SAS
Seeking higher vistas
Thanks to everyone for a great day on the trails--with one notable exception--it was a great day!
Below are some images from the trail ride.
The day started with breakfast at Mom's Country Kitchen in Front Royal. To my surprise, there were nearly 20 in attendance! It was a pleasure to meet some new folks, and great to see a couple CLCC members who don't frequently make it into the city. I'm glad we chose to make a breakfast gathering outside of the metro area.
Many of us then convoyed down to Harrisonburg--and arrived at the Ottobine Country Store at HWY 257 and HWY 613. We filled their parking lot, but finally everyone got fueled-up and stocked-up on snacks; after a brief trail orientation, we moved out to the trail head--15 trucks in all.
Once on the trail, we stopped to make any final adjustments.
We made a long and gradual climb up one mountain, and soon started down. We found the first significant rock obstacle, which everyone negotiated without problem. But it was quite exciting for a few new-to-offroad drivers.
A short distance later was a hill climb--with a small rock ledge at the top. Again, everyone negotiated this obstacle with no problems.
Moving from there, we arrived at Meadow Knob, and took a break to allow the kids to get out and expend some energy. I think there were nearly 20 children (age 12 years or under)! This was great--to see families sharing a good time on the trails.
We were making good time--roughly 1/2 through the trail with plenty of daylight left.
We drove for another 20-30 minutes and arrived at Bald Knob. There was a great flex spot which was very muddy. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures!
We didn't stay but perhaps ten minutes, and then continued. We started down the mountain, and came to a point where there are three trails that merge up a hill, arriving at another small meadow. I stayed at the base of this hill, and told others who had not been to GWNF about the meadow. Several went up the trail, and others parked. To our dismay, there was a US Forest Service officer up there, writing citations for being off the approved "Forest Service Trail".
We had seen other areas along the trail which had small yellow signs indicating "No Vehicle Traffic"--and of course, we avoided those sites. The area in which several drivers were cited, had no such markers. Naturally, we were disgusted.
The process of writing citations seemed to last forever--and one by one, the cited drivers returned down the hill. A lot of time had expired, and we were losing daylight. We moved hurriedly down the remained of the trail, maybe two miles, and arrived at HWY 257.
From this point, most everyone was in a rush to get headed home. The USFS citation incident put us well behind schedule, and put a gray cloud over what was otherwise a fantastic day on the trails.
Below are some images from the trail ride.
The day started with breakfast at Mom's Country Kitchen in Front Royal. To my surprise, there were nearly 20 in attendance! It was a pleasure to meet some new folks, and great to see a couple CLCC members who don't frequently make it into the city. I'm glad we chose to make a breakfast gathering outside of the metro area.
Many of us then convoyed down to Harrisonburg--and arrived at the Ottobine Country Store at HWY 257 and HWY 613. We filled their parking lot, but finally everyone got fueled-up and stocked-up on snacks; after a brief trail orientation, we moved out to the trail head--15 trucks in all.
Once on the trail, we stopped to make any final adjustments.
We made a long and gradual climb up one mountain, and soon started down. We found the first significant rock obstacle, which everyone negotiated without problem. But it was quite exciting for a few new-to-offroad drivers.
A short distance later was a hill climb--with a small rock ledge at the top. Again, everyone negotiated this obstacle with no problems.
Moving from there, we arrived at Meadow Knob, and took a break to allow the kids to get out and expend some energy. I think there were nearly 20 children (age 12 years or under)! This was great--to see families sharing a good time on the trails.
We were making good time--roughly 1/2 through the trail with plenty of daylight left.
We drove for another 20-30 minutes and arrived at Bald Knob. There was a great flex spot which was very muddy. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures!
We didn't stay but perhaps ten minutes, and then continued. We started down the mountain, and came to a point where there are three trails that merge up a hill, arriving at another small meadow. I stayed at the base of this hill, and told others who had not been to GWNF about the meadow. Several went up the trail, and others parked. To our dismay, there was a US Forest Service officer up there, writing citations for being off the approved "Forest Service Trail".
We had seen other areas along the trail which had small yellow signs indicating "No Vehicle Traffic"--and of course, we avoided those sites. The area in which several drivers were cited, had no such markers. Naturally, we were disgusted.
The process of writing citations seemed to last forever--and one by one, the cited drivers returned down the hill. A lot of time had expired, and we were losing daylight. We moved hurriedly down the remained of the trail, maybe two miles, and arrived at HWY 257.
From this point, most everyone was in a rush to get headed home. The USFS citation incident put us well behind schedule, and put a gray cloud over what was otherwise a fantastic day on the trails.
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