Bikepacking to Lynchburg Reservoir
Dates for this trip were 12/10/22-12/11/22
I have long day dreamed and planned out bikepacking routes but somehow never built up the gumption to go. Well, I finally gave myself the kick in the pants that I needed and went! I put together a 35 mile overnight route comprised of forest service roads, jeep trails and the Blue Ridge Parkway through the southern portion of the George Washington National Forest. In a nutshell, the lollipop route started near Snowden, Virginia and traversed Peavine Mountain over to Dancing Creek then made its way up to the Lynchburg Reservoir and then back via forest roads.
Day 1
20.35 M | +3,163 ft. of gain | 4:27 rolling time
I got started around lunch time and the weather was cold and a bit cloudy. There was rain in the forecast but it was holding off for the most part. The temps were in the lower 40's and the air had that bite to it like it wanted to snow. The route immediately starts climbing up to Peavine Gap along a forest road which eventually turns into double track after the top. The descent down into Dancing Creek was fun. This was the first time I had ever ridden such a route on a fully loaded down bike and there were lots of new sensations of having a heavy back-end and learning how to distribute my weight on the descent.
After a lovely cruise along forest roads in the cloudy and cold December weather, the light was beginning to fade and I hadn't quite made it to my planned campsite yet near the reservoir. It was time to hustle a bit and find a place to set up for the night. I turned up Little Irish Rd. which begins the ascent up to the Parkway from the valley and found a few campsites. 1 in particular was tucked away off of the road next to Little Irish Creek which I quickly snagged.
The sun was well below the horizon at this point and I was operating on lights. I got my bivy and tarp set up, got dinner going, and sat by the fire and relaxed with a Great Lakes beer. It was an awesome day on the bike and I was looking forward to getting some much needed shuteye for tomorrow's big ride.
Day 2
14.45 M | +2,359 ft. of gain | 4:09 rolling time
Got up around 6:00 am to a slight drizzle. I was glad that I had deployed the tarp because it gave me a bit of shelter to pack up the bivy and sleeping system. After getting things in my bags, I migrated the tarp's position to be deployed over my bike so that I could pack up and have coffee sans drizzle. After refilling my bottles at the creek with some filtered water, I got on the road around 7:00.
At the top of the climb of Punchbowl Mountain I stopped and had a Clif bar and then began the cold descent down to forest road 1881. A couple of years ago I ran an ultra marathon called Mountain Masochist down this road and remember it being very wet and muddy. Given the recent rainfall, I was thoroughly expecting the conditions to be the same and they definitely were upon arrival. It was just mud hole after mud hole and eventually there was a bit of diminishing returns with the level of effort I was putting in vs. the distance I was traveling. Luckily, the Parkway parallels 1881 and I was able to bushwack down and get some relief from the constant slipping and sliding with some fresh pavé.
With bikepacking comes limited amounts of space to stash things... which includes food. This route had to places to resupply and I had just enough meals and snacks for the trip, or so I thought. After the death slog through the mud on FR 1881, I was pretty depleted and had consumed most of my calories. I still had to make it up and over Peavine Gap to make it back to the car. I looked in my food bag and the only thing I had left were 2 Starbucks Via coffees. That became my incentive... "At the top I'll stop for coffee," I told myself. Luckily, at that point, I had only a few miles to go but a lot of elevation gain inside those few miles. I didn't have much left in my gas tanks and did a fair amount of hike-a-bike but finally made it to the top. Time for a coffee break and to soak in the last bit of this epic adventure.
Final Thoughts
For whatever reason, it has always felt logistically harder to fit bikepacking into my life but this trip proved me wrong. In some ways it is and in some ways it isn't. With my experience prepping for this trip, it all evened out and it wasn't any more challenging than a backpacking trip. I will definitely be making an effort to do more of these trips in the future because it is so, so fun!
My first experience with bikepacking will live on in my memory banks for a long time. Getting out like this is a gift and I'm am thankful to the wife and kids for giving me space to do these kinds of activities.
When recreating outdoors, it's always important to follow Leave No Trace principles. And here is a bit of info from the U.S. Forest Service about hiking in all conditions.
