West Virginia BackPack Trip December 18t h-19th!!!!

“OH, have you been tho Roaring Plains/Flat Rock Plains?”

“i think i have....its been over a year since i went hiking in the area....kinda been spending all my time on my harley....

i will post an hello in the hello thread......”

“Don't mind these guys - some of them still think I'm a troll 'cuz I post on the "other side". It's just that I found that site first and was posting there long before I knew this one existed.

All kidding aside, though, I've met a bunch from over here on a trip down to Grayson Highlands, and they really are a LOT of fun to hike and camp with. That's why I'm looking forward to the Blair Witch hike in January, so I can meet up with a few more!

Nice thing about TT's site also is the trip planning and photo album features. It's a lot easier to organize a trip over here. ;)”

“Now, now Squilax posting on the "other side" doesn't make you a troll. It makes you a traitor.”

“Bison - I like your style! We gotta get to Shenandoah one of these weekends... Take BearMagnet out there for a mid-winter-freeze hike!”

“i have been reading a lot of the posts and it does seem like people get together alot on this site.....”

“okay...looks like I won't be flying until dec 22 for sure now. I think I am gonna squeeze one more trip in before I leave. would go nuts if I don't.”

“so novatrek...u planning on going on this hike?

lol...we may scare you. I think we scared plenty away... lol”

“Yeah, I haven't seen Shush around... Think we scared him off Gem? He was a good guy, hope he'll still hike with us.”

“sure if you all will have me....and you cant be anymore scary than my exwife......so whats the plan and were will you meet.....im in manassas va and the rides about 2hrs for me.....im willing to drive if anyone needs a ride.”

“hahaha, we're pretty scary sometimes... LOL
Prolly more then any ex.

Not sure about meeting place or anything... i am the wrong person to ask. Didn't check the thread yet.

Bison so true, Sush or the other guy...what was his name? Both of them never posted again. Sometimes I wonder if we really are that bad??

PS: don't tell us we didn't warn you!”

“Yo Gemini, are you set for dierctions?

We will be going up the same valley road through Laneville.

Depending on snow conditions we will park up on the plateau or down in the valley in Laneville by the horse farm.”

“na, i have nothing anymore...
horsefarm?? huh? I cna't remember a horse farm.”

“THat's because we didn't stop at the horse farm, we did drive past it.

I'll fix ya up........later.”

“Gemini

I-81 north to Route 33 west.....that's Harrisonburg, Va.

Route 33 west all the way to Route 32 north toward Davis, WVa.

About 3 miles on the right is Bonner Mountain Road.
There was yellow tape wrapped around a power pole there from two years ago, I'll try to remember to bring more.

The Flat Rock Run Trail is about 4 +/- miles on the right.
I goes through Donnie's Horsefarm.....watch out the horses don't eat you.

It's about 9 miles from Route 32 to the place we parked in June for Dolly Sods.
That's where Forest Road 19 starts.
About 2.5 miles UP FR 19 is FR 70 on the right.
It's 3 miles along FR 70 to the pipeline.

Forest Road 70 is tough for cars with low clearance.
last edited: 12/06/04 2:53:07 PM”

“MarkO...printed it out just now. thanks...
cell phone numbers?? u all still got mine??

here mine one more time:
804.414.3511

post yours here or email me.”

“okay, what did i wanna know? oh....i remember...


bad in reading the whole thread...so questions are:

no need for snowshoes up there is it??
didn't mapquest it yet, but got u'r directions Mark. it was a long way, wasn't it? (can't remember...)

i think leaving friday should not be a problem.”

“so MarkO, what's the plan?”

“that's not the coming weekend right? that's the next weekend? *just making sure*”

“17th-19th”

“yeah... blind ass...didn't see the date. Like it's not ovious in the title thread.”

“bump for spam.

MarkO is Supreme Route Chancellor of the trip.
last edited: 12/07/04 10:49:01 PM”

“Bump?”

“Spam I saw that you said you were interested in the trip, so I bumped up the thread.”

“whats parking like on FR70 at the flat rock trial head....i have a book that says theres only room for one car.....also the only way i have every gone is up RT19 to FR75 and made a right and parked near the red creek camp ground...from what my map says i can make a left on FR75 and it will bring me down to FR70..is that correct?.......joe”

“novatrek, you c'ming with us?”

“yes”

“I guess I'm gonna have to back out of this one I always seem to have too much chit going on.I would really like to get back up that way sometime. Several years ago I lived about an hour from that area in Blacksburg,Va.I was stationed there as Army Recruiter and fill in at the ROTC Dept @ VaTech. I hope you guys have a great trip and hopefully will see some of you at the Blair Witch Trip!”

“bummer spam”

“So far the weather is looking OK.

