Gravel Grinding

This past Sunday, Joel G. and I decided to head out to the Blue Ridge for a little mountain cross riding.  We had been looking over the forest map and picked out a ride combining some gravel fire roads and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Our route was to cover 50 or so miles.  We wanted to get an early start, but early for me and Joel usually ends up being after 9.  It was noon before we found our parking spot and started getting ready to ride.  It was a really nice fall day out and the gravel road that we parked along leading up to the Appalachian Trail at Hog Camp Gap was surprisingly busy.  We dove right in and started with a climb up to the gap. 

After crossing the AT, we had a nice downhill then some rolling up and down until we crossed the AT again at Salt Log Gap.  After that, we enjoyed an incredible 6 mile descent following the Piney River.

The Piney River is perhaps the nicest mountain stream I have ever seen.  Crystal clear water cascading over huge boulders.  Rock slides.  Beautiful foliage everywhere. 

There were lots of great campsites along the Piney.  I definately plan to return and spend some time there.
The scenery along the road was great.

At this point the ride was going great and we were making good time.  The next turn changed things.  I take full responsibility since it was my idea.  The map shows a jeep road that goes  up and crosses the AT then joins FR826 above Crabtree Falls.  I had been up 826 a few times to park for hikes on the AT to The Priest and Spy Rock, so I was familiar with that.  The jeep road from the Piney River up to the AT was new and unfamiliar.  We thought "how bad can it be?".  It was pretty bad.  The Jeep road followed Shoe creek and crossed it several times.

The climbing was managable for the first mile or two, and most of the creek crossings were do-able.

The grade started to get steeper and the loose rocks eventually became too much for the 40c cross tires and 39/18 single speed gearing.The going got rougher and steeper and at times hard to even walk.  This type of thing isn't exactly new to me and Joel and he was a good sport about it.  We usually just endure it and try to push through it.  The worst part really is that we killed a lot of time. Along the way we encountered some folks on dirt bikes(which looked like fun) and some good ole' boys doing completely ridiculous things with huge jacked up trucks. We must have pushed a mile or two before we finally got to the top and crossed the AT for the third time.

 
Finally, it was time to go down for a bit.  The first half mile or so was crazy steep and rocky.  We wished we were on the mountainbikes.

I had only been on 826 in the Pathfinder and didn't realize that we had more climbing to do.  Eventually we descended down to Rt. 56 near the Montebello fish hatchery.

We took a little snack break and even though we brought lights, decided we had better shorten up the ride since we lost so much time.  We decided to just ride 56 up to the Blue Ridge Pkwy. and head south.

We had ridden this section of parkway before and new that we would be treated to a long fast descent down to Irish Gap.  First we had a few miles of flat spinning and slight climbs, so we took in the scenery.

The descent didn't dissappoint.  We coasted for miles at 30-35 mph.  With bigger gears and skinnier tires I imagine one could almost reach the speed of sound here. 

Once at Irish Gap, we picked up Clarktown Rd. which descended a few more miles along the origin of the Pedlar River.  A climb up past Staton's Creek Falls, followed by a crazy steep climb then descent on Coffeetown rd. brought us to the final climb up to the car.  It was pretty much dark as we loaded up.   All in all a great day in the mountains.   There is a bunch of great cross riding out there and I'm already mapping out the next ride.