly who by West Virginia standards was to die for. While we were inside at lunch a little downpour came through making everything outside wet when it was time to get back on the road. Having listened to Sam regal us with stories of him thrashing his Goldwing around while riding with a group of sport bike riders, I though it was time to turn the old-dog loose and let him hunt for a while. Sam and Wingfixer took off back up 311 to get us back on the trail with Paul and I close behind. However, VDOT, in its infinite wisdom, has completely ruined the surface of 311 by “fixing” some cracks with tar snakes which are everywhere. My front tire hit one of these wet tire snakes and slid like 4 feet; well it was probably more like 4 cm’s but after my incident on day 1 my sphincter turned inside out and I backed out of it and watched Sam and WF disappear in front of me, somehow they had magic tires that did not mind the wet tar snakes; else cajones the size of grapefruits. Soon we jumped off 311 onto Tub Run Rd and Sam continued leading and showed us how a little WR250 can boogie; and WF had another slide out which was just common practice at this point. Soon we climbed up onto the ridge of a mountain and I had to stop and do a double check when my GPS said turn right onto the Appalachian Trail. Well we had to do what the GPS said and sure enough, it was the Appalachian Trail complete with a couple of Hikers who were giving us the stink-eye. However, within a short distance, the official hiking trail split off to the left and we continued straight on a 2 track road which would parallel the trail. It was here that we were given our first taste of the mud that was to be the theme for much of the rest of the afternoon. I am still perplexed how gigantic mud holes can be on the TOP of a mountain, the rains this area must of saw prior to our trip must have been torrential as these were some BIG puddles. Here is a pic looking back as the Appalachian Trail (according to my GPS):
Here we are taking a break as the Appalachia trail met another road. We were quite satisfied with our selves have just conquered about 5 miles of tough muddy going; but we had no ideal the worse was yet to come:
Here we are taking a break as the Appalachia trail met another road. We were quite satisfied with our selves have just conquered about 5 miles of tough muddy going; but we had no ideal the worse was yet to come: