63.2 miles, 5,063 ft elevation from Peaceful River Campground in Millboro, VA to Todd Lake Recreation Area, GWNF (near Stokesville, VA).
http://app.strava.com/activities/145159746
The first half of the day was full of rollers along the Cowpasture and Bullpasture Rivers as we ascended 770 ft from Millboro to McDowell over 37 miles. There was no cell reception (not unusual for the trip) and no stores/places to fill bottles between Millboro and McDowell. As it turned out we were able to fill up at the Coursey Springs State Fish Hatchery 30 miles in which was just as our bottles were drying up. The first half of the day was great but looming over us were two steep climbs at mile 37.5 (600 ft over 2.5 mi) and mile 43 (870 ft over 3 mi). After 35 miles of having the road pretty much to ourselves, the section along the Hanky Mountain Hwy heading east from McDowell was another story completely. Apparently there’s somewhat of a rush hour in this area as all the construction trucks make their way back to Staunton at the end of the work day. I definitely don’t recommend this section of road at the time of day we were on it but we made it and were rewarded with a nice 7 mi descent and eventually a smooth gravel road leading to the campground.
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