Well the trip was awesome!!! 7 days of riding....I rode the KLX for 4 days and the atv the other 3....the reason for that was the severely steep terrain of southern W.V. I logged about 220 miles of blue and green trails and if any of you guys go i suggest you steer way clear of the black trails unless you are a VERY experienced rider.I went down real hard one time and i crushed the right side of my utah sport skid into the frame in some rocks...(a 20 mph get off).The dirt there has phenomenal traction until a half ounce of water touches it and at that point it becomes liquid grease.I prepped the bike with a fresh set of trackmasters front and back the day before the trip and they are a very nice tire until you are on slippery hardpack (but i don't expect anything to work at that point).I rode out of camp north of Ashland W.V. and ran the road into Keystone to see the massive coal breaker in operation.....a 45 minute ride turned into a nightmare as i left my goggles at camp.......reason being i was going to the only gas station that sold 93 octane within 15 miles of camp....well.....I got caught in a massive thunderstorm with some nice ICE COLD rain for the 11 miles trip up the twisties back to camp.....my riding jersey didn't make the rain not feel like bullets either!!!!This was the only time in my life i was not prepared for the weather so just remember that! It got real cold ,real fast!I will post a link to pics tommorrow after i upload them.

 

Sounds awesome! Can't wait to see the pics.

 

Sounds Great I have been to HM 10 times since april of 05 on my atvs and If you rode Rockhouse between Man and Gilbert some of the single tracks are just KILLERS I would not even atempt them.... They do have some nasty trails and in the big Hail storms and rain they get real bad..... You must of rode Indian Ridge near ashland I have not done that system yet it just opened in the spring its one of the easier systems of the 6 trail systems Pinnacle Creek will conect to it soon I hope which starts in Pineville. Now you go north to Rockhouse it is way more technical and the biggest system of the 6 until they connect the 2 where you rode....I'll stick to my 4x4 on those trails I see so many guys crash and burn on what I consider easy trails on the 4x4 there is just so many rocks and washouts with steep grades makes it way to hard for my skill level which is LOW on the meter [] Can't wait to see the pics

 

sounds like a nice trip... i wanna see some pics!

 

That's where we rode first for 3 days....that's where i crashed too...lol.I did 1 blue trail that had the meanest hillclimb ever and i decided that was enough of those trails.The indian ridge system is perfect for a dual sport rider with a lower skill level....however stay away from trail 24....it is like driving off a cliff.
From indian ridge we ran about 140+ miles of the "outlaw" trails and had lunch at the wagon wheel bar too,which was really nice to be able to do.I'm uploading the pics right now so at some point today i'll have some links up here.

 

Cant wait to see your pics it sounds like you had a great ride that suck about your get off , but glad your ok

 

Hey Truckman Pinnacle is nice also its going to connect to idian ridge soon I hope they have a few land owners that are holding out..... You should do Rockhouse on your atv there are trails there you need a winch to do it safe.... And the single tracks have 500' drop offs on a trail about as wide as your bike and feet.....[:-]You did the best trails for a bike they just opened indian ridge early spring ... Its an 1 1/2 drive from Gilbert where I always stay......Any info you want on HM trails check out Quad Crew .com that is the club I am in we have a section just on HM ....

 

This was the view from the campsite!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta

I actually made it up this hill on the bike which suprised me.It was a blue trail and i'll have to remember what # the trail was but it had some serious elevation going on.This trail was near the Rockhouse trail head in Man.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
The same trail looking up from a few feet from the top.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
My trusty steed after being whooped on for a day!note the right side of my skid plate from my crash.....that plate saved me alot of money.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
one of the atv's overheating due to a radiator packed with mud.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
The view from about 8 feet out the back of my tent.....
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
The aftermath of a front brake failure on a black trail......he only bruised his leg and saved it from going over the edge.It did about 7 flips end over end.The guy on the left is the rider.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
at the "staircase" just before the wagon wheel bar for lunch.one person was med evac'd from the hillclimb on thusday night.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta
The hill of death......i didn't see a single person make this hill the whole time i was there.I took the gravel road down into the valley for my kicks. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AZOXDhu2cta

 

Bad bear....Myself and my 3 buddies rode every trail in the browning fork system .The only 2 we could not run were #93 and 94 because they are running a 20" pipeline over the mountain.The only time we broke out the winch was to extract my bone head buddy from a massive mudhole.we thought the trails were awesome and very good for an experienced atv rider.I could have used more massive boulders to rock crawl but that's why we sneak into paragon for that!.

 

Yea 93 and 94 are tough my friend flipped his about 20 endos down one of those in the spring... I don't do many blacks the riders with me are usually new riders and I have my wife on our Can AM 800 MAX most of the time so you have to consider the welfare of your passenger....That hill at 28 and 40 is a bad one also it was real bad in may ......the weather changes all the trails real fast.... we were married in gilbert and rode away from the church on the 4x4.... That is our normal vacation place 2 to 4 times a year...