For several years, I've celebrated my birthday with a ride along a rail-to-trail segment. Rebecca and I invited my Mom and her husband for the first year, then extended the invite to my brother and his wife. In 2023, though, my stepfather suffered a fall during the ride. He was lucky to have survived, it turned out, when his over-the-bar trip landed him directly on his face and almost caused what's known as an "internal decapitation" when his uppermost vertebrae nearly separated where it meets the skull. Luckily, though, his tough-as-nails attitude guided his recovery and soon enough he was back to normal.
Needless to say, the accident put a hold on our trips for a few years.
This year marked my 45th birthday, so I figured it was time to get the tradition going again!
For this outing I chose a segment along the Allegheny Highlands Trail known as the Blackwater Canyon Trail. It's a 10.7 mile ride from Thomas, WV into Hendricks with a stop by Douglas Falls just about a mile or so into the ride.
Since the forecast was calling for scattered rain storms starting on Friday, Rebecca and I arrived early on Thursday to get in a mountain bike ride at Moon Hoodoo Rocks (probably our favorite trail in the area).
We left Ruprecht in the car and let our energetic Boxer, Bianca, come along for the ride!
After our ride, Rebecca and I headed to Davis to rendezvous with my Mom & John. After grabbing lunch at The Big Belly Deli we drove to Blackwater Falls before eventually retreating to the AirBnb she'd booked near Canaan Heights. The house was excellent, stocked with a huge dog bed that our two could share, hot tub on the rear patio, and fireplaces inside and out.
Later that night my brother and his wife arrived and we met at Moguls for dinner.
The next morning we woke to rain, so there was no rush to get organized for the ride. Luckily, our patience paid off and we departed the house just as the clouds began to dissipate.
We began our ride as Bianca led our group of six down the trail toward the first attractions, the Douglas Highwall, followed by Albert Falls & Douglas Falls.
Eventually Bianca began to tire, so I wrapped her in our Little Chonk Brodie One backpack.
A couple miles later she was eager to run again, so I let her out when we stopped to explore another waterfall with an impressive culvert beneath the trail.
Rain did eventually return, but the dense tree cover worked well to shade us from the downpour that we could see in the canyon beside the trail. Eventually we reached Hendricks where we loaded Dave's Tacoma with six bikes and bodies before returning to the cabin to dry off and regroup.
Once back in dry clothes, Rebecca mixed Cucumber Jalepeno Margaritas for us all before we grilled beef & tuna steaks for a feast that outdid the previous night's dinner by far.
The next morning saw the return of rain, so our guests departed soon after breakfast. Rebecca and I are troopers, though, so we chose to ride at Blackwater Falls State Park despite the conditions. Likewise, Bianca didn't hesitate to join us for the Dobbins Figure-Eight ride.
The Dobbins House trails are rooty and off-camber, a characteristic which is enhanced when wet. The climbs aren't especially steep, but they are extremely difficult in the conditions we were under.
Eventually we completed the circuit and headed back to the cabin to light another fire before kicking up our feet and enjoying our last afternoon of the trip.
On Sunday, we packed up and headed to Tip Top for two cups of coffee & pastries to enjoy during the drive home.
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