Almost Heaven..West Virginia

[the Ferret]

One of my favorite places to ride is in West Virginia...crazy curvy roads, very little traffic, outstanding mountains, beautiful scenery it's nirvana for a motorcyclist.

A friend of mine Dave called and asked if I'd get like to get away for a couple days?

"Sure it's been a couple weeks since I got back from California."

Do you have any place in mind for a ride?

"Dave, have you ever ridden in West Virginia? No? Oh, do I have a treat for you."

It's about 300 miles from where I met Dave in Milford, Ohio to the Comfort Inn in Weston, West Virginia. Because it was raining when we took off, and would rain off and on the rest of the day, we took the flattest most boring route. Ohio St Rt 32 to Ohio St RT 50 in Athens Ohio, crossed over into West Virginia, stayed on 50 to Interstate 79 by Clarksburg, then shot down the final 20 miles or so on 79 to W VA St Rt 33 and Weston. Our hotel was a few blocks from the interstate. We got checked in and stowed gear in the room and decide the roads were probably dry enough for a little curvy roads ride so we headed west on 33 to Rt 47, west on 47 to Rt 16, and south on 16 back down to RT 33 and east back to the hotel. That little loop was 129 miles of nothing but curves. 16 in particular was awesome. Dave was stoked. Total mileage for Monday was 434.


Tuesday morning , up early and checking weather. Didn't look good.

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and true to the forecast it rained most of the morning.

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by 10 am it has eased up enough to take off and we headed for a loop I like to run that included Seneca Rocks,

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and a stop at the Mountain Hideaway in Monterey, Va for lunch.

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This loop is very scenic and not as challenging as some of the other loops I run down there, more sweeper type curves than tight curves with outstanding scenery along the way. Take 33 east to Seneca Rocks, then Rt 220 through a fertile valley between two mountains over to Monterey, pick up RT 250 and take it through several valleys up to 250/219 and take that north to Elkins then Rt 33 west back to Weston. Total miles for this loop is 228.


Wednesday morning dawned foggy

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but by 9:30 that had burned off (this is common in this area) and promised to be a beautiful day, with 0 percent chance of rain. Time to ride a long loop. This loop starts out scenic (but still curvy) and ends up devilishly curvy. Rt 33 east to Elkins, is 35 miles of flat 4 lane

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250/219 south gets nice and curvy to Rt 66 to Snowshoe Mountain

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Took 66 back over to 250/219

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we stayed on 250/219 down thru the twisty cambered esses to Droop Mountain State Park

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Then headed back north and picked up 39 west which we took over to Rt 150 The Highland Scenic Highway

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This road has spectacular scenery, particularly in the fall, but is a two lane ribbon of up and downs and wide sweeping curves with virtually zero traffic and a joy to ride. It reminds me a lot of Canada or Europe.

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Near the end of the 35 mile Scenic Highway, we turned around and rode it back the other direction and again picked up Rt 39 (Rt 39 reminds one of riding thru the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) which we took over to Richwood and ate lunch at a little place called Mumsy's I like to stop at. After lunch we picked up Rt 20 north. Here is where things get really interesting. For a few miles on each end you are going thru a couple little towns but the 80 miles in between those towns is nothing but back and forth left/right pretty tight turns that will wear you out and have you giggling in your helmet. 80 miles of lay the bike on it's left side, flip it up and over to the right side, then immediately back up and over to the left side, and you repeat that scenario for about 2 hours straight. No rest. Also no pictures as there is not enough time to even let go of the bars. Rt 20 leads to 33 at Buckhannon and 33 west leads us back to the hotel. Total miles for the day 313.

Rt 20 is just an awesome road, but it is not the most technical we ride down here. That would belong to Rt 16, another 80 or 90 mile road which runs south from 33 down to Hawks Nest state park and the Gauley Bridge (new and Old) Cathedral Falls, the Glen Ferris Inn etc, a great loop. That loop includes running 20 back south (the other direction from the previous day) to Rt 39. 39 east to Rt 16. 16 south to Rt 60 to the attractions listed above, then Rt 16 north back to 33 and 33 east to the hotel. Unfortunately we would miss running that loop this trip, as Dave had to be back on Thursday for a house closing so we would have to head home.

Woke up Thursday morning and took off before all the fog had cleared. We would take the curvy way home. We took 33 west to 47, Rt 47 north to Parkersburg

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At Parkersburg we picked up Rt 50 and took it back into ohio and basically road 50 (with a few detours to ride some really great little roads I know) back home

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Total miles for the trip was 1286 for 4 days riding. Great trip!

I got home before my wife got off work, got the ST unloaded and then grabbed the CB and went out for a 23 mile loop on some local roads. My golly the CB is light and flickable LOL!

Seriously West Virginia trumps the BRP, the Smokies, and the Dragon because it combines the best of all of those without the hype, tourists or crowds. If you get a chance, you owe it to yourself to take a ride down there.

[redbirds_imp]

Beautiful pics and a lovely trip no doubt but you took the ST1300 and not the new CB.....

[the Ferret]

Beautiful pics and a lovely trip no doubt but you took the ST1300 and not the new CB.....

Yep this trip it was the ST. Last trip down there was on the CB.


http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....t+Virginia

Next trip is to central Kentucky on the CB

[Gustav_imp]

Wonderful trip, wonderful description, beautyful landscapes!

Regards
Gustav

[Rocky_imp]

Very nice
Obviously, a great ride!

[Cormanus]

Excellent report and pictures as always, Ferret. The roads sound fantastic and the scenery looks just lovely. One day ....