Father / Son Dupont Camping Trip

I have been planning a trip to some real trails with Logan for a few months now. My two top choices were Dupont and FATS. My first choice would be Dupont for the obvious reasons like waterfalls, mountains, and climate. But Dupont can be a daunting place to navigate where FATS is pretty straight forward. So I contacted my WNC trail guide to see if the 22nd of May would be open for some easy kid friendly riding. It just so happens that a Fundraiser Ride was taking place that day and there would be 3 levels of rides available. All no left behind rides with experienced guides. It looked like it was meant to be, so the plans were made.

We got to the campsite Friday around 630pm and set up all the necessities. By 745 we were ready to relax, well I was ready to relax. Logan had other plans... He wanted to go to the kids loop and check out Dupont. So we loaded the bikes up and headed to Guion Farm Trail Head.

We got there and rode until dark on all the skinnies and the pump track. He rode every one of them and did it before I could.

The next morning he was up by 630am ready to go ride again. Breakfast was at 9 so we waited around for that, ate, then headed back to the trail head by 10. Again we rode and tooled around until the group ride started at 1130.

The ride started around noon. The first trail we hit was Ridgeline, which is one of the best out there. Logan really enjoyed it and even went OTB about half way down. He quickly got up and kept on going. After that it was a lot of climbing and I could not seem to get him to slow down any. We got to the top of Airstrip took in the view and then enjoyed the downhill.

This guys get up was unreal. His daughter napped down Airstrip.

Next we hit Bridal Falls relaxed and then headed up towards Reasonover??? I think.

We did a lot of climbing and Logan was starting to have a few emotional breakdowns. This was expected after 3 hours out on the trails. But he just wanted to keep going. We had a chance to bail before Mine Mountain and I made an executive decision. We cut it short and headed back to the parking lot via fire roads. I made one wrong turn, but quickly corrected and headed on back. We rode for 4 hours. After I force fed him some poptarts, gatoraide, and a rootbeer he went back out the the kids loop. I would have figured he had enough.

Later that evening back at the campsite we hung out with some of the other campers, went swimming, and reflected on the day. It started raining around 9pm and we hit the sack.

The next morning we got up started packing, got some breakfast and hit the road. He wanted to go hit Issaqueena today, but after all the rain, we opted to go straight home. Short detour to Ceasar's Head and then on to the house.

It was a great weekend and I was very impressed by his riding skills. He is one stubborn kid that once he gets something in his head, he is going to do no matter how much pain it causes. He gets it from his Mother, the most stubborn person I know.

This kid has so much self motivation that I have to pull the reigns so he does not hurt himself.

I love it and look forward to many more of these trips. I am already trying to get another one together next month. I think this time we are going to FATS.