Short trip to SW Virginia and WV

[BrianW.]

I haven't had a chance to get the van out much this year, but two weeks ago got in a four-night trip from PA down to southwest Virginia, West Virginia, and southwest PA to do some solo biking and exploring.

Left in the evening the first day and did an overnight at a rest area off I-81 in Virginia, en route to the Damascus, Virginia, area. Slept surprisingly well!

Second day was cold and rainy, so I only did the remainder of the drive to Damascus and a bit of exploring of the Mt Rogers National Recreation Area and NFS roads in the SW Virginia/North Carolina border area. Found a free boondock spot in the National Forest.

On the third day I took advantage of the beautiful weather and biked the Virginia Creeper trail uphill (~18 miles) from Damascus to Whitetop/the NC border and then back down to Damascus. Foliage was starting to turn, but still had a ways to go until peak (again, this was two weeks ago). The Virginia Creeper trail is a really nice ride. Although it's pretty much all uphill from Damascus, the grade isn't bad. Most cyclists are shuttled up by outfitters and just do the downhill ride, so it can get crowded as the day progresses. To avoid some of the crowds on the way back down I detoured off on parallel gravel country roads, which were very nice.

Additional posts to come with pics from the next few days...

 

[BrianW.]

After I finished my Creeper Trail ride mid-afternoon on day three I headed NW over to West Virginia, with the vague notion of seeing New River Gorge National Park (for the first time) and staying somewhere there. A beautiful drive through WV got me to the New River Gorge Bridge area well after dark. My iOverlander app said there were boondock sites at the bottom of the gorge, so I took the steep, super-twisty, very dark, one-way road down to the bottom and found a great overnight spot just steps from the river and almost under the famous bridge. Got a great night of sleep due to the river noises. Would probably be crowded during the main season with rafting outfitters coming and going, but mid-week off-season it was just me there. The next day I hiked around a bit at the bottom, took some pics, and then drove back out and visited the NPS visitor center for a bit.

Then off to visit Seneca Rocks and Dolly Sods Wilderness in north-central WV (next post).

 

[BrianW.]

The afternoon of day four was spent driving to the Seneca Rocks area to see the famous climbing area (sorry, no photos here) and then on to the Dolly Sods Wilderness area. Although Dolly Sods Wilderness in Monongahela National Forest has been on my radar for many, many years, for some reason I've never visited. Wow, what an oversight! This place is amazing and completely unlike anything you'll see in the broader mid-Atlantic area. It's more like what I've seen in Alaska, Canada, or above treeline in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Overnighted in the parking lot at Bear Rocks, did a little bit of hiking, and got up early the next day to take in the sunrise. I got lucky and hit Dolly Sods close to peak foliage, with the red hues of the scrub blueberry bushes carpeting the landscape.
Photos in this post are all from Dolly Sods.

 

[BrianW.]

After taking way too many pics of the sunrise and during the golden hour of amazing light that followed (see previous post), I made breakfast in the van, packed up, and started heading back to PA. It was such a beautiful day that I decided to detour a bit west to ride part of the Great Allegheny Passage bike route, from Meyersdale, PA, through the Big Savage Mountain Tunnel and back. (I've biked the GAP several times and this is one of my favorite sections). Got a nice ride in and then headed back home, getting in around 9pm. Overall it was a fun trip exploring some areas that I've never seen within a day's drive of me. Photos are of the Great Allegheny Passage bike ride.

 

[Twoxentrix]

...on day three I headed NW over to West Virginia, with the vague notion of seeing New River Gorge National Park (for the first time) and staying somewhere there. A beautiful drive through WV got me to the New River Gorge Bridge area well after dark. My iOverlander app said there were boondock sites at the bottom of the gorge, so I took the steep, super-twisty, very dark, one-way road down to the bottom and found a great overnight spot just steps from the river and almost under the famous bridge.
Then off to visit Seneca Rocks and Dolly Sods Wilderness in north-central WV (next post).

Sounds like you had a great time Brian!
We love the area around New River Gorge, lot of forest type roads riddled all around there which will take you down to the river, but you seemed to have found one of our favorite spots (nearly under the bridge).
So much to do out there; have several good river runs, the yearly Music Festival on the mountain top is an absolute 'must do' (it's the recent version of Woodstock). We've attended a couple times, but 2018 was so packed, we ended out with about 30 vehicles bumper to bumper in just our Camp spot, and all the camp locations on the mountain were mirror images of this). You need to time your next visit to coordinate with the Music Festival.

 

[marret]

Awesome Brian. Fantastic photos. Totally agree about Dolly Sods.

 

[Scalf77]

Brian,
Thanks for posting, great photos. It has been a long time since I have been back east for the fall colors.

 

[86Scotty]

Great pics Brian, thanks for sharing! My son just did the Creeper with his GF a few weeks ago but we couldn't make it. Never heard of Dolly Sods, we'll definitely have to get up there.

 

[BrianW.]

Yeah Eric, definitely add the Sods to your to-do list. I want to go back and get some backpacking in there next year.

 

[bigriver-SMB]

Wow... not familiar with any of this... spectacular! Thanks for posting.

 

[NoData]

Brian- Thanks for the heads up on the New River Gorge bridge road to the bottom-as many times as I've crossed that bridge I've never been below Really cool and the road down is as advertised by you ( curvy) I actually had to back up a couple times to make the switchbacks Continued on to the Thurmond railroad ghosttown Camped at the Blue Bend primitive campground-nice spot right on the large creek

 

[BrianW.]

Brian- Thanks for the heads up on the New River Gorge bridge road to the bottom-as many times as I've crossed that bridge I've never been below Really cool and the road down is as advertised by you ( curvy) I actually had to back up a couple times to make the switchbacks Continued on to the Thurmond railroad ghosttown Camped at the Blue Bend primitive campground-nice spot right on the large creek

Yeah, it was "interesting" doing it in the dark without having any idea of where I was going! Would have been a cool drive in the daylight, I'm sure. At least the drive out the next day was in the daylight.