Spring "overland" trip George Washington National Forest

Spring "overland" trip George Washington National Forest

UPDATED 3/31

Outbound Overland <-Click Here for ]GPX links UPDATED 3/29

I'm putting together a "Overland" (back-country adventure) trip to take place April 7th, 8th, and 9th. Trip will start Friday morning in George Washington National Forest and end in the Green Ridge State Forest Saturday night.

Itinerary is as follows:

Friday morning meet at the Harrisonburg VA parking deck at 8:45am, see link below. Due to number of confirmed vehicles we will need to split into 3 groups of 10-15 trucks per group. Groups should be staggered at 30min intervals for the Union Springs section of trail. One group will convoy to our first camp location and reserve our spot, and at least one other group will head directly up Union Springs. From the Union Springs trail head I expect the loop to take between 4-7hrs. One section of this loop (Union Springs) will be challenging for stock vehicles but doable. Before we get to Reddish Knob we will need to consolidate the occupants of the vehicels because there is only room to park and turn around 4-6 vehicles on top of Reddish Knob. I have added a "Reddish Knob- Park here" way-point to the GPX files. Friday we will travel to Reddish Knob, Meadow Knob, Flagpole Knob, and Switzer Lake. Friday night we could do a night-run back to Flagpole Knob if we are up for it.

Running boards will likely get some damage Friday, if this is a issue please remove them.

Primary CB Channel: 22
Backup CB Channel: 23

Friday 8:45am meeting location: https://goo.gl/maps/vU9J3qjTKY12

Fill up with GAS prior to arriving at meet up location.

FRIDAY - approximate schedule:
0845 - Be on the parking deck ready for the driver briefing
0845 - Driver briefing
0900 - Group 1 departs
0905 - Group 2 departs
0930 - Group 3 departs
1145 - Flagpole knob for lunch/break/play
1230 - All trucks rally at Flagpole knob for group photo
1300 - Depart Flagpole knob for Reddish knob (ALTERNATIVE: trucks wanting a shorter day follow Dunkle Hollow road to Switzer lake/camp)
1400 - Rally at Reddish knob
1430 - Depart Reddish knob for loop back to camp via Sugar Grove
1800 - Arrive at Switzer lake/camp for the evening - dinner, drinks, fishing, check out trucks, etc.

Forcast for Friday camp location: https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Brandywine%2C+WV



Saturday we will break camp in the morning and travel to Lost River Brewing (yes we will have lunch at a brew-pub Saturday). After lunch we will continue towards Green Ridge State Forest. All trails and roads will be stock T4R friendly, Saturday you should expect at least 5 water crossings. Ranging from creeks to rivers. Saturday afternoon we will arrive at Green Ridge State Forest and camp at group site G1 (39.65241, -78.47871). Due to the expected number of participants I have booked a porta-potty for Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday lunch location: Lost River Brewing Company 155 W Main St, Wardensville, WV 26757 (304) 874-4455 https://goo.gl/maps/ueLo1VW32WD2

Saturday night camp location: https://goo.gl/maps/LJvuNtFQ5aH2

SATURDAY - approximate schedule:
0845 - Driver briefing
0900 - Group 1 departs
0930 - Group 2 departs
1230 - Lost River Brewing Company for lunch/break/play
1330 - Depart Lost River Brewing Company
1630 - Arrive at Green Ridge State Forest site G1 for dinner, drinks, fishing, check out trucks, etc.

Forecast for Saturday's camp location: https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Paw+Paw%2C+WV


Sunday can be what ever you want to make it, maybe a group ride through the GRSF, kayaking, fishing, mtn biking, hiking, or simply enjoying camp Sunday. I know my wife and i will need to head home fairly early (9ish) to get our kids from their grandparents.

All camping will be fully dispersed No bathrooms, showers, or running water. Plan to do your business in the woods, bring your own water, ice, and food. Saturday Night we will have a porta-potty due to GRSF requirements for a group of our size.


Below is track will be running.

If you can only join us for a portion of the trip that is OK. Our expected camp locations are posted.

I expect the track to be stocker friendly and around 200 miles Friday to Saturday night.

All input is welcome.

I will add info as we hash out the details.

