The entire first two days basically followed the same trail as mapped in this post. The difference being my friend and I camped before the climb to the top of the mountain.
My last trip into Spring Hollow, I was riding the ATV my friend was on this time. At that time I had reservations about being able to go up this steep road. I attempted it the first time because if I wanted to go further than Spring Hollow, this road was the way.
This time was different because I knew the ATV my friend was riding could make it to the top with no problem. I was pretty sure the new Grizzly could handle it. Like last time, it was like more of a challenge for man than machine. Twenty to thirty minutes later we are sitting on top of the mountain looking out over God’s country.
To me, being on top of the mountains are well worth the obstacles you have to pass to get there. I could just sit up here and stare out across the mountains and valleys forever. This is where you can truly see Appalachia. You can see all the little communities but you can’t see their problems. You can only see the big picture. Unless of course you don’t just keep looking north and decide to look west.
With the new view, you can’t see the communities but you can definitely see their problem, Massey Energy and mountaintop removal coal mining.
I found it kind of sad that I could no longer take pictures of the view to the north from the top of the mountain I was on. I like to go there and take photos such as the one in the banner at the top of the page. That photo was taken from a ridge that no longer exists and is being mined as I write this.
The trip off the mountain was fairly uneventful. As was the ride back home. All in all it was a great two days in the mountains. We rode every type of trail imaginable and had no further trouble with either ATV.
The next day we would be riding from my house onto a trail right on Bolt Mountain just to see where it would take us. We got some decent photos of a young six-point buck during that day of riding and we found some cool fossils. I’ll tell you about the third day in the next post.
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I’m planning another trip to the mountains as soon as I get two consecutive days without bad weather. I’m actually hoping for this coming weekend. The upcoming trip will be different from most because a lot of the trails and roads I ride and hike now, I am very familiar with. The coming trip will be to a different location and will actually make my GPS mandatory. I know where I want to go, just not sure if I can get there from here.
