Blue Ridge Ramble, Part Two: Asheville to Glendale Springs, NC

Day Four: After the speedy, exhilarating descent into Asheville from Mount Pisgah, we had to pay it all back and then some. This time, instead of climbing all morning, we climbed all day from Asheville, which is one of the lower points on the Blue Ridge Parkway, to Mount Mitchell, which is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains at 6,684 feet.  We only had 32 miles to ride, but it was almost exclusively uphill except for a relatively flat section near Craggy Gardens. To make it better, the last five miles, the road from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Mount Mitchell, was steeper than anything we had ridden to that point.

In spite of all of that, this was one of my favorite days of the ride. As we were leaving Asheville, a guy caught up with us and rode with us for a while. He does the climb from Asheville to Craggy Gardens Picnic Area as his regular workout. It is 15 miles and the road climbs at least 2,500 feet over that distance. He was 73 years old! The scenery was second to none on this section. We once again climbed from hardwood forest up into the cedar and fir forests of the highest peaks. Craggy Gardens is a large rhododendron bald with views nearly all the way back down to Asheville. We took a long break there to eat our lunch. From Craggy Gardens, the parkway follows the ridgeline, winding in and around the high peaks. I really liked this section. We had great views at various points on both sides of the road.

The climb up to Mount Mitchell is legendary. There is even an organized ride called Assault on Mount Mitchel. Much is made of the steepness of the road from the parkway to the top of the mountain in the guidebook that I used. It is definitely steep, but it definitely wasn't as bad as everything I had read or heard about. We had to deal with a bit of road construction on it, which wasn't pleasant, but other than that, it was just an hour of steady climbing. We set up camp in the campground that is a mile below the summit and got to ride our now much lighter bikes the last mile to the summit.

We left Asheville in the fog. Pretty quickly, we climbed above it. This is looking back on the city.

My bike in the morning light.

One of the many signs along the parkway.

Michael riding near Craggy Gardens.

 Michael and I went for a walk at Craggy Gardens. It was just a spectacular place.

Michael and Derek at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center. We actually attracted quite a bit of attention here. We ate our lunch sitting on the wall and just about everyone who walked by our bikes stopped to look at them and many people asked us questions about our trip.

 I went ahead of the guys at one point so I could take pictures of them riding.

 The benchmark at the top of Mount Mitchell.

Michael and I at the summit sign. The summit was crowded even though it was a weekday.

Sunset at Mount Mitchell. After shooting this picture, we watched lightning flash across clouds far to the east.

Day Five: Descending Mount Mitchell was five miles of fun. We couldn't go all out because the road construction had left some random patches of loose gravel on the road, but we still enjoyed the effortless reward for making the climb the day before. We had lunch at the Little Switzerland Cafe, which, if you are ever in the area, definitely make the stop. Our appetites had kicked in by this point and it was nice to eat something other than beef jerky and energy bars for lunch. We also stopped at the North Carolina Museum of Minerals. I think my expectations for the museum were too high. I was hoping for exhibits on the geology of the area. There wasn't much on that. They did have some information on the history of mining in North Carolina, which was interesting and some nice mineral samples. I was just looking for some context on how the mountains we were riding through formed.

Our destination that night was Linville Falls Campground. The campground is nice. I asked about a camp store (there isn't one) and bear boxes. The woman who check us in said that they didn't have any trouble with bears there because everyone who camps there stores their food properly. I'm sure she wasn't counting the family near us who was nowhere to be seen, but their food was sitting out on their picnic table. Another family came in that night near us and they took their coolers into their tent with them when they went to bed. Proper food storage, indeed.

When planning our trip, I was looking forward to seeing the waterfalls along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Linville Falls is one of the more famous ones. What I realized that night is, after riding for hours and hours, I probably wasn't going to hike even a couple of miles to see a waterfall. Linville Falls isn't a long hike, but it just wasn't going to happen after a full day of riding. From Linville Falls north, our days got longer, so it was even less likely as the trip went on. We'll just have to go back at some point.

 Flowers blooming at one of the overlooks near the Mount Mitchell turnoff.

 Michael approaching a tunnel.

 An underpass at Little Switzerland. The stonework along the entire parkway was impressive.

Drying our clothes out at Linville Falls campground after doing a bit of laundry.

Day Six: This was one of the hardest days of the trip.  I don't think any of us anticipated it, either. After the really big climbs we had done earlier in the trip, the elevation profile looked deceptively moderate, just lots of big rollers. They turned out to be steep rollers and by this point in the trip, the temperatures had ticked up into the 90s. It also had one of the busiest sections of the parkway that we encountered from Julian Price Lake to the Moses Cone Manor. By the time we rolled into Glendale Springs, we had been on the road for almost ten hours, which might be the world record for slowest pace over 57 miles. It was still a pretty ride, but we were all glad to be done when we got to our hotel that day.

The reward for that day's ride: A friend's aunt and uncle came and picked us up, took us to the grocery store for supplies, and then to their house for dinner. It was such a treat after a long, hard day of riding.

The Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville Falls Campground.

One of the highlights of the day was the Linn Cove Viaduct. This was the last mile of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be constructed. It wasn't completed until the 1980s.

Looking back on the Linn Cove Viaduct in the distance.

The Moses Cone Manor. Moses Cone manufactured fabric and clothing. There is a beautiful craft shop on the first floor. The second floor was actually open while we were there. Cone Mills still exists, although I don't think it is owned by the same family anymore. They make fancy denim in North Carolina (I've actually made jeans from Cone Mills denim).

 This section of the parkway is more populated than the sections further south. We rode through more farmland and we started seeing country churches. One thing that impressed me all along the trip was how varied the landscape is.

Looking back on where we had come from near Glendale Springs.

More to come...

Blue Ridge Ramble, Part One: Cherokee, NC to Asheville, NC

It has taken me a while to go through the photos from our trip and it has been a long time since I've posted. We spent the last two weeks of July riding the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive from Cherokee, North Carolina to Front Royal, Virginia. It was definitely epic. All said and done, with side trips, we rode 630 miles with over 60,000 feet of elevation gain. Like I said: Epic. It was amazing and it came off flawlessly. We got sprinkled on once or twice while riding and it rained on us several times in camp, but we never encountered serious bad weather while on the bikes. It was hot, but, well, it was July in the South. We didn't have any mechanical troubles - not even a flat tire.

On the first day of our trip, five of us piled into our car along with all of our gear, two bikes on the back, and two on the roof, and we drove to Cherokee, North Carolina, which is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The drive went fine. Cherokee is dominated by an enormous casino that would show up in our pictures for about half of the first day's ride. The next morning, Michael, two friends, and I set out from the hotel and began the trek north. The fifth member of our party followed us as far as the turnoff, took some pictures and took the long way back to Maryland with our car. Once, on a backpacking trip in Maine, I thought it was weird to watch our ride take off with us being 100 miles from our car. Watching our friend drive off brought up that same feeling.  We were now over 600 miles from getting picked up two weeks later.

Right out of the gate, the Blue Ridge Parkway demonstrates what it can do. The first climb is nearly ten miles long and gains 4,000 feet of elevation. With stops for pictures and snacks, it took us all morning. The change in the forest along the way was remarkable. We started in dense hardwood forest and ended up in firs and cedars. After a quick  four-mile descent and lunch, we were at it again, climbing to the top of Waterrock Knob (5,718 feet). From there, we just had to descend seven miles to our hotel, so our two friends and I hiked up to the top of the knob (in mountain bike shoes...not ideal). The seven mile descent into Balsam Gap was the perfect end to the first day. The mile we had to ride on the shoulder of US 23 and then froggering across said highway was less than perfect. It was probably one of the least pleasant miles of the trip. It wasn't particularly dangerous, just really unpleasant because of the heavy traffic.

One of our friends getting ready at our hotel the first morning in Cherokee. We each carried between 30-35 pounds of gear on our bikes plus water.

The entrance sign at milepost 469 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Our first tunnel (of 27) of the trip - the Sherril Cove Tunnel. The tunnels were actually something I worried a bit about, needlessly as it turned out. They had nice reflectors in them and white lines on the sides, which made it a lot easier to see the road while riding through them.

Rhododendron maximum (Rosebay Rhododendron). These were blooming all over the higher mountains.

 Riding up towards Waterrock Knob

Lilium superbum (Turk's Cap Lily) along the road.

 The view from Waterrock Knob.

The Balsam Mountain Inn - our hotel the first night. This was an amazing place with a great restaurant. It was definitely the nicest place we stayed on the trip. We made good use of the long, wide porches, which were perfect for relaxing after the day's ride.

The second day promised more climbing. We had to return to the Blue Ridge Parkway via US 23, which wasn't any better in the cool of morning than it was the night before. After another frogger across the highway, we were back in the quiet of the woods again. Michael dropped his chain on the entrance ramp, so the rest of us rode to the top and waited for him. There was a guy leaning against his car talking on the phone when we got there. All of a sudden, a puppy ran out of the ditch, circled my legs and one of our friend's legs and then stood in the road. Just then, Michael arrived. The guy with his car said he had seen it, but couldn't catch it. Michael put his bike down and coaxed it out of the ditch and caught it. It was a little thing that hadn't been out very long. It didn't have any tags and there aren't any houses around there. Michael fed it a little beef jerky and the puppy decided they were friends. At this point, Michael was trying to figure out how to carry the little dog on his bike. It would have been hard, though, and the guy with his car said he would take care of it, so we sent it off with him.

With that, we began another 10 mile climb to the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway: Richard Balsam at 6,053 feet. It took us all morning. The scenery was just spectacular. From Richard Balsam to Mt. Pisgah, we rode through more rolling hills, but all above 4,500 feet. We made it into Mt. Pisgah campground just as the heavens opened. Fortunately, it only lasted 10 minutes. Our campsite was nice. The camp store seemed rather spare to us since we are used to the nice ones in Shenandoah National Park. They did have ice cream, though. We didn't know it at the time, but it is actually one of the nicer camp stores on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where they exist at all.

