Williamsville VA to Moorefield WV with Shenandoah Mountain and Smoke Hole Canyon.

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The early morning ride back to Williamsville through the Gorge was wonderful. Back on the trail, the BDR was much like the previous two days. High winding forest road following the contours of Shenandoah Mountain at about 2,500 feet. The ridge above crests at around 3,000 feet. The forest was close and dense, and hadn't been touched in years. Every now and then there was a good view up the Cowpasture Valley, and once a glimpse of an indigo bunting. I met deer families all along the way, fawns and mothers grazing alongside the road barely bothered to respond to my presence.

This large expanse of untouched forest does hide a few secrets. High on the ridge above Sugar Grove the NSA has a listening facility of some kind. The Navy Information Command used to have a base in the valley at Sugar Grove, now converted to a health center for recovering opioid addicts.

I have driven past the General Store at Brandywine on US 33 many times, on the way home from Monterey, never realizing its full potential. It has everything the tired traveler needs, including a whole takeout lunch section. I stocked up on egg salad sandwiches and drink and headed out to catch the ridge road at the Shooting Range turnoff. I was not surprised when the road to the range turned out to be well graded and smooth, giving way to non-maintained track once I passed.

The route planners have been careful to provide variety and interest. The last section of the morning's ridge ride included five stream crossings, guaranteed to catch one's attention. Luckily the water was not too high. One bounces out of this section onto narrow paved country roads, and up to US 220 and the colonial fort of Upper Tract, site of the massacre of 21 European settlers and soldiers by Indians in 1758.

The route then follows the South Branch of the Potomac up through Smoke Hole Canyon where I had lunch, and out into Petersburg. Last time through the Canyon was thronged with campers and swimmers -- not so now, thanks to Covid-19. Kept going to Moorefield WV where the South Branch of the Potomac is joined by the South Fork. I am slowly learning river nomenclature, and can't wait for the South Branch to join the North Branch, and become the full Potomac river.

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