Dunmore to Moomaw

It was a rainy day but the ride was totally gorgeous. So was our campsite on Lake Moomaw. Our clothes were all soaked when we arrived at Lake Moomaw, so we attempted to take advantage of the sinks and drier at the campsite. We'd dry our (synthetic) clothes under the hand drier, but they'd soak up water from the air as fast as the hand drier took it out. Fortunately, we got a bit of beautiful dry sunshine on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon brought buckets of rain. A few hours through the day we threw in the proverbial damp towel. We had a great trip but the prospect of another day with wet clothes was unsettling. We managed to shuttle everyone and their steeds safely to a hotel with a hot tub and slept in style while the rain poured down. All in all it was a lovely trip.

Freaky Stuff

A whole herd of cattle stared at us as we biked by (with the enormous Green Bank Telescope in the background). The fanciest house in town was downgraded to hay storage and we also saw a freakishly large worm.

Marlinton to Dunmore

Company housing in Cass.

On Monday we enjoyed a few lovely hours of sun. We finished the Greenbrier River Trail, rode through the historic company town of Cass, and were lucky enough to be offered camping space behind Dunmore Country Mart by the gracious Norma and Theresa. We stopped by Theresa's sister Holly's store a few miles down the road in Frost.

Bridges and Tunnels

The Greenbrier River Trail has some very nice bridges and tunnels...

Maya Saves the Day

We didn't plan to ride with a support vehicle, but it turned out to make things much easier. I can't imagine getting up some of those hills on my 12 speed with fully loaded bag. Because of the combined efforts of the three of us and the number of lovely trilliums in bloom, we came to be called Team Trillium.

Greenbrier River Trail

Eighty one miles of gravel on a rail-to-trail, all in between a river and a mountain.

Stuff...

After the first night of camping in the rain, most of our stuff was wet but we relented. We slept the first day near Anthony, West Virginia. We biked along the trail and stayed the night in a nice B&B in Marlinton. They had bike parking and a washer and dryer. I had false information about the existence of a hot tub, but the promise of it kept us going over 50+ miles of gravel with fully loaded packs.

Gearing up

At the Greenbrier River Trailhead in North Caldwell, West Virginia