Holy Rattlesnakes!!
Larry and I headed over to the George Washington National Forest to check out the Wolf Gap area. It looks to be some killer riding on the Virginia / West Virginia border in a desolate spot up near.....well, it ain't near nuthin'! The ridgeline on Mill Mountain forms the border between the 2 states and the climb up it was a bear. Steep and rocky right off the bat.
It mellows out after a mile, once you get up to the ridge. But it's still brutal riding. The rocks are relentless, killing any form of momentum your legs can churn out. We gradually climb for the next 2 hours, checking out the views of "The Mountain State". About half way up, I come within 2 feet of a Timber Rattler who's rattling up a storm. Scared the hell out of me! I had no idea that the sound they produce with that tail was so loud. He seemed a bit pissed off. It made the rest of the ride nerveracking as every dark colored mass near the trail was surely, in my mind, a Rattlesnake just waiting for some lunch. Perhaps a little calf muscle to excrete its venom into and then drag the victim back to it's den for the rest of the pit viper population to devour. That's the kind of paranoid shit that was going through my head.
I let Larz lead for the rest of the ride. We head down on Little Stoney Creek, which made the climb up worthwhile. Stoney rolled on down the mountain, past Sugar Knob Cabin, threading the tight, rocky singletrack that kept you on your toes. We pop out on a forest road and ride the base of Bowers Mtn. where we stumble onto the Bowers family cemetery. Old cemeteries always remind me of how young people died back in the day. Just 100 years ago. Seeing a child's gravestone rips right through my heart. There is no sadder thing.
It mellows out after a mile, once you get up to the ridge. But it's still brutal riding. The rocks are relentless, killing any form of momentum your legs can churn out. We gradually climb for the next 2 hours, checking out the views of "The Mountain State". About half way up, I come within 2 feet of a Timber Rattler who's rattling up a storm. Scared the hell out of me! I had no idea that the sound they produce with that tail was so loud. He seemed a bit pissed off. It made the rest of the ride nerveracking as every dark colored mass near the trail was surely, in my mind, a Rattlesnake just waiting for some lunch. Perhaps a little calf muscle to excrete its venom into and then drag the victim back to it's den for the rest of the pit viper population to devour. That's the kind of paranoid shit that was going through my head.
I let Larz lead for the rest of the ride. We head down on Little Stoney Creek, which made the climb up worthwhile. Stoney rolled on down the mountain, past Sugar Knob Cabin, threading the tight, rocky singletrack that kept you on your toes. We pop out on a forest road and ride the base of Bowers Mtn. where we stumble onto the Bowers family cemetery. Old cemeteries always remind me of how young people died back in the day. Just 100 years ago. Seeing a child's gravestone rips right through my heart. There is no sadder thing.
posted by Steve at 8:17 AM
2 Comments:
those tombstone size rocks
they are tombstone shape as well
i hear the east coast rattle is more deadly than the west coast rattler
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