The photos in this post were taken in the hollows surrounding Bolt Mountain. The one directly above, beside the truck photo, was taken on the road that runs by Peachtree Falls. That photo was actually taken in the Winter. With all the varieties of evergreen it is hard to determine the season by looking at the photo.The photo with the truck I took when my dog Sam and I went for a Sunday drive.

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….

Taking photos at night is particularly hard to do with the limited options on my camera. I have taken quite a few, however, and the ones in this post are my favorites out of the few good ones.

I was up in the early morning hours a while back when a very large thunderstorm moved in to Bolt. Lightning was flashing every where. I had always wanted to get a still photo of lightning and viewed that morning as the perfect opportunity. I had gotten a smaller bolt before this one but when I downloaded it to my pc. I had a picture that resembled a heart rate monitor because I took the photo through the screen on my window. Afterwards, I raised the screen and waited for another opportunity. Mother nature didn’t make me wait long before starting a spectacular display.(first photo) It started as a small spot in the center of the lightning and spread all the way across my field of view. That photo is kind of my reaction shot. I haven’t even tried to catch another shot of lightning since then.In the last one a friend and I were out doing some night time four wheeling when we had to stop on the trail. Mother nature was calling to me, if you know what I mean. At any rate, when I turned back to the four wheelers I just had to at least try and get this shot. It is one of my favorites. This trail comes out on Saxon Posy Road at the top of Harvey Hill. The other end goes to the strip roads on Bolt Mountain.
The other rider is my friend Dennie from Ohio.Have a great day!!!

Living in the mountains presents all sorts of fun activities for the outdoor adventurist or thrill seeker. The Crane is a very steep uphill climb located on the South side of Bolt Mountain close to Wyoming County… matter of fact it may be just inside Wyoming County. At any rate it is difficult to actually catch riders on the Crane. In the short time a friend and I were here taking photos we were accosted by a guard from a mines in the area. He came from the direction we had not traveled. He asked us if we had seen any deer. It was that time of year where a number of people were out scouting for potential hunting spots. We informed him we were only taking photos. After telling us he had been out around the road looking for deer and apparently making sure we weren’t up to trouble, he left in the direction he came from… obviously he didn’t look hard enough for deer the first time.

In the last photo, this mudbog is located right off the main strip road on Bolt Mountain. I have a friend that had a truck stuck in it. The truck sat 3 1/2 feet off the ground with logging chains under the doors to assist entry into the vehicle. It was sporting waist high tires with a big block under the hood that used more gas just to start than most economy cars use in a week. Thats an exaggeration of course but it did use a lot of gas. At any rate it was sitting helpless in the middle of this mudhole. So if you feel like showing off to the girlfriend and go on a four wheeling adventure, better make sure you have the uh… equipment to get the job done.

UPDATE—- the crane is in Wyoming County. All I had to do was look at my topo map…. duh.