Iconic

We headed to West Virginny last weekend to ride the legendary North Fork Trail. Oddly enough, it was also the weekend of the first planned, "Save the North Fork Trail" ride, but we picked the weekend for our trip before the date for the ride was set, so there.

It seemed the entire weekend was about contingency plans but overall we had a great time anyway! The original plan was to find a shuttle to drop us at the South end and then ride North back to our car. The shuttle connections we had fell through, so we changed the scheme to "earning our turns" by laying out a loop ride instead. So now this original plan was to park at the Redman Run parking lot, ride south to Forest Road 79, climb the mountain, head south to High Knob, and then turn around and ride to the northern end of the trail, then close the loop with a road section back to the car. We figured roughly that it would be in excess of 30 miles.

Well, we got started late, like an hour and forty minutes late. And it seemed we didn't have the legs we hoped we would have. We never made it to High Knob. After climbing 79 up to the bitter end and reaching the radio tower, we checked the time, thought about the miles in front of us, and opted to eat our PBJs and enjoy the sun and start heading north. Finally hit actual, real trail after cruising back down the upper part of the road and then worked our way around a few backpackers. Sweetie had the unfortunate luck to fall right in front of a couple of them since we were hurrying to try to get away from them. Luckily she was okay but it didn't help brighten her mood! We kept stopping along the ridge as I would vainly seek the "iconic views" I had seen pictures of for years. Where in the hell are the views? Got some decent ones but none of that glorious cliffy ridgeline stretching off into the distance that you always see anytime someone gushes about the North Fork.

By the time we hit the Redman Run trail intersection, Sweetie was ready to bail to the car. It wasn't her day. We all have those. She had hers on Saturday. She was kind enough to offer to bring the car up to the northern trailhead if I wanted to finish the trail by myself, but honestly, it was pushing 3:00 by that time and I had no desire to ride the trail alone, for the first time. The idea of pizza at the Front Porch, followed later by steaks and salad by our campfire made the decision and we both enjoyed the sweet, sweet descent down Redman Run to the car.

It was the right choice. The rest of the afternoon and evening was primo. A great post-ride pizza snack and finding Harpoon Hard Cider at the general store (I honestly think this is one of the best mass-produced ciders in America. At least of those I have had.) followed by grass-fed organic steaks from JuJo Acres and tasty salad sourced from our CSA and the local farmers' market. A little campfire completed the evening as we discussed our Sunday plans.

Once again, we opted to change plans. Our original idea was to hike Seneca Rocks since Sweetie had never been down here before. This was, of course, assuming that we had ridden the entire North Fork Trail or put away 30+ miles on Saturday. However, after our aborted and unfulfilling stint on the bikes, we began earnestly considering hooking up with the "Save the North Fork!" ride on Sunday to hit up the northern section of the trail we bailed on. After not much discussion, it was decided. Forget the hike. Seneca Rocks would be open for a hike any other time. The future of riding the North Fork was less certain so riding on Sunday was the obvious way to go. Happy with our new contingency plans, we sacked out hard and slept great.

Man, this is turning into a novel. Didn't really mean for that to happen. Oh well.

Sunday dawned overcast. We crawled out of bed, got the requisite joe and breakfast in our systems, tore down camp, and hit the road for the Redman Run parking lot again. We ran into Ruthless and Roger Massey and, of course, Frank. The ride was much better than Saturday. A nice singletrack climb to wake up on, and then ridgetop. And then finally, the ICONIC VIEWS!

No wonder those ride organizers planned the group ride for the northern end of the trail. Smart people, they is. We dwadled, took pictures, and drank a cider, worked our way across the ridge and had some fun on the very techy top section of the final downhill (Well, I had some fun. Donna wasn't appreciating it as much.). After the initial rockfest, the trail turned to swoopy, super fast twisties littered with just enough loose rock to keep you honest. Hit the bottom, spun the pave back to the car, cleaned up, chatted a few minutes, and headed for home. Iconic.