Our western brothers (OH & WV), Joey Boyle and Mike Boyes, making up the delux French Toast!
Kurt, Kyle, Misty and myself wooooped up some so-so egg bagels for the days journey (yes, the snow that fell most of the night was soul crushing to motivate in)
Yep, looks delux to me
Launch site is the Douthat Lodge
How am I going to carry this for 10 miles?
Kyle humping along on Douthat's dreamy buff singletrack
Leaving oz behind and venturing deep into Beards Mtn. Roadless area in the George Washington National Forest
Trying to get a good read on this mess while being very glad we brought a back up chainsaw
Picking it apart bit by bit with Joey as my extra eyes and ears looking and listening for the snap crackle pop and any signs of movement or bound up loads that I didn't recoginize
Darn close to having it all clear
Wow, there acutally was some tread under all of this mess
Restored to the scenic byway it once was
The signs are actually holding up
Its rare for a sign in the GW to remain bullet hole free for over a year
This section would be a complete closeout when the brush turned green in May
Club president Thomas Jenkins packs his chainsaw along the first signs of ATV traffic
Kurt sherpa's gear along the.... ATV...aaaah..... I mean non-motorized multi use trail
The ATV rejoined the trail right here
This section of trail is super dreamy as it provides wide open views to the east and west
Aaaaaaaaaaaah, the western view with a snow covered Warm Springs Mountain in the background
Aaaaaaaaaaaah, the eastern view of the Cowpasture River Valley
Ok, this is the only tiny section of traiil we did not get back on track, darkness was coming on quick, gas was low, and the route around was pretty established...our weakness is revealed!!!!
You can see where the ATV makes a dodge for the ridge line as the trail dives in along the hill side to follow its sustainable contour curvilinear alignment
Mike Carpenter and Kyle Lawrence free this amazing section of trail from brush
The brush growing on the uphill side of the trail has been forcing the users to the lower edge, this really takes it toll on the trail tread as users hoof's, feet and tires wash the bench out
A welcome break before the last section of trail down to the river - the Beards Mtn. Spur Trail (I am standing on the ATV user created section that avoids the previous 1/2 mile section of trail as it leads to someones private property )
The staple ration consisting of an egg bagel sandwich, you were lucky if you got cream cheese on yours
The top section of the spur trail as it follows the ridge is unreal
Dan, about to stop and put on his safety glasses, before he makes his first cut
Checking the structural integrity of the bridge - its passed the minimum load test
Kurt a bit warn out, his 100 mile road ride to Douthat from Harrisonburg yesterday was a great warm up for this day on the trail
Yep, 10 hours of wet feet is good mental training for all of lifes challenges
Misty doing her part in another bridge test
Walking up the last hill to the truck in the darkness.......inside joke!
Load'em up, move'em out!!!
