A few days ago I realized that the campers I saw a couple weekends ago were right-of-way workers. They cleared a road which was blocked by two big trees that leads up to the top where the power lines cross the ridge. Here's the view of the Duke Power right-of-way looking west into Tennessee, that's the French Broad River. Down the other side from here is a steep rock garden. It's really tough and will do a vid soon. And, a couple weeks ago nearby I found a nice batch of these
This is the place you are testing the IRC VE rear tire? I'm guessing the last pic is mushrooms? We have the magic ones and others growing here...Not really sure who knows what on that subject.
Yes, basically the only place I'm riding lately because my hauling truck has had a series of issues. Magic mushrooms! Don't trip and drive ray_ray The ones in the pic above are Yellow Morels, absolutely delicious dipped in egg and fried in butter. Going riding this afternoon, more pics and vid soon.
A couple more pics before I leave for work (3 months). About a week ago I lost my Gopro somewhere on the trail and haven't found it. I connected part of my old loop to the new loop with another new section. It's mostly overgrown and slippery, but there are a few sweet grassy tracks then around the western side of the mountains which is even more overgrown and slippery. Keep Right! Elevation is @ 4500', very steep on the low side! There are a couple of sections, 1/3-1/2 mile total, where the trail is a deep bog My line through here is 1' deep in some places. If you're not in the rut you're either bouncing around on the edge or sliding into the ditch and branches. Nobody using most of this except me, primo SE woods riding, the 300 eats it up and spits me out at the other end
Hey there, I'm NW of Asheville, towards Hot Springs. The area I'm riding sees very little traffic and no Rangers except during dear and bear season. Let me know if you want to check it out, plenty of places to park/camp, etc.
This is not on the new loop, but another fav I ride often. Posted elsewhere, but just to give you an idea of what it's like. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItlptEmuAnI
Ncsteve those are some nice wide trails you get many quads coming down there? That would be my main worry on those trails.
I do see quads and some other traffic occasionally on the access road, but most of the trails I ride are ahhh...on the other side of the gate so the quads are locked out. At the end of the vid above you can see a gate. In the US national forests we have "Game Lands" where it's legal to hunt during the proper season. During deer and bear hunting seasons some of the gates are open for access to those areas and hunters will use quads and mules to get in and out. That's also when the forest rangers are patrolling, so I tend to ride at home or go down state to one of the riding parks during that time of year.
Cool. I'm actually closer to Banner Elk and I've google earthed several anticipated trips down Hot Springs way over the years but never made it. I've actually gone back to work at my old age so I'm not sure if I can get down that way before season ends ........but some day. I watched your other vids and it looks like those trails are pretty well groomed for not having a lot of FS people active. Do the hunters clean up all the downfalls? ......or does the FS get in there prior to hunting season and do some work? Take care.
The FS takes care of some of the roads, not sure of the criteria. Maybe areas planned for logging, some are access to Game Lands and some are access to right of way for power lines. Some seem to be kept open for no aparrent reason and many, many are impassable. I guess the hunters probably clear quite a bit too and now I'm doing a little bit too.
