Douthat More Trip.

(all photos by Chris Scott or Steve Riley I forgot my camera!)
I had wanted to do this trip last year, but I wasn’t able to get tickets in time. This year I got extra tickets, and ended up not using any of them cause Bruce and Amy Bailed out and Pat hurt his shoulder(gotta take Pat on some of these trails!).
Ryan and I got started on Friday, we didn’t leave until 3pm which was kind of my fault. We got stuck in the usual traffic, but it wasn’t that bad. We stopped at the big Wal-Mart in Harrisonburg where we picked up some food supplies, and Ryan gave me some hassle because I bought some of those new Fluorescent light bulbs (hey they were a good price and I needed them at home). As we are driving the weather is getting worse the rain is coming down pretty hard at times. We were not looking forward to putting up our tents in the rain. Well we get to the campsite and the rain has stopped which was nice, and we got there before sundown. We drank some beers( actually too many) and hung out with Chris and Rich, and also Steve and Carrie when they got there latter in the night.

Saturday I had planned to do some trail work, in part of doing the work I volunteered to take the Bob up the trail with the tools. I was trying to be all tuff trying to ride fast with the trailer, but I kind of blew up going up this paved road. One we got on the single track I did pretty well and I got up this one longer hill section that I didn’t think I would. My group worked under the guidance of Dan Hudson and we built up a switchback so that you could actually get around it. We had Ryan test it on his 26er, then me on the 29er, and the final test was the 29er with the Bob, I almost made it but the bag got caught in the tire. After working for 4 hours I did a ride with Bryan and Martenez(I might be wrong on the name if you read this let me know) we went down Brushy Hollow and that was fun. We then were going to do the Tobacco house ridge trail to the Blue Suck trail to the Locust Gap trail. Well once we got to Blue Suck I was ahead of the other two guys, and I missed the turn. I waited several times for them, but I figured that I went a different way. So I did this Blue Suck Trail to the top, and boy did it suck! I like climbs but this one was tough, I had to go slow to save energy when I needed it to get over roots,rocks,waterbars. As you can see from the map this trail was steep with all the switch backs. I did get to go on Lookout Rock which has great view, and the Tuscarora overlook as well. I took Stony Run Falls back down and that was a hoot, and then went on the Wilson creek trail back to the camp. So that ride turned into a bit more then I thought I would do, with that climb taking like 45minutes straight. That night we had the pot luck and sat around the fire with most people going to bed early after the long day.(photo Chris Scott)

On Sunday I did a ride with Joe, Mark, Ryan, and Chris.(photo Steve Riley)
It was good having Chris on the ride, since he knows the area. We did Stony Run going up. Chris was leading and I was following him, Chris was pushing me. I was determined to stay on his wheel, and he could have dropped me if we were racing. Once over the top we went out of the park doing the Fore Mountain trail which was fun. We came back on the fire road to this really steep but ridable sandy gap trail. I was able to clear the whole thing which I was proud of. We took Salt Stump back to the camp area. Joe P one fast single speeder!(photo Chris Scott) Mark looking cool(photo Chris Scott)

I really like the riding here, and I think I will be back in April to kick off mountain biking next year.
More Photos taken by chris scott.

Doughthat 2007