I'll get a late update from my WVa connection on snow on the plateau.

novatrek, your directions are good.
If you go over the mountain west from where FR 75 turns north, FR19 will take you down to Laneville.
FR 70 is about a mile west from the junction of FR75 & FR19 and goes roughly south three miles to the pipeline.

I prefer to go around the plateau through Seneca Rocks, Rt 33 west to Harman and then Rt 32 north a few miles to a right on Bonner Mountain Road.
Laneville is up that valley.
It is 9 miles to where FR 19 starts and climbs 2.5 miles to FR 70.

from Baltimore/Washington:
I drive I-70 west to I-68 to south Route 219 all the way to Thomas, West Virginia.
From Thomas it is south on Route 32 through Davis to Dry Fork and left on Bonner Mountain Road.

I don't like driving up FR 75 from the Petersburg side......10-12 miles of gravel road.”

“The weather is lookin' like:

Thurs 12/16 0%
Fri 12/17 0%
Sat 12/18 20%

Partly to mostly cloudy”

“It looks like we will be able to hit the trail head on Saturday morning, probably at the pipeline.

What's the planned destination?”

“If there is no ice I would like to do the Rim Trail and on to Haystack Knob if there is enough time in the day.

Otherwise, it would be RP Trail instead and on to Haystack.”

“No slackin' on the pics once y'all are done, I'll be home around 11 pm Sunday, I expect the pics to up by then. got it? good.”

“So it's camping at Haystack no matter the route, eh?

We'll just meet y'all on the trail or at the Knob.”

“this will be a good trip.”

“Marko i think i will take your route....i here they lock the gate were RT19 runs into FR75 so taking RT 32 would be better......what time are most people planning on get there friday?”

“MarkO, I get done with work at 440 on friday, but I maybe able to sneak out a little earlier, 4ish. I could be in Towson by 530 at the latest, since I work in South York, right off of 83. My car is a little Honda Civic and of ot snows I may be stuck. What time were you planning on heading to the Plains? If possible can I hitch a ride with you?”

“EarthNsky, I suppose that we could do that.

novatrek, approaching from the Laneville side is the way to go for which ever route we take.

You guys should check Jonathan Jessup's Photo page and look at the Roaring Plains map.

http://www.jonathanjessup.com/roaring-plains-map.html

Enlarge the third map down.
Look in the upper right/NE corner for where Forest Road 70 meets FR 19.
FR 70 is a black line.
Follow to "the pipeline" and start of Roaring Plains Trail/548.
From there it is a left/south turn and about 1 mile to the top of the front.
Turn east on "grassy jeep tr" and go about .5 mile to camp site just under the word "bog".

That will be Friday's camp site if conditions are OK for parking at the pipeline.

More later......”

“thanks MarkO”

“heeheeheehee...I am still going. I can not wait. I need to get out, out, out...need to get out...

going nuts.”

“Gem, how far of a drive is that for you? Like 12 hours or something??? I wanna get out soon too.”

“I can't remember...I remember it's beeing much further then I thought it would be. Virginia sounds very close, but I didn't realize West Virigina is so much further. LOL

are you going? come on!! go!!! we'll have fun. Take bison and yam, and all the others, and we'll have fun.

I need to check the trip page, don't even really know how is going.”

“I am flyin up to DC tomorrow - wish I could go, but gotta meet the fam this weekend. Uh-oh. :0

Hey, do you still have all those bites from CI? I have scratched all mine off and now have bloody scabs. Yum Yum!”

“My legs look really beaten up. Lots of scares so far. have tried not to scratch them too much but for some reason they still look scared... (darker skin).

yeah...I look like I hiked a really hard trail that day.. :)

But hey...the WV trip is next weekend...so u guys still cold make it. it's not this weekend...NEXT!!”

“Sorry Gem, I'm goin' to Nashville next weekend.”

“hahaha, u guys need to move in together and get hiking dammit!! That long distance crap is not going to cut it, u know... so em or bison...pack ur stuff and move either there or there.
last edited: 12/09/04 10:42:41 PM”

“don't go "there" gemini
last edited: 12/09/04 11:13:51 PM”

“So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly........

Friday 12/17 Partly Cloudy 41/29 0%
Saturday 12/18 Snow Shower 39/26 30%
Sunday 12/19 Mostly Cloudy 39/27 20%

We may have to park the less road worthy vehicles at the place where FR's 19 & 70 meet.
Pennsy got his Jetta in to the pipeline last Fall.......just barely.
It takes a good 30-45 minutes to drive the 3 miles into the pipeline.
In October of last year, just weeks after Isabel pissed all over the highlands, the amount of obvious repair was like I haven't seen in all the years I've been going there.

Gemini, it looks as though Earthsky and me won't be gettin' there until 10:00 PM on Friday.
What time will you get there?
Forest Road 70 might be bad so we should maybe carpool into the pipeline.”

“hmm,that would be great, gives me enough time for the long ride up there. we should meet at around 10 then somewhere.”