Sunday June 7th, I headed back out for a bit... I have hardly had a chance to get out and ride locally this year. The majority of my riding was done back in Frederick and Washington Counties during April and May while I stayed in Germantown for work for those 2 months. Now I am finally getting the DRZ sorted of some of the problems it was having, fresh tires, fresh mdubya, etc. One of my favorite destinations is Parsons, WV, and the area beyond. I headed that way today, taking an old favorite route, Aurora Pike to St. George, WV, then Holly Meadows Road to Sugarland Road to 219 just south of Thomas, WV. From there it was south on 219 to Route 72. Route 72 is another old favorite, but I haven't gelled with it this year. It is narrow, sketchy, blind, littered with gravel, dirty; in short the kind of road I usually love. Since I wasn't feeling it today, I headed down to the little bypass which runs right along next to the river. I stood on the pegs and cruised along, looking over the side, passed a couple of KLR's headed the other way. I did have a goal in mind; to get on to County Road 10 to Wymer, via as much dirt/gravel as possible. There are several ways to do this. Short story, I took the dirt options and had a beautiful ride under the trees, scaring up deer and stray hillbillies along the way. I gasses up at the Marathon at 10 and 33, and downed a Red Bull (bottoms up
).
The view across Route 33 to where 10 continues south, and where I was headed:
10 aka Middle Mountain Road becomes Public Road 14. Along 14, I saw an open gate with some very inviting 2 track, so I turned back and headed down it. It looked like this:
It was fun to ride and perfect on the DRZ. I stirred up all sorts of deer and squirrels and chip monks. I was concerned I would startle a bear, which I would love to see, but would not like to hit. This is where the 2 track FS road lead:
I was considering following 14 and its connectors all the way to Durbin, the reverse of our return route on the first Parsons to Cass ride. Instead I got distracted and followed Public Road 1 back to Glady, then 27 to Alpina @ Route 33. I did the short hop on Route 33 back to Wymer, and north on 10 back towards Route 72. It is really beautiful in that stretch up on the ridge under the trees, with spectacular views all around. As I indicated before, there is a spider web of paved and gravel roads which criss cross between Route 72 and 33 which lead to either Wymer or Alpina. They all seem to converge and cross at a one lane bridge that crosses the Cheat River or one of its tributaries. There are several gravel roads which run along the water and up and over the moutainous terrain. I followed one dirt road into a riverside campsite, then followed and little road into the woods. I ended up at this really cool little house which appeared to be built from the river stones. This was as close as I could get due to "keep out" signs:
Cool place. I would love to see it up close.
From there I followed the best dirt road yet, up and over a ridge and back down to the riverside again. This is what the road looked like, looking back up from the riverside:
DRZ makes camp:
River view from camp (complete with smoldering campfire from its recent occupants):
From there I enjoyed a spirited ride out on the dirt roads, which eventually turned to broken pavement, and eventually met Route 72. The ride out was beautiful. This time I was pretty comfortable on Route 72 and was feeling my oats a bit.
Gassed up in Parsons and downed another Red Bull for the thrash home. I don't usually take Route 219 all the way back to Oakland from Parsons, but this time I did. I had the little DRZ wound up and wound out. There are some awesome twisties along 219 and I made the best of them.
Back home and the Dunlops are scrubbed clean thanks to Routes 72 and 219 and Red Bull.
:
To be continued next ride.
