VA to PA route help.

[jhl99]

You made me check... the New River is one of those crazy rivers that flow up the map!  

I added some more of the route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fhome.windstream.net%2FJHLange%2FVA_route95.kml&ie=UTF8&z=8

The Google Map is agreement with the USGS topo Maps, no bridge between Parrot and Dry Branch, there is boundry line that does cross the river, probably mis-interperted National Geographic scanned the USGS or did whatever conversion they do to the maps.  

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I think there are pros and cons of the various consumer grade mapping software.  Goggle maps is great for road maps, but not for trail level details.  BUT, it is great for sharing the basic routes.  I'm kind of old school, I work off the USGS topos maps.... have not bought one the programs that does all the fancy stuff... one of the limitations of my  method is that most USGS maps do not list the Forest Road numbers....

The Goggle map is missing the following conections:

PUlASKi To ?  
25ish miles of back (hopefully) roads>
Pandapas trails>
FS114>

And at the north end
FS road 85>
FS road 232>
FS road 302>
help?>
North Mountain trail>
Mill Mountain>
Tuscarora County Line>
Tuscarora Hawk>?

[FeloniousDunk]

It's really nice being about to look at the route on the aerial photo's.  Thanks! 

Trails Illustrated Topo!, when it works is a handy product.  The catch is that it is so buggy that it hardly ever works.  It frequently shuts down right in the middle of work and it often plots "ghost" routes that the user never drew (always straight lines).  It's aggrivating and time consuming.

Here is the road section I'm thinking looks okay from near Pulaski to the Pandapas trails area starting on the New River Trail just before it crosses the river toward Pulaski in Shiloh.  Of course, like the rest of the route, I've never traveled any of it so it may not be a good route at all, but it seems to get us back to trail.  Open for suggestions.

Possum Hollow Rd (aka Old 100)>Wilderness Rd>Hazel Hollow Rd>Madison St in Radford (Radford looks like a good place to stop for intown stuff)>Bellsprings Rd to deadend>RR tracks>River Rd (through this section of Bell/RR/RiverRd, we're going to keep our eyes open for an unexpected chance to cross the river, but it's unlikely to happen)>703 across river>Goodwins Ferry Rd>Norris Run Rd>Straley Valley Rd into the Pandapas trails.

On the Damascus to the New River Trail leg, the Trails Illustrated map (bought a hard copy yesterday) shows that between combining the Iron Mountain Trail and the VA Highlands Horse Trail there shouldn't be any bushwacks.  Looks like a fairly well developed route through there.  I'm probably looking at a few bush wacks further north though.  Hopefully not much though because the wife (my trip partner), although a very strong rider, doesn't care too much for the bike hauling. 

[FeloniousDunk]

From Pandapas to North Mountain it looks something like this.

From where Highway 460 meets Craigs Creek Rd we'll either ride up Craigs Creek Rd a little ways and climb up Powerline Trail to the ridge line paralleling Craigs Creek to the south or we'll climb 460 south to Rhea Ridge Dr and take it to the dead end.  Then there's (according to TI) a FS 2 track that runs that ridge all the way over Double Ridge Knob, to the Audie Murphy VFW Monument on the AT.  Just before there we'll drop down the Gravel Hill Rd to SR 624 and take that to North Mountain Trail. 

[jhl99]

Regarding Iron Mnt to Rail trail, I think you might bushwhack after you cross 54.  A short, downhill, bushwhack will to drop right onto the rail trail:




Updated the Google map with your details:  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fhome.windstream.net%2FJHLange%2FVA_route91.kml&ie=UTF8&ll=37.596824,-80.480347&spn=2.310973,4.048462&z=8

If I got the route right, I wouldn't mess with going down the New River along RR tracsk and crossing at 703.  It doesn't look the clean...sometimes those roads that parallel RR tracks are RR property and are posted.  (But maybe you have better data than I do).  I added an alternate route to the map.


After crossing US460, I wouldn't bother with the power line trail... take the road, there is still plenty of single track climbing ahead. 

[FeloniousDunk]

JHL and others,

JHL thanks for all the mapping help and for everyone with the route speculating.  It's nice to bounce ideas like this around with others.  Bikes are packed, chains are lubed and work is about ready for a vacation leave.  We'll be riding out of Damascus wednesday morning.

~Shaun

[John G]

JHL and others,

JHL thanks for all the mapping help and for everyone with the route speculating.  It's nice to bounce ideas like this around with others.  Bikes are packed, chains are lubed and work is about ready for a vacation leave.  We'll be riding out of Damascus wednesday morning.

~Shaun

Did I miss the ride report?

[FeloniousDunk]

Did I miss the ride report?

Uh...no, I need to get on that.  I'll try to put up something this week. 

In short, it was fun but we didn't cover a lot of the state. 

More later.

[tomimcmillar]

wow!  looking fwd to your ride report.  Sorry I missed some of the back n forth, got distracted by a Breckenridge trip.  Really diggin' the route you laid from Blacksburg North.  Lots & lots of awesome ridge running in there on quality trail. 

Other route resources for that area, Chris of SMT is working on getting the Great Eastern Route dialed all along that part of the landscape.  Kinda stumped though about linking up to the State College area, it's tough to sneak thru there, as everybody's kinda figured out already...

his main site:  SMT main page
Scottistan blog, ride reports from GET scouting:  http://www.chrisscottistan.blogspot.com/

Might be trying to tour from Douthat up to Davis, WV in a couple weeks.  Need to scour the maps, have a rough idea in mind...Middle Mtn-LittleMare-ShenMtnTrail-road to Franklin/Seneca-then the GnarlyNorthFork and into the Sods from the southside with maybe a detour off the SMT for a loop over SpruceKnob, then the Gnarly...or just get lost for a few days up in Northern PA....