Step in the time machine ... welcome to 2001!
The Ride:
2-4-01 Price Mountain Expedition - the ride was hell, but we had a great time and everyone was glad they did it but none of us are planning a ride back there for at least a few years. the lee's creek horse trail was fun, we made one slight detour but otherwise it was just a good trail to ride. then we climbed up 606 to the ridge of price mt. where we passed up a perfectly good and legitimate trail (the stone coal hollow trail) to ride the barely discernible price mt. trail which looked like pain and suffering waiting to happen, and it did not disappoint. we hiked and carried and sunk into thigh deep leaf traps and scrambled and, as often as possible, attempted to ride our bikes on the incredibly technical terrain. on one pitch i rode a climb up to a big log and then put my front tire on it and attempted to dismount but i couldn't get unclipped so i fell over backwards and my bike's the left chainstay smashed into a rock denting and bending it into one of those fancy s-chainstays. that hurt because i'm spiritually connected to my x-cal. 100 yards later, to add insult to injury, my rear derailleur snapped completely off (see photos). the ferrier trial is in perfect shape. a nice loop can be had by riding out lee's creek horse trail, left on 666, left on 606, left on stone coal hollow trail (begins as a fire road), left on 183 back to cars. in spite of all work, pain and damage...myself, joe dudak, brian batteiger, todd reighley, jeff cheng, dean freeman, ian webb and kyle inman really had fun. it was a good time largely because we all knew we were signing up for an adventure wrapped in an ass whoopin', but we all just wanted to do it. as the 8 of us sat at the trailhead looking up at his ridiculous trail, i said to myself "rob, do you really think this group of reasonably intelligent individuals are going to attempt this?" but the next thing i knew, everyone had their bikes on their shoulders and was scrambling up the pitch. all i could do was smile and follow...
The Planning & Preparation:
stage 2 (2013 note: I have no idea what stage 1 was) of the captain insane-o's spring mtb festival currently plans to include the ferrier trail and the price mountain trail in the new castle district of jefferson national forest. this weekend i will lead an exploratory expedition on these trails to determine whether they 1. can be found, they're on the forest service map but my understanding is that they're very infrequently used... and 2. whether they are reasonable to traverse on mountainbikes. the expedition will begin at 10am, at a meeting place which i will determine within the next 48 hours (it will likely be in the area of the north west end of north mountain along route 183). during the mountain bike expedition we will move deadfall on the trail that moves easily but primarily we will exploring and planning for future trail work days. the more people that come the better as we will use the leap-frog method of moving easy deadfall to cover ground as quickly as possible. we will be returning via fire roads and the lee's creek horse trail, 20-30 miles on trail i've never been on before so it is very important this starts at 10am and that everyone is prepared (bikes ready and plenty of food and
water).
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meet at the park and ride next to the exxon off i81 exit 150 at 930am sharp.
from there, we'll take 220n north to daleville, then left on the scenic 779
along tinker creek all the way to 600, right onto 600, quick left onto 748
(which becomes FR183) and we'll leave our cars at the gated entrance to the
lee's creek horse trail on the right. from there (by bike) we'll ride up 183
to the ferrier trail, take it less than a mile before making a right onto
the price mountain trail, then along the price mt. trail until it intersects
FR606, at this point the price mt. trail crosses 606 and continues for a
long ways but we will go right on 606 to FR666, then right on 666 to the
lee's creek horse trail, along the lee's creek trail back to our cars.
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what do you think about this... to try to find the price mt. trail in the
way i've described, BUT if we don't, we'll head back to the cars and ride
the lee's creek trail out to 666 or 606, then try to find the price mt.
trail from the other end. if we have no luck from that end, we'll ride the
stone coal hollow trail back to 183. isn't it fun to plan an adventure!
water).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
meet at the park and ride next to the exxon off i81 exit 150 at 930am sharp.
from there, we'll take 220n north to daleville, then left on the scenic 779
along tinker creek all the way to 600, right onto 600, quick left onto 748
(which becomes FR183) and we'll leave our cars at the gated entrance to the
lee's creek horse trail on the right. from there (by bike) we'll ride up 183
to the ferrier trail, take it less than a mile before making a right onto
the price mountain trail, then along the price mt. trail until it intersects
FR606, at this point the price mt. trail crosses 606 and continues for a
long ways but we will go right on 606 to FR666, then right on 666 to the
lee's creek horse trail, along the lee's creek trail back to our cars.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
what do you think about this... to try to find the price mt. trail in the
way i've described, BUT if we don't, we'll head back to the cars and ride
the lee's creek trail out to 666 or 606, then try to find the price mt.
trail from the other end. if we have no luck from that end, we'll ride the
stone coal hollow trail back to 183. isn't it fun to plan an adventure!
