The weather this May 2008 has been total crap for our area. We have had rain 18 out of the last 24 days in this month and today was too beautiful to pass up. I had a commitment around noon, and then I was free for the rest of the day.
James (RideWV) and I have been exploring roads to host a dual-sport camping weekend near Morgantown. So I took the opportunity today to explore some of the potential roads. We want to stick around the Cheat River Canyon area based on its natural beauty. If you look at the topography, you’ll see this is a pretty neat area.
View Larger MapAs follows is a mini pictorial report:
First, here’s a map of the 100 miles of back roads I explored today. The roads were mixed from tar and chip pavement (40%), to gravel (58%), to trails (2%). I ran the yellow route clockwise.
First up was Dry Run Road.
Dry Run Road isn’t always dry. There were two stream crossings like this one.
The following was taken at the start of Greens Run.
I came across an old church and well kept graveyard in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere.
The end of Greens Run Road gets a little technical. The KLR held up fine despite not having the best off-road tires.
Here is the road and a nice view as I passed through Liston
Just past Liston, Greens Run Road was paved all the way to Albright. Albright is where all the rafters and river guides, who run the Cheat River, camp. There are several drop-in points in Albright. My goal was to explore Beech Run Road to see if it offered any views of the Cheat River Canyon. Unfortunately, the foliage was blocking the views too much. But, you can tell the view would be spectacular w/o the leafs on the trees.
After climbing up the canyon area, Beech Run flattened out on a ridge.
I eventually worked my way north of I-68 on mostly gravel roads to Bruceton Mills. I have head about a road called Skyline Drive which connects Bruceton Mills to Laurel Caverns just north of US Route 40 in PA. This is NOT the Skyline Drive located in northern VA. Not knowing what the PA Skyline was like, I added it to today’s agenda.
Unfortunately, it was a tar and chip paved road with painted lines. That’s not what I’m looking for when I’m riding the KLR. But, I did find a TON of gravel roads which shoot off to the left and right I’ll need to circle back and explore.
The views from Skyline (PA) were very good.
The road itself is not bad for riding. It has some very nice twisties and sweepers. In this shot, Skyline was straight.
On the way back, I wanted to take Mud Pike Road down the mountain to Rt. 857. I thought with the name Mud Pike, it would be a great DS road. Can you believe Mud Pike was paved!?
After a few miles of Rt. 857, I headed back up the mountain ridge again on Ryan Hollow Road (aka Sandsprings Road). This road heads up to Sandsprings campground which is where I’m proposing we stay for a weekend of DS riding.
Ryan Hollow is a rocky road with some very large rocks to negotiate. Some are part of the road while others were loose rocks on the road’s surface.
Mid way up, the view isn’t bad.
Next, I wanted to explore Greenville / Sandsprings Road. Wow, was it great! The bad news is, a downed tree stopped me about half way down the mountain.
Here is the tree mocking me.
I tuned around and headed back up the mountain so I could check out the campground.
The campground was very nice and will make a perfect place to stay during an upcoming DS weekend.
All in all, it took me 5.5 hours to travel the 100 miles of really back roads today. Now it’s time for dinner w/ the wife.
