The day after North Fork our posse set out to conquer Spruce Knob . Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia at about 4865ft. We had the weather gods showering us with warm temps and lots of sunshine. It is such an amazing place to begin with, then put sunshine on top and its out of this world. I had ridden all of these trails before, but it had been years back when I worked at the mountain institute. The climb up from the campground took us three hours and that was pleasure pace, but still a big climb for sure. Huckleberry trail is a must do for any mountainbiker in this area. It will test your suspension and your pure power to the pedals. The reward is coming out to High Meadows and looking down into the Seneca Creek drainage. Some folks took to skinny dipping in the creek. It seems strange to be swimming in October, but I'm not complaining. It was like our own little Havasupi.
The fun stopped with a brutal .9 mile uphill on Horton Trail. Most of the boys said it was doable, but not for me, nor them on the day. Carp exploded his freehub then ran and coasted the long way home. Some more rollers on Allegheny Mountain Trail and then a six mile mostly decsent to Seneca. Maybe it was just the way I was feeling...euphoric, but I put that decsent in my top five for the year as well.
Back at the campground we finished Buck's keg and drove home in a hot, getting hotter eurovan. Will Tim need to replace a head gasket?
that looks like a fun group. wish mandi and i could have been there. maybe next year.
ReplyDeletejoey.