We arrived on Friday at about 4:30 in the afternoon. We set up our tents in the small crowded camp grounds that was situated in a valley between two mountain tops. We got our tents together and our abode in order, and still had time to go for a ride. Before leaving, we took the time to meet our neighbors. One of them had a broken shoulder and was in considerable pain. He broke his shoulder on a trail called Precipice, which is one of the most difficult trails in the area. It is a series of steep, rocky descents that you must ride down at a good clip or you will find yourself performing an endo with superman-like style. I skipped this trail with the spirit that I shall live to ride another day.
After making small talk with our neighbor we hit the trails. Our first stop was the base trails near the bottom of Gauley Mountain. The Base Trails at Gauley Mountain are fast single track with some logs and rocks - we only had to dismount off our bikes twice. The trails that are part of the base trail system at Gauley Mountain both require about six-tenths of a mile in climbing to reach the entrances. From Gauley Mountain you can connect to four major trails, Precipice, Red Run, and the base trails. Gauley Mountain is about 9,000 feet above sea level to the peak. This meant a three-mile climb at about eight degrees to reach Red Run or Precipice. This we would save for Saturday morning. After we finished the base trails it was almost 7 p.m., so we headed back to the campgrounds.
As we returned to the campgrounds we noticed that the temperature had dropped from 85 to 68 degrees in only a few hours. We were going to be in for a chilly night and morning.
Saturday morning greeted us with 48 degrees and a layer of dew that would make you think it had rained. At 10 a.m. we left the campgrounds to go on the 11 a.m. Red Run Group ride. All things considered, Red Run was a blast. I endoed early in the ride, when I failed to jump across a puddle with a giant rock in the middle. I rated my endo a 10 because I landed on my feet and my head never touched the ground. I was so proud. The rest of the ride was a 20 / 80 mix of hiking and biking. A lot of the rocks were covered with a green moss and that made our bikes take different paths then the ones we planned. At the end of the ride, we and our bikes were covered with mud from head to tire.