List of confirmed participants.
1. myself - Group Leader
2. [MENTION=141503]carlos.elmotor[/MENTION] - Group Leader
3. [MENTION=133021]propain[/MENTION]
4. [MENTION=78903]08runnertjb[/MENTION]
5. [MENTION=153136]Dougthelurk[/MENTION] (insta: americanroadtrip.us)
6. [MENTION=3442]Boyds4Runner[/MENTION]
7. [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION]
8-15. DMVoffroad (7-9 vehicles)
16-17. [MENTION=124959]Runn4est[/MENTION] (2-3 vehicles)
18. [MENTION=79154]MountainClimber78[/MENTION]
19. [MENTION=74285]Toy4Rnner[/MENTION]
20. [MENTION=9260]Icepuck72[/MENTION]
21. [MENTION=72984]BMeister[/MENTION]
22. [MENTION=112177]4RnR Grl[/MENTION]
23. [MENTION=129741]floridafj80[/MENTION]
24. [MENTION=137054]Hertz4R[/MENTION]
25. [MENTION=1194]Localmotion[/MENTION]
26. [MENTION=157451]Whitelion[/MENTION]
27. [MENTION=125025]GHARP57[/MENTION] - Group Leader
28. [MENTION=156940]DavidR1[/MENTION]

Maybe:
1. [MENTION=137810]KingTaco[/MENTION]
2. @soze

PLMK when you go to test the route and I may be able to tag along.

Please put me down as a tentative.

Thanks
Mark

n2advnture said:

PLMK when you go to test the route and I may be able to tag along.

Please put me down as a tentative.

Thanks
Mark

Click to expand...

Will do, let me know if you want or have time to help pre run the tracks.


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Is this strictly a drive or over-nite camping at some point along the way?

Antman said:

Is this strictly a drive or over-nite camping at some point along the way?

Click to expand...

Drive then overnight at GRSF.

Hmmmm. I think I may try to do this.

Antman said:

Hmmmm. I think I may try to do this.

Click to expand...

Awesome I'd love to see my old bumper get ripped off!! J/K it will be mellow.


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Hey [MENTION=137555]Sleeter[/MENTION],

Please put me down for April.

I'd like to do some of the preliminary sections also, so please send a heads-up on that and I'll join in when/if I can.

Late September last year, I followed a route from Maryland down to Harrisonburg on the "Transamerica Trail." TAT KML attached (renamed as PDF due to forum software not allowing KML uploads).

It turned out to be mostly gravel side roads before turning into dirt fire roads in GWNF (connected by some stretches of pavement). My route attached as KML. Lots of gates closed in GWNF these days. Even Long Run Road was closed for repairs.

Thanks for organizing and looking forward to it.

I have ridden my Motorcyle through those mountains and it is very beautiful!

I'm going to try to scout from pawpaw to wardensville tomorrow, weather looks awesome.





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In as tentative for April, but would like to do some of the preliminary sections if I can.

Spring &quot;overland&quot; trip George Washington National Forest

Ok I ran from pawpaw to wardensville. It took me 2.5hrs and that was with a good amount of back tracking. I will estimate we could do this section in 2hrs with a group. 3 gas stations along the way. Pretty cool area, 90%+ private land on both sides of route.

Blue is my track, Red is the path I wanted to take but I was turned around a private property gate, two nonexistent roads, and high water.

There was a ruffly 16 miles of well paved roads, the rest were either poorly paved, gravel, or dirt.

.









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01100101 said:

In as tentative for April, but would like to do some of the preliminary sections if I can.

Click to expand...

PM me your email and I'll send you the files.

Interested. Sounds like fun. April would be good :usa:

1way - 369 mi. About 6 hours 24 mins

Would we require any passes or permits?

Flagging this thread for the folks below to make sure you're tracking it. I see [MENTION=145202]n2advnture[/MENTION] and [MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION] are already in the mix.
[MENTION=78903]08runnertjb[/MENTION]
[MENTION=112873]Da8ron[/MENTION]
[MENTION=3442]Boyds4Runner[/MENTION]
[MENTION=120607]JmetzFA5[/MENTION]

carlos.elmotor said:

Flagging this thread for the folks below to make sure you're tracking it. I see [MENTION=145202]n2advnture[/MENTION] and [MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION] are already in the mix.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I'm tentative as of now depending on the final date we decide on. Sounds like a great time.

I'm not 100% yet. I may be going out of town from 31 march to the 15th of April. If that falls through then I'll definitely be able to go

propain said:

Would we require any passes or permits?

Click to expand...

Just spoke to a Ranger and the Harrisonburg office. He said no permits needed unless we have over 75 people. Needless to say we won't need a permit.


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Sleeter said:

Just spoke to a Ranger and the Harrisonburg office. He said no permits needed unless we have over 75 people. Needless to say we won't need a permit.


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Click to expand...

Awesome! Saw your email. Still jammed up here, but will get back to you tonight.