Damascus to Remember

What was planned to be another family camping trip with a little selfish mountain biking hidden or not so hidden agenda, quickly turned into the 1st Annual Father/Son Camping Adventure.
For weeks we have been planning on going to the mountains as a family and camping. As usual the ladies were not too excited about going, but I expected to drag them along in hopes they would enjoy the experience. Late Thursday on the way home from Charleston I get a phone call from the wife requesting an out for camping. You see, our friends recently had a baby and nothing is more exciting to the girls than a new baby. So Heather and Hannah made plans to go visit friends. This left Logan and I to explore new lands all alone. Turns out Logan thought this was the greatest thing ever! As soon as I got home he wanted to know what time we were leaving in the morning. I told him 10am, which would put us in Damascus around 2pm. Well at 7am on Friday morning he is tugging on my arm asking me when we are leaving. It amazes me (not really) how without the female factor you can actually get everything in the car without playing a life size game of Tetris in the trunk and leave on time. And we were off….
We got to the site around 3pm (a few stops along the way). We were the first to arrive, so we got the camp set up. Actually I got the camp set up while Logan quickly started hunting the local reptilian, amphibian wild life. In no time he had caught numerous salamanders and every rock within a 1 mile radius had been turned over. He even caught some red toads.

Then we decided it was time for an exploratory MTB ride. We rode around the campsite looking for trails. None were suitable for his skill level so we opted for a quick road ride. We did something like 7 miles and went back to camp for some food and to see if anyone had arrived yet.
The next morning Logan woke up before the birds, ready to explore. We ate some breakfast, strapped some shoes on and went for a hike. There was a little ½ mile hiking trail next to the grounds. This was perfect. Once we made it to the trailhead we hiked in and at the fork there was a sign describing the trail as a ½ mile loop. I took the opportunity to explain what that meant. Basically I wanted to make sure he understood that if we stay on the trail we would end up right back at this point again. Before I could finish the lesson he took off running. This makes me laugh inside, because I know exactly what he is feeling. It is the same reason I love mountain biking. There is just a great feeling about moving through the forest as fast as you can go. So we did a little trail run through the woods. He would sprint as fast as he could for about 50 yards and then rest for 10 seconds then he would sprint again. After the run he was spent, so I threw him on my shoulders for the hike back to the campsite.
Once back to the site it was time for some lunch. We got with some of the group to find out what the plans were for the rest of the day. There was talk of the Creeper Trail, but not sure where we would put in or how many miles anyone wanted to do. Finally around 2pm everyone was ready to load up and head into town. About 2:30 we were in Damascus heading up the Creeper with another family.

Logan and I stuck around for a while with them, but Logan wanted to pick up the pace. Once we got out of town and there were no more road crossings, he got out front and put the hammer down. (It was a little hammer) At this point I knew that we were not going to be able to hang around with the other families and that this was going to be a father / son trip.
From Damascus to the top of the White Top is 17 miles and 1700 feet of elevation change up. I knew he would not be able to ride too long going up the whole time, so I packed a retractable dog leash in the camelpak. A few miles in he was slowing, but insistent that he did not need no stinking tow rope. Finally I talk him into letting me tow him up so that we can explore the majority of the trail. I explained that we would haul up the mountain and take our time going down. We cruised up to about 5 miles from the top when I heard him crash behind me. Apparently the retractable feature of the leash quit working and the cord got all tangled up in his front tire. He took it like a champ. He even commented that he can crash now without hurting himself. I then informed him that crashing in mountain biking is just part of riding and that learning how to crash without hurting yourself is a valuable skill to have.
When we stopped we were right next to a set of stairs going down to the river. We went down there and bouldered for a while, threw rocks, and even saw this snake.

After about 30 minutes we jumped back on the bikes and headed down. We had a blast coming down the mountain. We stopped at a few scenic areas and at a trail side store for some ice cream.

We made it back to town around 6pm making this the longest mountain bike ride of his life. 3-1/2 hours. The best part about it is that he never got bored, tired, and is still talking about the ride to this day. We got back, grilled some hamburgers, I indulged in PBR while he over did it with root beer. I would have to say that was the perfect day.
We woke up the next morning exhausted from our adventures, packed the truck and headed back.
Hopefully there are many of these adventures in our future.

Check out these skills.... He is going to be a BAD A$$ one day!