Wednesday, September 29, 2010

IMBA North Fork Wilderness Awareness Pre-Part at the Shenandoah Bicycle Company

The First of two North Fork Wilderness Awareness rides is THIS Sunday. There will be a carpool leaving from Harrisonburg at 8am sharp: Mr J's on 42 South.

IMBA has put together a Wilderness Awareness Pre-Party as part of their new Public Lands Initiative Campaign. The event will be at the Shenandoah Bicycle Company in Downtown Harrisonburg on Saturday night 10/2 at 7 pm. This gathering will include beverages, food, and light discussion what can be done to protect our favorite trails so that they remain open to bicycle access.

Whether you plan on attending the ride or not please come out to this Wilderness awareness talk to hear from IMBA representatives, including the Trail Care Crew and learn more about our Public Lands Initiative as well as the legislative status of the North Fork Wilderness Bill in Congress.

Can't make it this weekend? Plan to be at the October 16th & 17th events.

Shenandoah Bicycle Company

135 South Main St. Harrisonburg, Va. 22801

540-437-9000


Friday, September 24, 2010

North Fork Mountain Wilderness Awareness Ride Dates

Mark the Calendars!
Ride dates are as follows:
Sunday October 3rd
Sunday October 17th


Departing at 10am SHARP!

These rides will showcase the amazing views and trails on the North Fork Mountain in West Virginia. We plan on documenting these rides so as to showcase the amazing mountain bike opportunities in this area and to further promote this IMBA Epic trail. Wilderness threats to this iconic ridge ride will likely continue into the future. We need to better document mountain bike use and insist that mountain biking and conservation of public lands are compatible.

Rides will leave from the Redman Run Trail parking lot, please refer to one of the previous posts which includes a Google map of the ride and points out the parking area. The detailed maps of the area are also linked from the post.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Maps and details

Driving Directions From Harrisonburg:

Redman Run Trail Parking

View Larger Map
If you view the larger map and click on the destination point then you can put in your address and get directions from your own home!


The North Fork Mountain is remote and as such does not benefit from some of the simple accessible maps that you can find for the National Forests in Virginia. Since there is no National Geographic Map of the area riders must look elsewhere to find trail information. Fortunately the steep and high elevation nature of the mountain does not lend itself to harboring a vast network of trails. Instead, there is the main North Fork Mountain Trail that runs along the ridge line (where all the magic happens) and then several other trails that connect up to the ridge from the East side. The West side of the mountain is too steep and rocky to have any sustainable trails but it does have many of the iconic views.

The route that we will be riding starts at the Redman Run Trail parking lot along the Smoke Hole Road East of the North Fork Mountain. The Google Map below has the Redman Run parking area identified as the start of the ride. Morning of the ride we will have a banner of some sort (as well as lots of bikes) so that you do not drive past this easy to miss parking area. From Redman Run we will climb doubletrack then singletrack up to the Ridge trail. Once on the ridge we will head north and follow the trail to the northern terminus, drop down to the paved Smokehole Road, hang a right and then head back to the parked cars.

The best detailed maps of the area have been created by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. The ten map series that they have created encompasses the entire mountain. The map of the Redman Run area at the beginning of this post is curtousy of the WV Highlands Conservancy. You can find their maps Here: North Fork Mountain Maps by the WV Highlands Conservancy.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Experience the North Fork!


This amateur helmet cam video is just a little sample of the epic riding the North Fork Mountain Trail offers. Take a look and get pumped up to checkout the trail yourself on one of our North Fork Awareness Rides!