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) with a swallowtail butterfly

 These signs are more fun when descending than when climbing like we were doing here.

The four of us at the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

How can you not take a picture of Rough Butt Bald overlook when on a long cycling trip?

Rudebeckia laciniata (Cut-leaf Coneflower - I think).

A path through a rhododendron tunnel at Graveyard Fields

Looking Glass Rock.

Day three was the descent from Mt. Pisgah to Asheville. Nearly 30 miles, almost all downhill. Before we knew it we crossed the French Broad River. There was a bit more traffic around Asheville, but nothing bad. Our ride took us a grand total of two hours, including stops. We would pay for that the next day, but it was a fun ride down. We visited the Folk Art Center and check into our hotel, which was definitely a contrast to the one two nights before. We stayed in the Motel 6. We spent the afternoon wandering around downtown Asheville and eating too much.

 My fully loaded bike.

We got caught in a quick thunderstorm while we were downtown in Asheville.

A double-decker bus that has been converted to a coffee shop.

More to come...

Shakedown Cruise: A Short, 108 Mile Bike Tour

As part of our training for our upcoming bike tour, we went out on a shakedown cruise this weekend. This was a chance to test our physical condition - whether we could push the bikes plus gears up the mountain grades that we will encounter on our big trip - and to make sure we have the right combination of gear.

We started at our usual spot at the north entrance of Shenandoah National Park under overcast skies. At the entrance gate, we were warned about fog beyond mile 12. We knew that might be an issue, but the forecast called for it to burn off and it was going to take us quite a while to reach mile 12 (we also all had lights). Then the climbing began. The first hill is 6 miles long, 1500 of elevation gain, and only the beginning. It was hard, but it was doable. By the time we reached Hogback Mountain at milepost 21, I was starting to think that this just might be possible. We had lunch and milkshakes at Elkwallow Wayside. We also saw a yearling bear who wandered into the parking lot!

The least pleasant part of the trip was from Thornton Gap to Skyland Resort. It is the busiest part of the Skyline Drive and, while most people were patient, there were a few people for whom a few extra seconds waiting behind us for an oncoming car ruined their day. Even with the traffic, though, it was still a very nice ride. After Skyland (and and iced mocha), it got better and, soon enough, we were at Big Meadows campground, our destination for the night.

Sunday's ride back to the car was really nice. We had clear weather, if a little hot (it is June, after all) and the park wasn't nearly as busy as it had been on Saturday. We had two crazy wildlife incidents. I was descending off of Hogback Mountain, moving along pretty fast. All of a sudden, two Indigo Buntings flew right at me. One of them passed right in front of me. The other must have decided it couldn't make it because it executed a hairpin turn right beside me. Michael said he was sure it was going to end up in my spokes. A few miles later, we were grinding up a hill and I heard something along the lines of, "Holy crap!" from Michael and our friends behind me.  Apparently, as we were biking by, a frog, fleeing a black rat snake that was in hot pursuit, jumped through Michael's bike frame. At that point, the snake gave up and returned to the other side of the road. I didn't actually see it all happen, just the end result of a disappointed snake.

We rode 51 miles and climbed approximately 9400 feet on Saturday with all of our gear on the bikes. On Sunday, we got up and rode back to the car, for a total of 108 miles. The return trip only involved approximately 4,000 feet of climbing. It was an amazing ride. The official verdict of the group: We are ready for the two week tour and this bike touring thing is pretty awesome.

 Our friend pedaling at milepost 5 under cloudy skies.

 A butterfly on red clover.

Grass and Old Rag in the distance from Pinnacles Overlook.

Taking a hard earned break at Pinnacles overlook. The climb from Thornton Gap up to Pinnacles was the second longest of the trip. It was a lot more fun to ride down it on Sunday!

The clouds breaking up in the afternoon on Saturday.

My bike loaded down at the entrance to Skyland Resort.

Amianthemum muscitoxicum (Fly Poison) at Skyland.

Platanthera psycodes (Small Fringed Orchid). This is a new-to-me species of orchid.

An Indigo Bunting at Old Rag Overlook. This isn't a great picture, but it was a nice test of my zoom lens.

This sign was a welcome sight after 51 miles.

Michael sorting gear on the bear box at our campsite. My bike is doubling as a clothesline.

Sunset at Big Meadows was spectacular. Michael and I have camped at Big Meadows a number of times, but always for Old Rag Mountain Stewards Training. We had never really been out into the meadow, let alone at sunset (training always runs late). I'm so glad we got the chance to check it out on this trip.

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds for a few minutes as it was setting.

 A. muscitoxicum (Fly Poison) in the meadow at sunset.

 There was so much Fly Poison blooming that I took a number of photos of it.

Just before turning it, I went to the campground restroom to brush my teeth. On my way back, the bike tires caught the light from my headlamp, which made for a pretty neat picture.

On Sunday, the weather was clear and hot. No complaints, though. We had a nice ride back to the car.