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This was my fourth trip to WV in autumn in 3 years.  It’s been a great way to finish up the “good” riding season, several days riding nearly endless twisties amongst great fall color.  Last year my buddy Dave (nearlyseventy) came with me, and this year he and I were joined by his friend Peter (gasgauge) from Canada.  Unlike pretty much every other trip I’ve done, this one had no real set plan.  Other than our meeting hotel on the first night we had no reservations and no set routes.

Speaking of routes, I had posted on STN asking for some “second tier” road suggestions in WV, and got some really great suggestions.  I have done the “usual suspects” several times (33, 250, 39, Mt Storm) and was looking to expand my horizons. Dave loaded his GPS up with everyone’s favorites and we would do our best to hit as many as we could.

Friday, October 9th

Breakfast was at French's, the local greasy-spoon diner, which was actually pretty good. Overheard an interesting conversation with one of the customers, a young lady who was against the new H1N1 vaccine because of the mercury and antifreeze the government is putting in it.



Our main goal for today was the New River Gorge Bridge. The roads were wet from last night's rain, but the forecast was looking good for the rest of the day. We immediately climbed out of Marlinton on 39 and headed west through the Monongahela National Forest. Most of the road isn't very twisty, but it is very isolated and quite pretty. Just miles and miles of forest, very little traffic and no development.

Since neither Dave nor Peter had been to the Glade Creek Grist Mill before I planned a detour to Babcock State Park on the way to the bridge. We took 39/55 to 20 south, then 60 West. At one point we passed a car carrier full of Cadillac Allante's. How odd is that?


Babcock State Park was pretty empty, just us and one or two other folks. We walked around to get pictures, and were plagued by swarms of flying bugs. I had to photoshop some of the pics because most of them had spots due to bugs on the lens. The day was definitely getting hotter, which is quite a contrast to when I was there in 2007 and couldn't take off my heated jacket because I would start shaking from the cold.


As we were readying to leave we got approached by an older gentleman offering us advice about more good riding in the area. He suggested heading down near the Bluestone Dam, but we felt that was farther south than we wanted to go. We had seen signs for an overlook on the way into the park, so we headed there next. What a great little road leading to the overlook! We were the only people in the park, and the fall color was spectacular as we rode through the woods.




On the way back from the overlook I wanted to get some action shots, but it turned out to be a lost cause. There was hardly any light in the forested interior of the park, so I was working with 1/30th of a second or so. I also made the mistake of shooting from a culvert lower than the road, which put my lens right in line with the bike's headlights - too overpowering.


After Babcock it was off to the bridge. Once we finally found the visitor's center it was getting really hot out. We locked our gear to the bikes and hiked down the stairs to the lower viewing platform.





While half the reason we were at the bridge was to "see the bridge", the more fun reason was to ride 82 down under the bridge. We've had reports of the road being "no big deal, busses do it" to "not suitable for bikes, no fun at all". With a mixture of trepidation and excitement we started our downward journey.

The roads was a lot of fun, very tight and twisting, but not a fast road at all. Thankfully most of it is one-way so the narrowness isn't a big issue. The pavement was pretty crappy, but still pavement. There were a couple super-tight zero-degree hairpins, which the guys handled just fine. I remarked to them that since they handled the hairpins on 82 OK, the Alps would not present any problems. The road was kind of reminiscent of some of the tighter Alps passes I road this summer, though the Alps had nearly perfect pavement.



We stopped for some pictures down at the bottom, the rode up the other side and grabbed a quick lunch at Subway in Fayetteville. By now the temperatures were in the 80's and we were cooking.

After lunch we rode back over the bridge, which despite the windy weather was pretty calm. From there we took 60 West again, which was really spectacular once you passed Hawk's Nest State Park. At 16 we hooked North, and continued on to the small town of Clay, where we picked up a small backroad that eventually took us East back to the intersection of 19 and 82. Dundon-Widen Road perhaps? What a hoot! Every kind of turn imaginable, terrific views, no traffic, very few houses, couple more dogs, just a lot of fun. I think Peter enjoyed that road the most so far.

While the guys were gassing up (I had about 60 miles yet to go) someone told us that a bad storm was approaching and would arrive in about an hour. We had a choice at this point - ride straight down 19 to Summersville, or do a loop on 82/20/55 to get us there. Since the day had gone so well so far, we chose the longer loop and took our chances with the weather.

We weren't too far along on 82 when I had an incident with a big stick in the road. For full details see this post: http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,45442.0.html


The rest of the loop back to Summersville was not great. Traffic was an issue for the first time this trip, so we just settled in for a slow ride to the hotel. I'm pretty sure my incident didn't help my mood either.

We tried the Super8 in Summersville first, as there was an Appleby's right next door - perfect for drinking with no need to ride. Only smoking rooms left, so we had to settle for the Sleep Inn across the (very busy) street. Got cleaned up and we walked over to dinner, and as soon as we sat down at the bar the rain started coming down hard outside. We discussed my incident over some beers, and watched the Yankees beat up on the Twins in the ALDS. We lingered over dinner waiting for the rain to stop, and eventually walked back to the hotel.

Weather for the next day didn't look great, but our only plan was to end up around western Maryland so we were pretty flexible.

I remember youse guys.  Looked like a great trip.  I've been in WV several times lately as well. 

That's an old Streetpilot.  Can you still get updates for it?

I think I had 2011 maps on it, but it has since died (screen cover cracked away again).

Great RR! I absolutely love the pics. I grew up in Western Pa. so this makes me feel like home! Every time I have gone home in the last 12 years, I have gone over the NRG bridge and through Summersville (never speed around there) and I can honestly say WV is one of my favorite states to drive through! My old WeeStrom did okay but can't wait to take my Tiger Roadie home in the spring! 

Quote from: kendenton on November 17, 2013, 09:27:28 AM

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Glade Creek Grist Mill in Autumn

I love this shot. Mind if I use as a desktop pic for a while?

Be my guest 

Delayed post (I just got hip to STO)...great pics as always Ken! You guys covered some nice territory down around Summersville that I haven't even ridden yet. (That's the problem with West Virginia---there are so many good roads in the state that it'll take years to get to them all.)

I actually liked that 1/30 low-angle shot with the headlights---something different!  I'm excited to ride that part of the state more at the Spring Meet. (And if I'm incredibly lucky, I might even be able to get away for a weekend of advance scouting...)

Scott

I've never read this report before.  Is this a repost from "net" or newly posted here?  When did Peter switch bikes from a K to an R?

It's a repost from '.net'    Peter actually switched TO the K from the R, because he crashed the R on the way back from this trip.