Strange Things Afoot in Michaux

Sunday, August 26th We rode from Big Flat at 9ish am. There were new trails to be seen and we were prepared to see them. As riders continued to trickle into the parking lot, we prepared ourselves for what would inevitably be a damp ride. We warmed up on the rocks near the parking lot:At the start we had: Larry Camp, Martin Kell, Sue Witter, Dale Fitzsimmons, Mike Steininger, Darius Mark, Dave Kegley, ?John? from Shippensburg, and Rob Mazzei (if I forgot anyone - forgive me it was a few days ago). Larry led us out of the lot on a that took us over to the powerline downhill of Birch Run Road.

Martin and I showed everyone some really strange rockwork we had found the week before. These are some really well-placed stone towers that at balancing near a fire ring and camping area. This whole area is spotless and well-cared for. The rocks are balanced on eachother in a fashion that must take hours to complete. This area is a little creepy, but very cool - Martin calls it Roswell.



We then navigated (and I mean navigated) our way over to the bottom of Wildcat and the beginning of Abbey. Several of us cleaned the new tight switchback that Tommy M. and YBR put in to alleviate the erosion of the old fall-line climb - very nice work. We then hammered down to the reservoir. My ride at the reservoir:

Rob waits for the rest to arrive.

Larry, I never have a mechanical, Camp had several mechanicals and gracefully bowed out at the reservoir - he actually had another engagement as well. We rode Breast Trail and then climbed up Birch Run road, to Milesburn Road, to Ridge Road (bypassing Lollipop). From here we took Camp Trail 1 and Camp Trail 2 which dropped us out at Forest Road which we climbed back up to the powerline and then took a new, technical descent, crossed a stream, and suffered up a red-line, granny gear climb. This climb took us back up to Roswell and we returned to the Big Flat lot by the same trail we came in on.

No Wildcat from Big Flat - a major upgrade, not to mention all the new trail.