Sunday, February 26, 2017

Brevard Binge

When your travel agent sends you pics of deluxe accommodations nestled deep in mountainous woodlands, along with a set of routes that quite literally knock your socks and shoes off with amazing riding- squirrel mode hits hard.  Go tubs dumped, gear sorted, grocer hit, loose ends tied, etc..., and it was all roads to rendezvous for four days of the unknown.  Plus, the weather looked spot on.

So what's this unknown business?  For one, I'd not been to North Carolina to ride, and two, we wanted to try something new (to us)- Bikepack-ish in, day ride unloaded, bikepack-ish out.  Here's how it went down.

Prologue:

As usual, it took me right up to the last second to pull the plug, however the plan had simmered for months previously- Four days in Brevard with four day rides, two motels and one camp.

You know it's gonna be a magical something when the Subilucious kicks out a palindrome en-route.



Day 1: The Best of DuPont

After split driving down, snagging a motel part way to stave off the rumble-stripping, we were on the bikes early for a full day of riding in the DuPont State Forest.  Wow, these trails were bomber, perfect for rolling the hardtail on the smooth swoopy singletrack with just enough climbing and tech to keep you distracted from the sightseeing.

Knife at the Gun Fight.






Cedar Rock.


Rock Bridge Portage.



Day 2: Squirrel Hammer

Today was the onslaught of the crux of the trip.  Starting out with a 7-1/4 mile 1,700' roadie climb up Clawhammer Road, we dumped our gear at the Buckhorn Gap shelter and proceeded to crank out a loop consisting of Squirrel Gap, Mullinax Trail, Bradley Creek, Yellow Gap Road, Wolf Ford Road and South Mills River Road.  Tons of amazingly rough riding, and enough climbing for it to take us ~6-1/2 hours to go 25 miles and 3500' up.  What the heck is up with that?  Well, when the route follows a 'road' that follows a creek that it crosses many times without bridges...  hilarity ensues.

Roadie to the top.
Gear stash time.


Springs' A-comin'.
One of the many lessons of patience.

Getting over feeling frustrated yet?

Surely by now?


Day 3: Black Butter

The highlight of the day had to be not having to take our shoes and socks off and wade through cold slippery rock strewn creeks.  However, I'd be ahead of myself if I didn't mention the deluxe accommodations of the shelter, starry moonlit nighttime skies and good times around the campfire the previous evening.  Starting the day off with a warming breakfast hike-a-bike up Black Mountain, we bombed down to the car, dumped gear and proceeded to bust out a ten mile roadie climb to link up Cove Creek and Daniel Ridge.  One final climb and it was all downhill on the Butter Gap trail to the car.  Overnighter day-ride mission complete.

Black (Diamond) Mountain, both up and down.
Atop Black Mountain.







Unloaded and ready to get our day ride on.

Rock Climbing Central.
Land of the Waterfalls. (turn sideways)



Day 4: Trace Ridge

Packed up early and freezing our butts off on yet another six mile, 1700' climb, Trace Ridge was rocky rooty drop-off mayhem all the way down the mountain.  And just to cap it off, we had to take our socks and shoes off and wade through a creek less than 1/2 of a mile from the car.  Hahahahaha.





And Done.

Epilogue:

So if there's a moral to the story, it's this- it's best to have a travel agent who has a quest for adventure in their spirit.  That way when you're laughing hysterically at the absurdity of whatever comes floating down the creek, you know it's an experience you could never have otherwise.  Thanks again Eric and Jill, excellent times!