New River Gorge Ghost Town Exploration (2011)
FRIDAY
A couple weeks ago, Beard sent me a PM saying he needed to get out and clear his head, take a trip, get dirty and sleep in the woods. Couldn't complain there. "I'm in."
Set a weekend and, as ADV style plans often hold, it was forecast for pouring rain the whole time. :super
Departed Friday Morning directly into a cool rain via 66W then back roads toward WV. Fodderstack Rd outside of Flint Hill
Howdy happy camper :fyyff
We stopped for fuel in Harrisonburg and had a granola bar. I figured we'd push on to Goshen for lunch at the Mill Creek Cafe. Somewhere around Bridgewater, I got the Stich' crotch leak. Sorta used to it by now and couldn't care less. The "crotch leak dance" was always fun for Beard to watch. Couldn't blame him :doh
Around 2:00, we get to Goshen and find the Mill Creek Cafe closed...aw shucks
We continued on up 39 and I could hear his belly grumbling from my helmet...or maybe that was mine...
Dropping into Warm Springs, the fog was heavy over the mountain but cleared and the rain stopped. I decided to turn into town looking for a bite to eat.
The Waterwheel Restaurant was nice but just a little too nice for our soggy boots and bearded mugs
So on down the road we rode some more till we got to "The Varsity" gas station/restaurant across from the High School. This spot has been here a long time. We sat down to relax, consult the map for our camping spot that night and ordered a Medium pizza, forgetting these were "Country" size pies, not "City" size. We had two slices left over at the end.
Headed south for a bit on 220 then took a leak at Falling Springs
Just kidding...
WOWOWOWOW
The view on 220 just before Covington. Things were clearing up nicely for the next 40 miles of our trip.
After passing through the Paper Mill town of Covington, we took a side detour to the Humpback Covered Bridge
Matt taking it all in
The old rail bridge to the north
Michelin Man?
Waiting for us to quit screwing around...
Back on the road...to make time we slabbed 64, which is a beautiful piece of highway twisting through the hills. We ran into a few showers but nothing major. In an hour, we stopped for gas along the New River.
Typical WV Gas Station with company on the porch
We twisted down to the New River from Beckley and then explored a couple campground around Prince settling on Glade Creek at the end of the line. This was the view from our free site.
(AM Pic)
We found some wood that wasn't too damp and made a fire while enjoying some leftover pizza, a pipe and some delicious beer. Beard on the left, myself (twice)
SATURDAY
The morning broke with some sprinkles but mostly just droplets of water falling from the trees. I hung around in the hammock enjoying the sound of the river and birds chirping.
Misty morning on the New River.
Prepared some coffee and oatmeal
MMMmmmmm
This is how we was our spoon
Walking to the bathouse through camp
From here we packed up and were riding by 8:30 or so. We turned up to the north of the river on McKendree Rd out of Prince and hit the first tight switchback.
A bit like this...
A busted case mount that some straps fixed and we were off again. The road was rocky but not terrible, some of the mud puddles were a little deep and my Jesse case kept bouncing off it's bracket since the clips weren't set tight enough. I kept it below 30 and was alright.
Some of the hurricane damage was evident. Happy to be on a moto :clap
Much of the route was like this:
The ghost town of Thayer
Beard was so excited to snap a pic of me he dropped his bike again :doh
Mhm
Stopping to smell...the weeds?
The old Church in Thayer
Saw an old silo on the side of the road so decided to go exploring.
Spooked some deer from inside it
The mythical beard
My favorite photo of the trip perhaps... :rofl
Beard coming on back down
Crossing the bridge by Stone Camp
A beard portrait
Rolling into Thurmond, WV.
This old rail town was once a very busy place but all that is left are the old buildings and a National Park Visitor Center.
We spoke with the rangers in the visitor center who assured u that Beury Mountain Rd behind the town was passable and in better condition than McKendree Rd we had just traveled. Well that is good news because there were some hairy bits on that last road for sure.
Fun switchbacks
:wave up here!!!
The view from this powerline rise
So the road had some puddles but nothing TOO major. At the TOP of a hill it looked like this:
Then immediately (at 45 mph) it looked like this!!!! :eek1
I slowed then just gave it a gob of throttle and road directly into the misplaced rocks in the center. I figured when in doubt, gas it out!!!! My tire track
The dip was so big coming out of the puddle it sent the Aeroflow screen into my helmet breaking off the face vent on the front. That sorta sucked. As soon as I could stop I pulled off and turned around just as Beard crested the rise, braked hard, slid into the puddle then gave it a shit ton of throttle launching his bike airborne and somewhere to the right. The front wheel landed first and the rest was history.
Said puddle of doom
Mudman lives!!!
AFter securing the case as best we could, we ambled out of the woods and made our way down to Rainelle for some gas and a much needed bite to eat. We spotted a highschool car was at the Advanced Auto, which Beard needed to go to anyway for some more tie-down straps, so we fancied a visit.
Not for the bikes but for...
All clean(ish) we got some Subway and picked up some red wine at the grocery store. Warm beer just wasn't cutting it and the selection was sorta crap. Matt filling up his flux capacitor to obtain max jigawats
We then traveled up to 39 again and headed toward the Highland Scenic Highway where I knew of some nice campsites on the Williams River.
Feeling a bit cool, we took a break at the Falls of Hills Creek.
Ol slippery wooden bridge
Middle Falls not so impressive as my last visit.
A view down from the upper platform
Starting to feel a bit like macro season
Unfortunately the lower falls trail was still closed. Oh well...
Beard still slipping and sliding in the woods
The colors pulling back out to 39 were just beautiful. I cannot wait for fall!
The Highland Scenic Highway was brisk and cool, and fogged in like crazy. I wanted to try out the Dakar and give Beard a chance to ride a big GS on such a fast long road. The Highland Scenic Highway is just a great road for any bike. So off we went. I tried to keep up (something I am sure he was doing all day) on the little Dakar and he discovered 6th gear on the GS and cruised away.
I passed him and we turned to go down to the Williams River. Such a beautiful area. We camped at Tea Creek mainly for this view from our campsite
All the wood nearby was green and wet but we made do.
We each had a bottle of wine
SUNDAY
AARrrrggghhh the creature emerges
And departing camp along the Williams River
A short break at Honeycomb Rocks
There would have been many more pics but...it sorta looked like this for 10 miles
Then it continued raining so we just skeedaddled on down to Sharpes Store
Stopped for a breakfast sandwich at Snowshoe Stores at the bottom of 66 and it began to rain. Up 66 we rode in the rain but it wasn't too terrible. Fun road and a little slick when wet. Descended to Cass and the rain let up. The train was heading out and visitors were boarding. I look forward to taking Lauren here once the leaves finally change.
Our next stop was at NRAO Green Bank
Some fun in their visitor center
Enjoyed the tour. This was my 5th time but still interesting.
From here we rode up 28 and the leaves were in full color toward the top of the mountain
Champe Rocks in the distance just past Seneca. You've all been there and seeen the pics hundreds of times so no stop at Seneca for us.
Then it was an amble back up to old 55 and through to Wardensville where we stopped outside Lost River Brewing but didn't have a beer. Just a Granola bar and some water.
Went back by way of Stephens City
Then into the Terrasic period
It was nice to get home after the weekend and my boots were soaking wet and stinky. The shower was well deserved and the bike got a bath the following day.
