I saw Brett's announcement of this forum on the Handi Rifle area and thought I would check it out. I see that GB has included the Mid-Atlantic Region. Well, that usually includes Maryland, Delaware and sometimes PA and Jersey, depending on who you talk to.
Soooo, I thought I would post about an excellent day trip the Mrs and I took this past Friday to the Green Ridge State Forest in Western Md. The park offers an 18 mile Off Road Vehicle Trail, so we thought to give it a try in the Jeep. In addition to the 4X4 trail are several miles of dirt roads that wind their way throughout the forest. We brought along a picnic lunch of homemade Fried chicken, Cole slaw, Iced Tea and other goodies.
The trail is shared by motorbikes and 4-wheelers, although we only encountered a couple. It had its share of rocks, washouts and up/down hills. Some of those hills were solid rock as a result of the dirt being driven off. We were able to do about 80% of the trail in 2WD. When we needed 4WD it was usually 4L for climbing a large rock from a dead stop or encountering a large rock bed that required very low speed crawling. Fortunately you can do the trail in segments. It took three hours to complete the first section (about 7 miles, IIRC). We were in low gear the entire time. After negotiating the first section it was time to find a few of the more "smoother" roads in the forest.
While taking in the beauty of the forest we happened across a lookout that offered an outstanding view of the Potomac River (about 100 miles west of Wash D.C.) and West Virginia. There is primitive camping throughout the forest. We had lunch at one of the camp sights far away from any paved roads or habitation.
We came across a family cemetery that was a good way back in the forest. All of the dates on the grave stones were from the mid 1800's. Sadly, there were many children buried in the cemetery. Several were just a couple months or days old and passed away withing weeks or days of a sibling. The cemetery is still maintained. The children's grave sites had teddy bears at the head stones and the adults had flowers. It was nice to see that all who rested there were not forgotten.
By the time we decided to head back to the highway, we had driven over 35 miles of forest roads and spent just shy of 8 hours sight seeing.
It was a great time. Very relaxing, picturesque and a bit bouncy at times.
I though I might include a few pictures.
Looking south at the Potomac River. The left side of the river is W. Va.
Again, Looking south at the Potomac River. The right side is W. Va. The river makes a rather large horseshoe curve at this location.
The Jeep stopped on a hillside of loose shale. It doesn't look steep in the photo, but I dang near broke my neck getting back into it.
Oh, by the way. There is hunting at the forest and we saw just about every type of game available with the exception of a Coyote and a Bear. I plan to do some scouting this summer for deer season.
Thanks for looking.
