My favorite rail trail. This is my 7th ride on it. I am joined by good friend Will. Our plan is a 2 day ride, covering 42 miles the first day, riding from Cass to Beard. It's a chilly 38 degrees as we start. Not accustomed to carrying gloves this time of year, I have to slip the sleeves of my jacket over my hands as we cruise along at about 10 mph.
Watoga Bridge
We stop briefly in Clover lick to admire the restored depot. It is about 11am before we see the first bicyclists. One fellow looks like he is not happy with his situation. We learn later from his brother in law that he was in some distress. The brother in law was heading into Marlinton to buy him some smokes and ride back to him. They had gone only 12 miles in the first two days. That is about the same ground we covered in just over an hour.
Once in the village of Marlinton, we stopped trailside to have lunch. Several military jets roared across the sky as we ate. A number of lunch break walkers were getting some midday exercise.
Will checks out the vault
Just before crossing the Watoga Bridge, I scanned the forest for some ruins of an old bank vault. We located it and followed the social path to the concrete structure. All that remains are the concrete vault and steel door. This is the site of Old Watoga Town, a lumbering community center around Watoga Lumber Company, a kindling wood manufacturer. I understand it was also a mostly African American town.
The depot at Marlinton
The depot at Clover Lick
An original
After crossing the Watoga Bridge, we pass by many summer and full time homes for a couple miles leading to Seebert. A couple of the homes sport wonderful vegetable gardens.
As we ride the final few miles, our average speed has steadily picked up during the day to around 12 mph. Once we arrive in Beard, which appears to be a one or two farm community, we ride on narrow roads up away from the river. Will has determined from his phone map that we can get back to the airbnb by taking a steep dirt track. We have only seen the other end of it, so it is an educated guess where to find the other end. Will is spot on. we locate a dirt track and take it right back to the airbnb.
Scenic spot along trail
Second day on the trail is a short 10 mile morning ride so we can do some hiking nearby. We ride the dirt track down toward the river. It is slightly warmer this morning and we are better prepared. We run into several groups of cyclists and pass some nice campsites.
The Droop Mountain Tunnel
In less than an hour, we enter the Droop mountain Tunnel. As soon as we come out the other end, we are at the parking area where the girls will pick us up. it is a one or two car parking area and obscurely marked. We decide to ride to the next parking area. At that spot we learn there was once a depot there. We could not detect a trace of it.
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