I’ve gotten behind on my posting again because I upgraded my Wordpress blogs to version 2.6. Turns out 2.6 has a bug in the photo uploading portion of the blog software. FYI, if you have a Wordpress blog and you have upgraded to 2.6 and you are having a problem with adding photos this means you have to change your upload folder back to the default, go to settings > misc -Store uploads in this folder, change to wp-content/uploads. If you have never changed the default upload folder you should have no problems.
Now getting back to business. I haven’t finished telling you about the four day weekend with my friend Dennie and I have been on two trips since then. So I’m going to sum all of the trips up in this post.
The last day of the four day weekend found my friend Dennie and I on a trail we had been on before. The first time we were there it was late in the evening, we didn’t have enough gas to turn around, and we weren’t sure if we could even get out at trails end. This time was just a little less adventuresome. We started on the trail about 1 in the afternoon, we had enough gas so that we could turn around anywhere along the length of the trail and still make it back out, and we knew that, barring any obstacles mother nature had put in the way since our last visit, we could get out at trails end. Another plus with this trip, I had my camera.
Most of the trail looked like the next two photos.
When we arrived at trails end we found it just as treacherous as our first visit. In the first photo, I had gotten off the ATV to check the trail ahead. Even with four wheel drive, had we run into some unseen obstacle, turning around on this trail would be next to impossible.
Once again we were able to make it back onto trails we knew were safe to ride. For those familiar with the area, this trail coming out of Drews Creek ends on the trail leading out of Martins Creek. Both trails end at Peachtree Ridge Mining Company. From PRMC it is a short ride back to the main gaswell roads on Bolt Mountain or to RTE 99.
Dennie and I didn’t go out by PRMC but instead took the trail back into Martins Creek. One reason is because I know of this old mine and I wanted to get some photos. So far I’ve been able to find out little about the mine except for its location. If anybody knows anything about the coal mine in Martins Creek please educate me.
As evident in the last photo, there are two mine portals in this area.
After the mine, we stopped at a grave site I didn’t know was here. Now I know of two in Martins Creek both of which require a hike or an ATV to gain access.
It is inevitable, as involuntary as breathing, if I’m in the mountains on foot I’m scanning the plants for ginseng. This ginseng was located just a few feet from the small graveyard.
All in all my friend and I had a great four days in the mountains. We were able to go riding all four days and actually got to see some wildlife this time.
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The next trip would be with my friend Mountainsaver. We were on a mission to try to get from Bolt Mountain to Workmans Creek by ATV via Rock Creek ending the trip at Mountainsavers house which by highway is about ten miles away.
I had already been into Workmans Creek from Mountainsavers by ATV before. I knew we could get into the head of Rock Creek from my house. All we had to do was find the connection from Rock Creek to Workmans Creek.
Geographically, the head of Rock Creek and the head of Workmans Creek are two sides of the same mountain. In other words, if you are standing on the ridgeline at the top of the mountain and facing west, the hollow going down to your left would be Rock Creek and the hollow going down to your right would be Workmans Creek.
It turned out to be pretty easy finding our way in to Workmans Creek. You can kind of track our progress in relation to the slurry pond in Workmans Creek. The first photo is from the top of the mountain in Rock Creek and the last photo is looking at the face of the dam from the opposite ridge in Workmans Creek.
The trip from my house to Mountainsavers through the mountains took 7 hours and was about 65 miles long.
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Finally yesterdays trip…
This was my first long trip into the mountains by myself with the new ATV. I was still a little worried about it but in the past few days with my friends I had put about 200 miles on the ATV. A lot of that was rough roads and required the use of four wheel drive on numerous occasions. My worry about it breaking down was not as defined as the first day when it actually did break down.
I set my sights on Spring Hollow and never looked back. I actually wanted to go there because of all the bear sign my friend Dennie and I saw while camping in the area. So I went to Spring Hollow on a bear tracking adventure.
Although I saw plenty of sign I never saw a bear on this trip. It appears as if the bear is the major user of the road I was on. I would imagine the reason for that is because of the ripe raspberries and blackberries. I did find some deer and turkey tracks but they were few and far between.
My first trip to the mountains alone with the ATV couldn’t have gone any better. It didn’t take long, especially with all of the bear sign, for me to forget about the ATV and just enjoy the mountains.
