Another Great Weekend in the Forest

Brad and I had our yearly meetup camping trip in Pisgah this past weekend. As always, it was so much fun that I have little motivation to come back to reality. Rides/events were as follows...

FRIDAY:
Get to the campsite around 5 or 6 and do a quick set up. Brad called as I was leaving to inform me he left early...sweet. Once I arrived, we suited up for a quick ride, beating sundown. Fish Hatchery ride, right out of the campsite onto gravel to Long Branch...fun trail! Arrive back at the campsite and eat the crap out of some paninis made over the fire...giddyup!

SATURDAY:
Meet up at 9 with the guys from SORBA for the IMBA epic at Dupont State Forest. Over 30 miles of excellent riding, multiple stream crossings, waterfalls, and slickrock trails...very, very cool. This was our first time there, so this was a perfect introduction to basically all the great trails. My personal favorites were the rocky goodness of Joanna, fast descent of Ridgeline, cool views of Big Rock and Cedar Rock.




SUNDAY:
Two rides in one day, bonus! AM ride; campsite>475>Davidson River Trail>475>475B>225>Caney Bottom (Cove Creek)>Daniel Ridge Connector>Daniel Ridge>campsite. This is one of my favorite loops, after we got back to the site we made some lunch, hung out for a bit then decided to head down to the Visitor's Center for another ride. The planned route was to head up Clawhammer to Black Mountain, down Black to Thrift Cove and Sycamore Cove. We opted to head up Black Mountain instead of up Clawhammer in order to maximize singletrack. Brad's bike had been suffering from some chainsuck all weekend due probably mostly to a new chain, and it was acting up a ton on the climb. He turned back after about a mile or so, and told me to continue on. I rode on up to where Thrift Cove turns off, but decided to head back down Black Mountain so we could do some flyfishing at the hatchery. All I could manage there was two fingerling Rainbows and one enormous chub.




What a fun weekend! We said our goodbyes this morning after packing up only to realize we'd be camping out doing a lot of riding in about a month at the Brown County Breakdown...I can't wait!

Looking Glass Falls


And of course, wherever two or more Stevenson's gather there is bound to be stupidity