DC Denizen

Hello everyone, my name is Matt. The purpose of this thread is to document my short day adventures in and around DC. Hope you like it.

While in Eagle Rock, VA visiting my family, I asked around for some off road ideas. My father recommended Patterson Creek trail through Jefferson National Forest. It's roughly 15 miles of woods, dirt, and streams but the best part is there's 10 or so ATV/motorcycle only trails . AND it's only 15 minutes from my father's house!

http://<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=212913085592388764701.0004d1b5cfcd39d8337e6&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=37.60541,-79.939194&amp;spn=0.099855,0.114777&amp;t=h&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=212913085592388764701.0004d1b5cfcd39d8337e6&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=37.60541,-79.939194&amp;spn=0.099855,0.114777&amp;t=h&amp;source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Patterson Creek</a> in a larger map</small>

On the way to Patterson Creek you get cross this cool one lane bridge:


There's about 5 miles of gravel before you get to the trail head:


If you look on the map on the previous post, you'll see Rt 612 which is this dirt road:


At the top, is a parking area (closed for the season) for trailers bringing ATV/motorcycles:


Some of the trails look possible for the 990 while most don't.

A few stream crossings:

macorell24,

As a Maryland neighbor I will be following your thread; hopefully you find some nice tracks I don't know about!

There are some nice dirt/gravel sections along the MD side of the Potomac river between Seneca and Poolesville.

Cheers,

Looks nice Matt! Perhaps this summer we can make an excursion south into your former neck of the woods...

Poolman: Any tracks you have in the land of Mary would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to post any tracks or RR's you want here. All are welcome!

Garrett: Absolutely! Laura Jane's son-in-law just bought a 525 enduro. He has promised to take me around to all the trails once he gets it plated. I plan on coordinating a few days with the SMARs for the TWVT and a stop at Eagle Rock.

Matt,

Thanks for welcoming other contributions to your thread. Here are a few shots following the Maryland shore of the Potomac up-stream:

Seneca Road (14 miles from the DC line)


Seneca Aqueduct:


Lock-Keeper's House


McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area:






Edward's Ferry Road:


Edward's Ferry (now defunct, once the site of an active ferry service, factory, and strategic Civil War battle):


Five Mile dirt and gravel section of River Road from Edward's Ferry to White's Ferry:


White's Ferry (still an active ferry service between Poolsville, MD and Leesburg, VA):




High water markings:


Point of Rocks, MD:




I noticed I hit 1,000 miles on my new F800GS while waiting for a train:


Crossing into Virginia from Point of Rocks, MD:


Two miles later, crossing into West Virginia at the town of Harper's Ferry:




Accosted at gunpoint in Harper's Ferry:


The locals like the bike, though:


A final stop in Brunswick, MD heading home at sunset:


Hopefully others will post some decent riding areas nearby.

Best to All,

Here is the Google map from the above ride:

Nice route poolman, I'll have to check that out sometime soon.

I ride all over this area, but alas, I often don't stop for pictures. It's a little something that I think I will have to work on...

Count me in! I'd love to ride with YFF's some time if you allow KLR's in with your group.

Without pics, my post is useless, but I recommend the area around Sugar Loaf Mountain and the ride west out of Burkettsville over the mountain to South Mountain Creamery. I can go on all day, but I'd rather just show you on a bike.

The People's Republic of Maryland has a ton of great roads to ride!

Welcome FMFDOC! The more the merrier! Depending on the weather perhaps we can all get a ride together later in January. thoughts?

The weather is going to be nice this weekend and I plan on taking advantage of it. Me and some other inmates are headed out west (virginia) for some off-road fun if anyone wants to join.

I'll leave DC around 0730
Head to Fredericksburg, VA to pick up gastone.
Leave Fredericksburg around 0900 to Harrisonburg, VA
Hit Long Run Rd
maybe Dunkle Hollow
Hope to be home by 1800

Let me know if anyone is interested.

Nice Matt!!!
In! (not Sat, just in general, My ball sack doesn't hang low enough to ride with Gastone)

Thanks Jack!

I think mtnflow (Dean) is coming along too. Garrett and Dean racing each other through Long Run should be fun to watch. Too bad I'll be 30 minutes behind them.....

