West Virginia Bachelor Party - What More Could a Guy Ask for????

So it was off to Wild, Wonderful West-By-God Virginia for Chris' bachelor party: two nights, eighteen guys, four cabins at Greenbrier State Forest, and as much fun as I've ever had in WV. Hat's off to Jarrod Swick and crew (Ben, Ryan, etc) for somehow making this whole thing happen. It was damn good times.

The first day was golfing at the Greenbrier Resort, a rather swanky place that just so happens to have a bug-out shelter for our country's VIPs when the shit hits the fan. I didn't go, but everyone who did said it was the most awesome course they'd ever played. Adam and I took the mountain bikes to a place I've been trying to get to for awhile now, Kennison Mountain Trail.




























I had a general idea of the loop we were trying to ride, and I had some relatively good maps, but this place isn't on MTBR project or any other site, so the ride involved a certain degree of venturing into the "unknown."

Took Frosty Gap from Forest Road 232 off Rt. 39 and hit Kennison Mt. after a mile of deceptively difficult warm-up climbing. The typical mud and roots made for something just short of a slog in a few places, so the pace was slow. When we got to the ridge, the trail was surprisingly very rideable for spring in WV: very few downed trees and quite a few dry sections that allowed us to rip it up pretty good.

The trail ran along the ridge of Kennison Mountain and was just rooty and chunky enough to keep us heads up.







The best part, though, was the descent to the Cranberry River. I've done some long descents, but this one ranks high on my list. It was steep, old school and seemingly endless. When we got to the bottom, Adam and I both realized we had done something really cool, and we couldn't stop laughing in amazement.

The next part of the ride involved fording the Cranberry, which had just enough water and velocity to make us scout the best crossing and carefully wade across.




























We stopped for a beer on this sweet boulder in the river and enjoyed some good old-fashoned West Virginia backcountry zen.

The ride back toward the car took us along the Cranberry and past quite a few trout fishermen. If I ever learn how to fish, this place will be near the top of my destination list.

Unfortunately, we never quite found the trail we were looking for that would take us back up Kennison Mt. and to the car. We ended up spitting out on Rt. 39 after the gravel two-track turned to pavement. The climb up was a bit long so when we found Kennison Mt. Trail again, we took it and proceeded to.....climb some more. Kind of a ballbuster, and we were both tired near the end. Almost epic.

Cranberry Backcountry is a beautiful place with a great deal more to ride than just Kennison Mt. Definitely classic backcountry WV riding, though. No berms or flow here! They way I ultimately prefer it.

(Coincidentally, when we got back, we found some trails at the Greenbrier State Forest that some locals had built, and we got a dose of machine-built flow for dinner and breakfast the next day.)

The next day was a trip down the New River. The water was high and the waves were huge. Quite a few of the boys took to the water after the river gods decided they wanted to empty some boats. I think this video speaks for itself:

A damn good weekend!! No broken bones or jail time. Thanks again, Jarrod, for putting this all together!!!