EP East Coast Fall Trip (Location Thread) October 20-23, 2006

Okay, I think we've officially decided we want to make this happen. Additionally, we've decided we want to make it a fall trip. That settles it. I've volunteered to spearhead and I'll try to not disappoint. I want to officially determine a location. Please do some reasearch on the following options. I have included the name of the location as a link to a very basic website about the location.

Please post additional suggestions to this thread. Also, please post additional links for these locations. That is, if you have a more detailed link, post up.

I'll update this top post to reflect all the suggestions. This should get us going. As we start to clear up a location we'll start to iron in on a date. But for now, lets plan toward October 20-23.

1. Blackwater Canyon, Dolly Sods, Monongahela National Forest (West Virginia)

2. Land Between The Lakes (Kentucky)

3. Big South Fork National Recreation Area (Tennessee)

4. Boone National Forest (Kentucky, adjoins Big South Fork)

5. George Washington National Forest (Virginia)

And finally, to whet your appetite!

WV is a viable option - sounds like it may have alot to offer. I suppose I'm leaning toward this destination ... as long as I block the movie Wrong Turn from my mind.

LBL is a hike for me at 800 miles. I'm interested in LBL, but the further the location, the more difficult it may be to arrange. I certainly wouldn't rule it out, though. I'm only one person, and everyone else should feel free to chime in regarding distances.

Boone/BSF is also a somewhat longer trip, but still viable in my opinion. We've gone down to Tellico for a long weekend before, and this destination isn't that much different. However, I'm not clear on what these locations have to offer without more sleuthing on the web.

GWNF is close, however I've been there a handful of times. While it is a really nice place that I'd like to visit more often, I don't think it is ... "exotic" enough for an EP gathering. Exotic isn't the best word for eastern US travel, but you get my meaning.

I'll keep an eye out for more options. Thanks for getting the ball rolling!
:xxrotflma

I have no qualms against any of the above. And I'm confident in Joel handling most of the planning, but if there's anything I can do I'll be glad to help.

If i had a preference it would probably be the West Virginia area, only because i'v found myself interested in the area recently. But like i said prior, i'm flexible.

The important thing to me here is the opportunity to get a group together and meet some good people and form new friendships with others who share a common interest.

Joel where is that pic from?

I would vote for either West Virginia (I was born there and lived there until I was 13. It would be nice to go "home") or Tennessee.

I am at best a 50/50 shot for making the trip, but am REALLY interested. Just have to make my schedule agree with my desire to go.

I spent many many days of my childhood not too far from Dolly Sods, near Weston at Jackson's Mill, the boyhood home of Stonewall Jackson. My father helped disassemble, move, and reassemble Blakers Mill near the original Jacksons Mill building. A lot of good memories there. I think I even have my name on one of the pegs used to hold the place together (everyone signed them). We lived in Wheeling, up in the panhandle, but this was a lot like a second home growing up.

http://www.wvu.edu/~exten/depts/jmill/jmh_area.htm

Fun little fact: There are cabins there each bearing the name of one of the counties of WV, one such cabin is Calhoun. Well, one day, we had a VERY close encounter with a skunk, curled up like a cat right in front of the door and from that day on, we have always referred to skunks as Calhoun Kitties. Oh, the memories....

Well since Boone has no trails, and G.W. only has one open to regualar vehicles I would say both those are out. Of the remaining 3 land between the lakes has 100 miles of trails all of which seem to be open to our class of ohv. It also looks like a great area to do some paddling. Seems to be planty of camping as well. As of now that gets my top vote on just a preiminary scan of the links you posted.

All of these are a haul coming from Florida but tenesee is the closest. I would say if we go to tenesee we should probably go somewhere near murphy since we would be inbetween the 2 national forests and be cloase to to both the tellico OHV but also the OHV area in Blairsville , GA.

Have you looked into Uhwarrie OHV in N.C.?

John B said:

Joel where is that pic from?

Click to expand...

That picture is from Big South Fork... it was mid-October of 2005.

My initial first thought is LBL just due to the shear size of the area and multiple opportunities for recreation.

There are however more than one multiuse trail in GWNF. In addition to a few marked OHV trails there are innumerable fire roads open to licensed vehicles. Just to clarify.

Here's a site with a bunch of gwnf pics
http://www.davenjeip.net/pictures.html

Regarding Boone and Big South Fork, there are numerous forest service roads to explore and the O&W Railroad Right-of-way in BSF itself. Mild wheeling, but definitely plenty of hiking and camping.

Both West Virginia and LBL sound great... it seems like these are the two most favored. I'll have a better feel for WV at the end of June when I visit there. I've never been to LBL... has anyone here been there before?

The more I look at the LBL website, the more interesting it looks.

Additionally, I sent Scott Brady a PM asking for more info on the location in Kentucky he referred to in his previous post... I'll post up once I hear back.

Joel

The trip is shaping up nicely! I really hope I can make it.

Here are a load of pictures from my KY trip, which also reference the GPS data

http://www.expeditionswest.com/adventures/2004/kentucky/DanielBooneFR212andFR2045/



This particular trail became much more challenging, and was pretty remote too.

Flagpole Knob

Flagpole Knob would take us into Virginia, but it looks to be within an hours drive from Blackwater Falls in West Virginia. Over on his 4x4Icon site, Paul Provencher has a review of a Flagpole Knob run and it looks quite nice!

Flagpole Knob

So that would be an additional option in the WV area.

I'll add it to the first post... I've added some other links up there as well.

expeditionswest said:

The trip is shaping up nicely! I really hope I can make it.

Here are a load of pictures from my KY trip, which also reference the GPS data

http://www.expeditionswest.com/adventures/2004/kentucky/DanielBooneFR212andFR2045/

...image removed...

This particular trail became much more challenging, and was pretty remote too.

Click to expand...

Scott,

Thanks for the pointers on Kentucky... looks like there is a lot more to Boone National Forest than I realized.

We'd love to have you come along! The colors out here in the fall are simply amazing. Not to mention it would be great for those of us east of the Mississippi to get a chance to meet you.

Regards,
Joel

HongerVenture said:

The colors out here in the fall are simply amazing.

Click to expand...

Yes they are. Hmmmmm........

I've been following this thread closely since I had to cancel my trip to NC this past March. I told my sis in Charlotte that I would try to make it out again, maybe in the fall for peak week on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hmmmmm...

expeditionswest said:

The trip is shaping up nicely! I really hope I can make it.

Click to expand...

Carpool amigo?

HongerVenture said:

Flagpole Knob would take us into Virginia, but it looks to be within an hours drive from Blackwater Falls in West Virginia. Over on his 4x4Icon site, Paul Provencher has a review of a Flagpole Knob run and it looks quite nice!

Flagpole Knob

So that would be an additional option in the WV area.

I'll add it to the first post... I've added some other links up there as well.

Click to expand...

Flagpole is very nice but if any camping were to be done there I would have to say Meadow Knob is a better choice. I think the view from Meadow is better (no houses in sight) and it has a large open area for multiple vehicles. Its only drawback would be the trail runs pretty much down the middle. For those inclined to do so there are a few trails within a short drive of Flagpole. If Paul would come on he could tell you quite a bit more than I. For pics we have a view of Meadow Knob, driving up the VA side to Meadow Knob (Slate Spring Road?) and a pic of Dry Run (nearby trail).

My recomendation is for the upper peninsula of Michigan, but I might be biased....:elkgrin: