I had planned this trip for a while as part of a 3 day father/daughter cruise into the western end of Virginia and the eastern half of West Virginia. I've made day trips into the area, but I really got the bug after reading Dale Coyner's book.
Appalachian Highways| Books
Summer came and went and so did
that plan. Recently, I began to look at how far I could get while there was light and the temps were bearable (I do not have heated gear). I told myself that it was possible to do the 380 mile trip during daylight hours. Of course, 380 miles on back roads and taking time to see the sights just don't work when there's only about 7 hours of light to do it in.
The day was perfect. Since it was a weekday, traffic for the whole ride was very light. I was wondering if I would pass a single car on 181. The roads were just the right combination of turns and view. I had ridden all the roads before up to Virginia 42 where it intersects 16. But everything after that was unknown.
I crossed over the mountains into Burke's Garden via a dirt road number 623. There are actually 2 dirt roads that are designated 623 which are left turns off of VA 42. The first one aint the right one!
Burke's Garden is just a farming valley that is mostly surrounded by mountains. The roads through the valley are all straight, but curves are not why I wanted to go there. It is just a very beautiful valley. This guy tells about the valley better than I can. Of interest to me is the story about Asheville, NC being Vanderbilt's 2nd choice for the Biltmore House, after Burke's Garden.
Burke's Garden, Virginia|RoadRUNNER Magazine
By the time I left the valley on another dirt road (Round Mountain Rd. or road 610), it was beginning to get dark. 610 is an OK dirt path for the Hyper, but it has a lot of big rocks to dodge. I managed to miss all of them except for one. It made a big impression on the front pipe.
By the time I'd gone through Suiter and got onto 52 it was completely dark and getting cold. 52 (Big Walker Mountain Scenic Highway) is outstanding! I wish I could have ridden it in the day....excellent, excellent road. Black Lick Road from 52 is another ribbon I'd recommend.
By the time I'd made it to Jefferson, NC, I'd nearly reached my limit on riding in the cold. It was 33 degrees, so I decided to don the poor boy cold weather gear---trash bags for the torso and each foot. While it didn't make me warm again, it took just enough off the edge to make the rest of the ride bearable.
I don't like riding in the dark because the risk/reward is just not worth it. But, for the day of riding that I had, 4 hours in the cold and dark was worth every minute.
Here is a 6 minute vid from the 10 hour ride:
YouTube - breadtroll's Channel
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