Epic Recon #3

Rain be damned! You many have ruined my ride with Plum Grove Pete Sunday, but you were NOT gonna ruin another Recon mission to the mountain. In case you new to the blog or out of the Soiled Chamois loop, I'm in the process of hooking up various parts of the the Laurel Highlands in attempts to get as close to a hundie as I can. I've check out Laurel Mountain, the Jones Mill/Laurel Hill area (with special side recon focused on the turnpike bridge that can lead riders (me) over to Laurel Mountain) and today's mission was to check out the North Woods and Mountain Streams Trail Systems off of Rt. 31 across from Hidden Valley and link them with some forest roads, such as the BIG forest road climb up Camp Run Road. Big thanks to Speedgoat Bill for cluing me into these trails.

I parked at the parking lot on left of 31, at the start of the snow mobile trails. I decided to spin down 31 on the road to Tower Road instead of taking the snowmobile trail. I just wanted to get the legs warmed up a bit. For the actual Epic I would take the snow mobile trail to avoid the road.

After I got down to Tunnel Road it was an up hill grind to the North Woods Trail head. Then a right turn past the gate through some grass and to the mostly double track NWT. Some middle ring climbing soon turned into a nice switchback descent to the an open field and the XC Ski Warming Hut.

The trail then started back up hill. There were a couple nice grinds, but no dismounts needed. The climb wasn't that bad, but the rain the area got over night did make for a few spin out here and there. Nothing to major though. The trail was mostly double track but here an there would funnel into single track. This would sort of be how much of the day would be. I hit just about EVERY type of trail surface today- Pavement, single track, double track, grass paths, lime stone, loose rock, the ride had it all.

Soon I was done with the North Woods Loop and was bombing down the double track of Shafer Run. It was a sweet descent and I was really hauling ass. I of course kept thinking to myself that with all this descending, I was gonna pay the price in the form of a climb real soon. Annnnd I was right as you'll see in this video...

The climb up Shafer Run Road to Tunnel Road went on a bit. It doesn't look all that steep in the video but it was steep enough for sure! There would be bigger climbs on the day for sure (as you'll see later). Soon I was on to Mountain Steams Trail. I had to go down about 20 yards of trail I had already done, but then I was cruising a nice middle ring climb up Mountain Streams Trail. I dug this trail more than the North Woods stuff. There was more of what I would call single track and it just flowed better to me. At leas until I had to do some bushwhacking to get around some windfall...

Once around the fallen tree I only had to go a bit further to hit the top of Mountain Streams. Then it was a lllllong descent with loose rock an few bigger rocks. It was a real "teeth rattler" down to Indian Creek for sure! I think I passed a stone on the way down. The challenge was sort of nice though. It was not THAT technical, but you did have to watch out or find yourself eating a face full of rock. Once I made it down I took the time to once again snap a pic of the Dos Niner in it's "natural habitat"...

After a couple pics and a snack size Milky Way Bar it was time to push on. Mountain Streams was now pretty flat and I was able to cruise along at a good pace. There is some logging going on along this part of the tail and the loggers laid down some chunky rock so as to get their big ass machines back in the woods. Not the best of the day's trail surfaces, but it was still better than pavement! I soon would make it to the Auckerman Road. A quick little right and then back on to Mountain Streams Trail. I now enjoyed a nice long spin on single track and double track through some nice forest and a small apple orchard....

This was a neat part of the trail. The whole trail smelled like apples and if I REALLY wanted to I could have just reached up for a nice snack. I knew I had a hell of a climb ahead of me though and really didn't want the tart apple flavor in my mouth OR it's fiber in me lower intestine!

Soon I was at the base of Camp Run Road. CRR is 99% crushed stone, but it gains about 1,300', so as you can imagine it was a bit of a grind. I was pretty geeked though because this is just the sort of thing that one runs into in a race like the Wilderness 101.

It was one of those climbs that I just kept praying that I was on the right road and all this climbing would not be wasted. There were a couple false summits and that was sort of annoying, but again this is just the sort of thing my future "Epic" will need.

I found it more than just a tad ironic that at the top of this big ass climb was a small cemetery. I figured all the deceased were folks who bonked coming up the big ass climb.

After the cemetery the loop is about in the books. A bit further down the road was the parking lot by Route 31 where I parked the Soob. This loop was a hair over 20 miles. I thought about crossing 31 to do some of what I did last Sunday, but I figured I'd done enough on the day.

The ride was pretty sweet. Again, it wasn't 20 miles of pure single track, but a variety of trail surfaces, widths and styles. It made for a sweet 20 miles in the mountains and will surely be added to my "epic". Right now I think I can get about 60 mile ride in with what I've explored. I know there are more options including trails near Hidden Valley and finding a good forest road to take me to the Seven Springs trails. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make it a "figure 8" or a "clover leaf" type ride. Than way it will be possible to get more supplies (gels, water, etc.,) more easily and keep me from having to pack 20 lbs. of gear on my back.

More miles would have been nice today, but I was happy with 2:30 of exploring new trails and some BIG ass climbing. I hope that the fall will allow me to complete my "full" epic ride this year. If not, I'll just have to be happy with 3 great rides in the mountains and a nice plan for 2009.

Here's a little slideshow of the pics I took today.

Time for bed.

Later.