Michaux Exploration

In preparation for our Great Divide Trip Brett and I decided to get out to the mountains near Fredrick Maryland for a two night 175 mile trek

As most adventures start, Brett had an immediate mechanical, a flat on his tubeless tire. Luckily we were only 2 miles into the ride and still in town. So we decided to head to a nearby shop to make sure all was well. We spent the next couple hours negotiating with his tire and decided that it was best to just put a tube in it.

With only a few hours of daylight left, we finally set out of Frederick and into Gambrill State Park. The roads were nice and smooth and the climbing was challenging. We soon ventured into the woods and followed some rocky singletrack. Unfortunately we were forced to hike-a-bike some sections that were too steep and rocky to ride up with our heavy fully loaded bikes.

As the sun was setting, and us nowhere near where we had planned to camp, we settled for plan B. This consisted of us riding a few miles off our planned route to Cunningham Falls State Park. After some nice gravel roads, and fields of lightning bugs in the beautiful dark twilight, we finished one last climb and finally saw the entrance.

After speaking with the rangers, we were told that the campsites have been completely booked a month ago. We asked if there was anything they could do, hoping not to get sent back out onto the now pitch dark mountain roads, and finally after a little wait, they found us a space.

In the morning, after eating some breakfast and getting things packed away, we took off and began our big day. Due to only riding 37 miles the day before, we had to reconfigure our route and put in some extra miles on this day. We headed north past Catoctin Mountain Park, towards the southern reaches Michaux State Forest. The riding was wonderful. The day was filled with beautiful views, gravel roads, long climbs and rewarding descents. After a full day of riding we came out of the mountains as the sky filled with the all the colors of a glorious sunset and headed back into Fredrick for a resupply. We then set out for our days final destination, Point of Rocks, on the C&O and made camp for the night after 85 miles and 8000 feet of elevation. 

After a restless night sleep due to the proximity of a high traffic train tacks, we leisurely packed our gear up and rode down the C&O the remaining 55 miles home.