Monday May 2,2016 37.1 miles(59.7 km)
The morning started with a quiet country road with a slight incline to the small community of Hayter's Gap (pronounced Hiter's) and then the climb began.
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| Hayter Gap Church |
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| Escaped Irises |
Three miles of climbing with several switch back. The traffic was light except for several very large dump trucks. The climb was steady through an eastern hardwood forest with a number of small streams along the way.
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| View Up Hayter Gap Road |
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| Switch Back - Hayter Gap Road |
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| Stream Hayter's Gap Road |
The switchbacks were often so sharp that at the outside of the curve the arrows point in each direction were mounted together.
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| Which Way Do I Go?? |
Unfortunately there was not a view from the top of Hayter's Gap. At the top were signs indicating the changing of counties as the ridge lines are used as country lines. The ride down from Hayter's Gap was an exhilarating three mile downhill run with several switchback so I had to keep my speed under control.
Near the end of Hayter's Gap Road is the Elk Garden Methodist Church Hostel. This church has hosted cyclists for many years and provides great hospitality with food and a place to stay. I stopped in for a brief rest and a snack and was on my way.
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| Elk Garden Methodist Church Hostel |
At the end of Hayters Gap Road is this sign. I thought the juxtaposition of the two signs served as a good warning for those heading from west to east. :-)
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| Warning To East Bound Riders :-) |
The climbing was not done for the day. There was also the climb up Big "A" Mountain which is pictured below. This climb was not nearly as steep or long as that up Hayter's Gap but as it followed the Gap climb it was hard enough. The descent from Big "A" was steep and fairly straight. I attained the fastest speed I have ever attained on my trike, 45.6 mph, exhilarating!!!
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| Big "A" Mountain View |
It was kind of a race against the weather later in the day.
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| Virginia Countryside View - Storm Clouds On The Way |
I pulled into the William P. Harris Recreational Park in Council, VA just in time. I pulled my trike under a picnic shelter and within a minute the rain started pouring down. This park is one of the nicest town parks I have ever seen especially for such a small town. It had ballfields, batting cages, multiple playgrounds and several picnic shelters. I pitched my tent under a large picnic shelter but put my rain fly up as the rain was falling sideways due to the wind. It rained off and on through the night. The frogs were quite loud but I slept well.
On this day I went over the 500 mile point for my trip. Yay
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