Day 37: Prince William Forest Park, VA

Alea's ride from south of Fredericksburg was longer than we had anticipated.  It at first had looked to be about 50 miles, but she had logged 59 miles by the end of the day.  The rolling terrain was a bit of a surprise to her, but the temperatures were mild and there was only a light head wind.  But it was a good, hard day's ride, and a bit longer than she would have liked.

One of the USBR 1 signs that helps us stay on route.

We've managed to avoid a lot of rain lately while riding, which is good.  Put the other benefit of less than optimal weather is that it has been easy to find campsites on the weekends!

Our map showed our campground for the night to be about 4 miles south of where we planned to leave our route.  But it turned out that the park entrance nearest to it had been closed.  It probably added at least a good dozen additional miles in order to reach the campground, so we were glad that we opted to drive there.

We've seen lots of butterflies clustering together on the ground lately...

So we stayed at Oak Ridge Campground ($20, primitive with showers), with our annual park pass saving us the additional $7 entry fee.  When we checked in we told the ranger that we may have two cycling friends join us, if they made it this far.  It cost nothing extra for them to camp on our site, and it seems they were within the number of people who could get in the park under our pass (and thus they also avoid the entry fee).  They are Paul Doffing and Jen Tillman, whom I had met briefly the day before.

 "Well, Sonny... Some time after the last dinosaur roamed the planet
and before the first cell phone was invented, you used to
find these emergency phones along the road every few miles..."

We hadn't passed Paul and Jen as we had expected on our way from Fredericksburg, so we weren't sure if they were heading our way or had chosen to stay put a while longer.  But we texted them a heads up about what to expect at the campground, as I had discussed that with them the day before.  At the time, they were sheltering under a church pavilion while an ominous storm cell was passing over them.  They had scoped out the campground situation the night before and were thinking they could get in via the old east entrance.

Once we got settled in, Lana and I went out to scout out the east entrance, as I had not seen it as we drove along the park boundary.  The reason was that it was fairly obscure, and it was just across from where there had been some tree limbs extending out over the fog line, just as we had driven over a small rise.  Paying attention to that made me miss the entrance on the opposite side of the road.  But it gave me a good landmark to help Paul and Jen find it, so I texted them the information.  Most of the old entrance is now used as a fire road, so it was graveled and not too bad to ride on.  The road was wet in some low areas, but still pretty well passable.  It was certainly a better option than the long slog through the east entrance, and it avoided a couple of steep hills.

They rolled into camp a little after seven, and we chatted with them around the galley and the campfire until around ten, when we all turned in for the night.  Pictures would have to wait until the next morning.

Paul pointed out a stretch of our route where the USBR signs were missing, leading to speculation about why that was.  His theory: that the roads failed to meet some DOT standard as bike routes, so they were only planned routes in the eyes of the DOT and thus unworthy of signage.  My theory: in urban areas you are more likely to find people that might snatch a souvenir for their man cave.  It could be the real answer is a little of both, and probably some other factors that we aren't thinking of.