Late Tuesday night or early Wed morning we all got to Big Earl's Campground near HM Little Coal River. We had 10 TTB members and 4 friends. Bob, Randy, Tom, Larry, Lonnie, Ken, Barry, Carver, Wiley, Tyler, Scottie, Scot, ?,?.
Wednesday RideWe rode Little Coal River. Rode 24 of the 27 miles of trails they have. The trails are very nice and go through the woods. There are just not many miles of them left. The blacks are not difficult. The LCR trail-head ranger station is the nicest we have seen, large and a lot of stuff.
Thursday RideWe drove 1 hour to East Lynn and rode about 62 miles. We found a great place to park and take a leak. Tyler was a great ride leader, he had been there several times. EL has a lot of trails and some very nice trails through the woods and creeks. We headed up one long steep hill where I had an issue. Discovered that my 4-wheel drive was not working in 4-wheel drive only in ADC mode. 2/3 of the way up I slowed down for some small ledges and lost momentum and came to a stop. I leaned forward and applied the hand brake and got off of it. Wiley got up quickly to help me and we tried to walk it up and I discovered the 4-wheel drive was not working. This is where the brake and throttle on opposite handle bars is not good. Wiley handled the brake and I did the throttle. I put it in ADC and the front wheels started pulling. About this time Tyler made it down and offered to ride it up and I said hell yes. Thanks, Tyler. I then had to crawl on all fours about 20 feet to the tree line on the side so I could stand up use the trees to climb to the top.
Tyler discovered his Honda was not a boat on one of the river/creek crossings. After pulling him out he drained the water and got it started. One section of EL was hit by a tornado last fall and there are acres of land where all the trees are blown over. East Lynn is a very nice riding area.
Friday RideWe rode the new HM Ivy Branch system. We entered from the south and found a great parking place. We only rode about 34 miles but it took about 6 hours. HM has graded several miles of Green/Light Blue trails that are about 20 feet wide. We rode a lot of woods trails which may are not be part of the HM system. There are a lot of trails in the area. We know where the new trail head will be and I have figured out where the connector to the Little Coal River will be. The two systems are only a few hundred yards apart with the Little Coal River and Hwy 119 between them. With both system open it will be worth while going up there, especially with a day trip to East Lynn.
Friday nights dinnerHannah, Big Earls owner cooked us a GREAT dinner consisting of pork roast-?, chicken, Kielbasa, baked beans, and potato salad. She made it all. We sat around the campfire and BS'd all night.
Saturday RideTom, Larry, Randy, Wiley and I rode HM Rockhouse. I had not ridden it in several years and it has changed a lot. Look at their map on the HM website. There is a big blasting area in middle just North of Twin Hollow. To get to and from Twin Hollow they take you down onto Hwy 80 for about a mile and then back up the mountain. Twin Hollow is now somewhat isolated. We rode some of the black trails but stayed off of the Red/Black trails. We quit riding around 4:30 and Wiley, Randy, and I head home.
Ken pulling Tyler out of the creek
Trees blown down at East Lynn
Parking at East Lynn
Tom and Randy's Breakfast on Satuday