Sunday, October 10, 2010 (Gilbert, WV)

It was going to be another gorgeous hot day today. As we walked down to breakfast, you could see the fire smouldering on the side of the mountain. It appeared to be the underbrush burning...it really hadn’t taken off too much into the trees like a forest fire back home does.

Chris, Lisa, Shelley and Dave were leaving today but wanted to go out on the quads for a couple of hours before packing up and heading out. Andrew, Sherry, Steve and I had packed a lunch and were going out for the whole day again. So just after 9:30 all 8 of us headed out. The others were going to turn around after an hour or so and we were going to carry-on.

We said our goodbyes at the top of a big hill climb...a rest area at the junction of a bunch of trails. Andrew, Sherry, Steve and I carried onto explore the remaining trails. Sherry had been having a bit of trouble with her ATV so since Steve and I have radios in our helmets, Steve remained in the the lead and I took over as the tail-gunner. That way if Sherry’s quad broke down, I’d be able to radio ahead to Steve.

We were taking some blue trails that had some hairpin turns and because Sherry’s two-up quad doesn’t have the best turning radius, Andrew changed quads with her. Some of the hairpin turns are on steep hills and it is important not to lose your momentum on the turns. We were having another awesome day, stopping along the way for lunch. The only problem on such a busy weekend is that you really have to watch for quads coming the other direction. It’s the lead quad (Steve today) that really has to be on the ball, especially on the curves.

Some scenery along the trails...

Coal mining is the industry here...we believe these are holes drilled into the mountainside looking for coal...we found these in quite a few places along the trails...

We were on a blue trail when Andrew’s quad stalled and refused to start again. I radioed ahead to Steve and he and Sherry turned around and came back. Sherry towed Andrew down the rest of the trail. The next trail was Steve’s turn to tow until we got to another very steep trail. At this point Andrew decided to try starting the quad up again and it started...yay! This was a good thing because it was a very steep trail...far too steep for one quad to be pulling another up.

We made it all the way off the trails and on the way home Steve and I decided to carry-on to the car wash to give the quads a good wash. This was our last ride before loading them back into the truck. We would be leaving tomorrow.

When we pulled back into the campground, a lot of campers had cleared out. It was Sunday, so I guess a lot of people had to work tomorrow. After getting cleaned up, we sat out with a cold drink...trying to find some shade...it was pretty darned hot...high 80’s!

Sherry and Andrew invited us to go out to dinner with them...they were going to try a local steakhouse. But we decided to stay home and barbeque some sausages that we had intended on having Wednesday when we arrived...so they needed to be cooked up.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the campfire and company...we had had such a great time! We feel very fortunate to have met Sherry and Andrew...they were interested in the same thing as us...riding!

Update:
To view all pictures taken during the Trail Fest, click on the Hatfield McCoy 2010 Trail Fest