You gotta watch Dean too..... he always picks the best spots to stop and take mayhem photos of unsuspecting riders.
I know Garrett was a Chupacabra on the big bike.... now on a 150-200 lb lighter machine, he's gonna be a monster. Though he did spend alot of time filming you at cornerspin.

Chupacabra...this sounds like a sticker idea if I ever heard one!

Now we just need Todd34 to show up and all the craziest/fastest riders I know will be there. At least I'll have littlelionmonster to keep me company.

You guys are fookin' crazy... Dean and I aren't even in the same ballpark. He's playing major leagues and I'm playing T-ball. I've certainly ridden stoopidly before, but no one accuses me of riding well... hell, just ask Blooch. And Todd would be out of my sight after about 1/3 of a mile.

Those are the same too that are talking about riding 990s on Dictum ridge... up hill.. that mean up ledges... two foot ledges. Shit, I couldn't do that on a trials bike.

Hey, we're practically neighbors to your family in Eagle Rock! We live near Collierstown, VA. We ride, drive, hike, and kayak in the Eagle Rock area all the time. One of our favorite hiking trails is off 612 along that stretch shown in your map above, and the James River in that area is a HOOT in a kayak (well, for this novice, anyway )! From Eagle Rock head toward Buchannan about 3 - 4 miles on Hwy 43 "Narrow Passage Road" you'll come to Route 612 "Blue Grass Trail", which is dirt for about 10 miles then turns to asphalt which progressively gets better as you approach Effinger and Hwy 251. We're about 5 miles from Effinger, near Lake Robertson. There are lots of great roads out here, but like you, I'm not terribly excited about taking my 550 pound 1150GS on those ATV trails. There's another set of ATV trails just off the BRP where it crosses Hwy 130 (just up the BRP from where it crosses the James) and I've scoped those out as well, but am not inclined to take the Big Pig up there either.

We've gotten some snow recently, but it's mostly melted off at lower elevations. We tried to go hiking on the AT last weekend (New Year's eve) near Mount Pleasant (near Buena Vista, just off the BRP) but it was a sheet of ice at elevation:






We chained up the truck to get up and down, and ended up rescuing a guy in a 4X4 Subaru who was sliding off the mountain sideways. It was SLICK.

The BRP was closed so we thought we'd go walk there, but it was a sheet of ice too. I'm not sure if it's open again yet.



I've been able to ride the higher dirt roads a bit in Winter, but won't get too crazy on the GS; time to turn around:




I lived in Wyoming for many years before moving to Virginia and got spoiled rotten with the dirt riding selection out there. When I moved here I sold my dirt bikes (thinking there wouldn't be anyplace to ride them, DUH) and now I'm really missing them. I brought a BMW RT and the GS and a short time later sold the RT because it just wasn't getting ridden. The big GS-type dualsport seems to be the perfect bike for this area with it's mix of dirt roads, ratty asphalt, and good highways. I recently told my wife I had my eye on a WR250R so I could go trail riding and she said "over my dead body". She's seen me ride a dirt bike and I think that means "no, dear, you'd kill yourself in short order on that thing". She loves to ride with me, but isn't keen on going fast on dirt bikes (I told her I'd ride S-L-O-W but she knows me pretty well ).

If you're down this way visiting sometime give me a shout and I'd enjoy showing you around a bit. Ride safe and watch for all that ferking sand on the roads; we've gotten just enough snow in the lower elevations out here that VDOT has blasted the area with sand and salt so that the roads are totally treacherous!

Doug

Howdy Doug!

I'm planning on headed down your way sometime in the spring. If you're up for it we can let the pigs rout around in the mud one afternoon while you show we around.

Garrett- I never said you were good. I said your were crazy and fast.

+1, Sandy Hook Rd - Harpers Ferry Rd - Sharpsburg town - Mechanics Rd- Pottstown Rd - Keetysville Rd - Reno Monument Rd. (Blue Bird Diner) Really nice (mostly paved for me) twisty, rolling, curvy, single lanes , arched bridges, stone fences, civil war monuments, Appalachian trail - some of my weekend favorites! Fun fun!