I'm still underestimating cross-mountain travel (versus along-valley travel). The short but surprisingly time-consuming drive from George Washington to Monongahela National Forest left me in a quandary - how to spend the few hours of daylight left scouting the trails there. I decided to summit Spruce Knob, at 4,863 feet the highest point in West Virginia, by car. IMBA has listed an Epic Ride here and on nearby North Mountain. This is pretty remote country, with nothing the size of Harrisonburg nearby. Just the small towns of Franklin and Petersburg.
The drive up the mountain on twisting gravel roads took longer than the 17 mile distance would indicate, but above 4,000 feet, things really started looking interesting. The trees changed from hardwoods to spruce and pine, and alpine meadow openings appeared. Closer to the summit the spruce acquired a distinct 'flag' form - a classic sign of exposure to strong prevailing winds. Of course near the peak I hit a paved road coming from the north - guess I took the back way. The knob itself is a beautiful jumble of gray rock and spruce. And sports a substantial paved parking lot. Either this place is very popular summers, or West Virginia Tourism was overly hopeful once. But there was no one this November evening - I had it all to myself. I walked the interpretive trail and climbed the stone observation tower. It does almost look like the rockies until you see the distant ridges receding in the blue-gray mist of the humid East.
I had my bike, the Epic Huckleberry Trail started from the parking lot, and it was over an hour till dusk, so I hopped on and headed down-trail a ways. It was stunning to see - and not surprisingly, very rocky. Not the loose rock of a scree pile, but large rocks well anchored in soil. Ridable but relentless, demanding attention to line and wheel weighting. I did this for a while, but decided I would be better served scouting the entrances to some of the other trails rather than seeing more of this one.
I checked the entrances to Seneca Creek and Lumberjack trails. They were a lot less rocky and seemed built (at least at the trailheads) on overgrown logging roads. The one along Seneca Creek looked especially scenic, but it was getting darker, grayer, and I could feel a few sprikles, so I decided it was time to head home. If I made good time, I could stop for dinner in Cumberland at my favorite Italian restaurant of all time - Ristorante Ottaviani (sure enough, I scored a third memorable meal there). I'd like to come back to Spruce Knob to ride while we're still in the east. The season is over for this year - especially at this elevation. Maybe if we have a early dry spring....More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbp1111/SpruceKnobTrailsWv?authkey=Gv1sRgCOypwL7Aiv_YhgE#
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