In the last post, the photo ‘Nightriders’ inspired me to write this post since that photo was shot on the Harvey Hill trail. I decided to do some more digging in the archives and found these photos from my rides on this trail. Harvey Hill Trail is my own name for the trail we were on. The reason for that is because you can access it from the top of Harvey Hill on Saxon Posy Road.

I like to travel this route when I go to the Bolt Mountain strip roads because it is convenient and I have to ride on public roads for just a couple miles to get there. But once I hit the trail, it is nothing but West Virginia backwoods.

Another really cool aspect is that this trail is a two for one type of deal. The high road is for the more aggressive rider or for the person that wants to get to the strip roads in a hurry and it goes directly up the ridge line. The low road follows the high road but takes a more scenic route through the hollows.

Taking the high road you have to be prepared for obstacles such as this one which can get pretty hard to climb if even a little bit wet. If I could ever get my friend Dennie from Ohio to comment on my site, he could tell you of his experience with this hill. But since he probably won’t, I’ll give you the short version.

My four wheeler was four wheel drive, his wasn’t. It had rained the night before and we were starting an all day ride. I was in the lead and since we had so far to travel we took the high road. When I got to this hill, my four wheeler made it to the top basically with all four tires spinning and me struggling to straddle the ruts. After I got to the top I waited for him at the crossroads.

This is the only place where the two trails meet after separating at the bottom of the mountain and reconnecting at the top. At any rate, I sat there for maybe five minutes. He shouldn’t have been that far behind. The low road is the one going from right to left. He should have been coming from the direction this photo was taken in. I shut off my four wheeler and listened for the sound of his motor. I didn’t hear it so I backtracked to make sure he was alright. When I got back to the hill it was really hard to contain my laughter. He didn’t have quite the same luck as I did on climbing the hill. His four wheeler had slid into a rut where he somehow managed to get it almost completely sideways. He was cussin’ like a sailor. I helped him get it out and showed him what I thought was the best way for him to go up.

Usually I like to take the low road because it is a lot more scenic and better suited for a lazy ride. You will probably look at this next picture and think “Low road?” But at 3600 ft above sea level and two trails one of them has to be the low road. I guess calling it the low road is more figuratively speaking than literally.

This is another pic of the low road as it takes a more indirect approach to the top of the mountain. When I took this photo I was standing on the same trail pictured but had just come through a hollow and a very sharp switch-back. It was in that curve that we stopped that night and I took the nightriders pic in the last post.

Provided you make it to the top, whichever route you choose, you will arrive on the main strip / gaswell road on Bolt Mountain. From there you can go anywhere, literally.

Have a Great day and happy riding….