OK, now I can begin to whine a little less about not learning the Michaux trails fast enough. Today was that unique Virginia holiday, which I call the north-south holiday weekend. The country celebrates the civil rights leader Martin Luther King on Monday, and Virginia celebrates the leaders of the confederacy, Lee and Jackson, on Friday. So, I always get a 4-day weekend, and since Oliver was in school, I had the whole day to ride.
Andy joined me, and we started from the Old Forge picnic area, as this is the closest spot to Frederick for Andy. I had a route in mind, with some trails I wanted to confirm and learn, and we definitely did pretty well. It was a lot easier to observe at a slower pace than usual, and we didn't hesitate to take plenty of study breaks. We also came into several junctions from different directions than we usually do, which really helps the orientation process.
We rode trail to the Snowy Mtn Tower (never again!), then Carumba, figured out how to get all the way down to Narrows, up Turtle and 4-logs back to the top. We found the entrance to Spooge, but quickly lost it in a huge ugly logging sale. We never regained the trail and dropped off the wrong side of that ridge, to the Swift Run Rd side. So, we headed up that road, and took Curran up & over back to Chimney Rocks Rd. Then descended blue, which was well worth any price of admission. Would've loved to find all of Spooge, cuz what we did ride was sweet, and there was a whole lot more downhill we missed. Gotta try that one again with someone who knows it after the logging destroyed it. But the blue downhill, especially the lower part below Hermitage Cabin was so sweet; wet, rocky, evergreens, almost Slatyfork-like. Soooo nice.
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