One of the best things about my new job is living at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Having spent the bulk of my life in and out of Central PA among the Appalachian Mountains there's just something about these east coast rolling peaks .
Had some friends in from out of town. Buddy drove up from Florida in his Gladiator and another friend drove in from eastern Virginia with his Power Wagon.
Saturday we hit some potential trails I had digitally recon'd via the Gaia GPS website. Sadly I was 0-3 when it came to gates. The first one is only open in the Fall and early winter (August-January), which is nice, but the other two looked to be permanently closed. I have a feeling with the Appalachian Trail running across the ridge-line they are mitigating access/overlap with some of the forest service roads that intersect the trail as well as those that intersect the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Saturday the Power Wagon took over guide duty and we headed west toward Eagle Rock, VA and then hit Paterson's Creek Road (Lvl 3/4) in Jefferson National Forest. Spent the entire time in 4low just for the gearing and take the load off the brakes, but it wasn't anything too technical. Just a fair number of washouts and water crossings a stock 4wd vehicle can with a little brake throttle modulation - or traction control if you're a cheater. My kidneys wish I would have aired down, but it the bulk of the road was gravel/dirt with only occasional rough spots that were handled at a very conservative speed. There are a lot of potential camp sites along the road which makes it worth revisiting in the future. Pretty much every time there was a water crossing there was a campsite nearby. Our lunch spot could easily have accommodated a half dozen vehicles. It has a nice fire ring and with the creek nearby it would make a great place to spend a night or two.
I didn't get too many photos since I was either guiding/navigating from the front or in the dust cloud at the back of the pack. I'll comment below with the few I did take. I'll also grab a screenshot or two of the map just to give you guys some ideas if you're ever down this way.
Had some friends in from out of town. Buddy drove up from Florida in his Gladiator and another friend drove in from eastern Virginia with his Power Wagon.
Saturday we hit some potential trails I had digitally recon'd via the Gaia GPS website. Sadly I was 0-3 when it came to gates. The first one is only open in the Fall and early winter (August-January), which is nice, but the other two looked to be permanently closed. I have a feeling with the Appalachian Trail running across the ridge-line they are mitigating access/overlap with some of the forest service roads that intersect the trail as well as those that intersect the Blue Ridge Parkway.
- The Bobblets Gap Trail (Lvl 3/4) would have been the best trail of the day, but that will have to wait till August.
- The route we took off the Parkway from Powell Gap was easy (Lvl 1) but is a long scenic route that starts off snaking along McFalls Creek down toward Indian Rock.
- From there we paralleled the James River to National Bridge (Lvl 1).
Saturday the Power Wagon took over guide duty and we headed west toward Eagle Rock, VA and then hit Paterson's Creek Road (Lvl 3/4) in Jefferson National Forest. Spent the entire time in 4low just for the gearing and take the load off the brakes, but it wasn't anything too technical. Just a fair number of washouts and water crossings a stock 4wd vehicle can with a little brake throttle modulation - or traction control if you're a cheater. My kidneys wish I would have aired down, but it the bulk of the road was gravel/dirt with only occasional rough spots that were handled at a very conservative speed. There are a lot of potential camp sites along the road which makes it worth revisiting in the future. Pretty much every time there was a water crossing there was a campsite nearby. Our lunch spot could easily have accommodated a half dozen vehicles. It has a nice fire ring and with the creek nearby it would make a great place to spend a night or two.
I didn't get too many photos since I was either guiding/navigating from the front or in the dust cloud at the back of the pack. I'll comment below with the few I did take. I'll also grab a screenshot or two of the map just to give you guys some ideas if you're ever down this way.
