Kyle and Whitney West Virginia Bike Tour Day 2 and 3

Sometimes you plan a bike tour and it looks great on the map but takes WAY too long while riding with weight. That was the case of day 2 on our bike tour from Harrisonburg to Davis West Virginia. Day two saw us pedaling about 50miles with another 7000 feet of climbing from Big Bend Campground to David West Virginia. Planning on only one large mountain to climb and about 50 miles we figured day 2 would be a nice change from our long and arduous first day with Rough and Long Run roads. Turned out that we were both a bit tired from the long first day and the steep steep climb up the Allegheny front and across the Eastern Continental divide proved brutal.

Climbing out of Smoke Hole Canyon took longer than expected but the views are well worth it. The above picture is looking back East and the Potomac River and Canyon are sandwiched between the far mountains. The Big Bend Campground is somewhere back in there.

Ever been to the Dolly Sods? Well if you have then you have seen these signs from when the Sods were used as a bombing range during World War II. Most of the bombs have been cleaned up but warning signs still abound and you must remember, "Do not Pick it up!" 

Whitney didn't mind the climb up into Canaan Valley at all after the slog up into the Sods on Forest Road 19. This paved climb with the classic water pipe coming out of the rocks was a breeze. Even with relatively "heavy" traffic.

Once we arrived in Davis we made a quick stop at the grocery store and then headed out Camp 70 road and snagged our favorite spot on the river (site #6). A beautiful spot where Yellow Creek flows into the Blackwater river. From here we were able to ride into Thomas or Davis and to most of the good mountain bike trails. Turned out we had neither the energy nor desire to ride any mountain bike trail. One of the newer trail additions to the area, "Splash Dam" was directly across the river from our camp spot.

Day 3 involved leaving our camp setup and a very short bike ride into Thomas for coffee and food. Then we took a tour down the Blackwater Canyon trail with none other than Sue Haywood for some local sightseeing. The view below from Lindy point shows how dramatic the Blackwater Canyon looks from the rim and also shows the old railroad cut, now a rails to trail conversion on the left side of the photo.