Vance's Cove

Nice ride today despite summer downpour! Definitely should have ridden up the gravel road and down the Singletrack but first time out...still a good climb despite the rain. Moved a couple of fallen trees that were too high to go over. Vegetation getting a little high right now c all the rain but still easy to follow the trail.

Vance's Cove is in pretty good shape at the moment. The only negative is it is still really wet from spring runoff - so bring extra socks!

First ride of Vance's Cove this year. More a trail maintenance ride than anything. Trail is a bit wet and rocky (as usual) but there is currently quite a bit of debris on the trail. If you go - take a small handsaw. I cut some stuff out of the way but it needs more work. Still a great technical trail

Fun trail but hard to follow at the SW most end when it connects with Racer Camp Hollow Trail. My Garmin shows 16.1 miles for the entire loop. Here is the link to my Strava ride. Much easier to show the route than talk about it. https://www.strava.com/activities/818171355
You will be tempted to go left (red flash on trees) and keep following Racer Camp trail...but DON'T. When you get to then bottom of the switchback and run into the campsite at the creek.... go to your right and start bushwhack for about 250 yards until you come out in a clearing. The clearing will be roughly on your left. This clearing turns into a dirt road which leads to Country Route 5/1. Now you're back on track. Cross the bridge and take a left. Once you pass the red gate across the road (Private Property), take a hard right and begin the climb home. (11% grade for about 1.5 miles) You don't go back to singletrack until you hit vances cove trail proper at the VA border (where you double back on your inbound path. Great ride. Technical on the way out and smooth and fast on the way back.

Good double-track to single-track trail. I only rode about 8 miles of it as I was solo and had never ridden it before. A couple of med difficulty rock gardens (mostly because of leaf cover) and 5 different stream crossings. No big deal in summer...but at 37 degrees didn't want to slip and get wet. Overall,a really good trail that is not too difficult

Trail is in daily good shape. I cleared the bears and brush from an overgrown area of the trail today. Thanks to whoever cleared a couple of logs that were too big to cross. Wilson's cove connecting in West Virginia was in great shape.

The trail was dry but over grown in several areas making it challenging to see rocks. Overall a decent trail to ride when it is dry.

Fantastic little ride. Highly recommend if you wanna beat the heat as most of the ride is in the shade of the tree canopy.

FANTASTIC RIDE!!! Scenic, middle of nowhere, singletrack and fireroads are both great. Bring a lunch, ride, have a little campfire lunch and ride some more. Bring your camera...........can't recommend it enough if you can find forest road 93 lol. Easiest way if you've never been is to go to the WV line, turn around and come back into VA looking to your right then you can easily spot the road.

First, before you start go to Element Sports in Winchester VA for a trail map (2184 S Pleasant Valley Rd, Winchester, VA 22601 ph# 540-662-5744). Not only do these guys have free maps of several MTB trails, they ride them too!
This is one sweeeet ride, climbs, rocks, logs, streams, downhill, and a few jumps in the “Tank Trap” area. This trail has a little of everything a mountain bikers wants. Rode the trail with a buddy (you should have a wingman for this ride) following the map provided by Element Sports for the first 4.4 miles. The weather was perfect for riding so we added our own route by following the Yellow trail to the right once we crossed into WV. After several miles of mostly downhill forest rode we turned left on the Old Mail Path. There were lots of wet mushy areas with a big unimproved stream crossing at Cove Run. After the creek the trail is almost uphill all the way to the intersection of Ranger Camp Hollow Trail. Turned left on Ranger Camp Hollow Trail and followed it all the way back to the WV/VA state line. Turned right on the Yellow Trail and flew thru the 4 or 5 Tank Traps catching LOTS of air on each one. These will bring a smile to your face!!! Turned left on the yellow before the last Tank Trap and followed the trail to the Gerhard Shelter Trail (White Trail). This was were the REAL work started. The sign said .7 mile to the shelter, no problem we thought. Holy Cow, we rode about a hundred yards before having to dismount because the incline was so steep. We pushed 20-25 feet stopped, caught our breath and repeated all the way to the shelter. The only thing that kept us going was understanding what goes up must come down! The White Trail terminates at the top and intersects with the Tuscarora/Blue Trail. The shelter was awesome, hats off to the Potomac Appalachian Club for building and maintaining these shelters. The 360 degree view from the summit was worth the effort. Had lunch in the shelter, rested for 10 minutes and off we went down the hill we just climbed up. The one hour push to the top turned into a 4 minute ride to the bottom. Actually the downhill ride was more like a controlled crash all the way to the end without ever hitting the deck! We smoked our brakes, the air smelled like following an 18 wheeler down a steep mountain road!!. Turned left on the Yellow Trail and returned to where we started. WOW, what a day, 16 miles of pure (but hard) fun.
If you’re tired of riding Elizabeth Furnace give Vance’s Cove a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
* Review edited 11/24/2011* Review edited 12/13/2011

Sweet ride that combines fireroads, singletrack, stream crossings, logs, and some technical rock gardens to keep you on your toes and hungry for more. Took the route described below. Old mail path and the yellow blaze coming back are pretty awesome. Definitely recommend the ride.

I'd like to add a variation to this ride and in my view the best variation. Follow the directions from previous description to cross concrete low water bridge. Continue up logging road a couple miles, hang a right at fork after road enters woods. At the bottom of the hill turn right on white blaze trail which soon brings you back out on the original forest service road. Turn left and continue up the road to the "end" and continue on single track. Keep to right at fork (berm on your left,yellow blaze) and a few hundred yard later you reach VA/WV line (There is a sign) and a new logging/fire road (Racer Camp Hollow Trail, Orange Blaze). Take a left and ride a couple more miles until you reach a wooden sign for the old mail path. Turn right on old mail path trail (at bottom of small field on your right) Sweet rocky single and double track with some logs, a couple stream crossings and gushy wet spots. After a mile or so it exits on fire road (Wilson Cove Trail). Turn Right and continue back a couple miles to original trail at VA/WV line. Ride back down the trail and take the yellow blaze right hand fork over berm you bypassed earlier. Really nice, fairly technical (Roots, logs, rock gardens) mostly flat and down hill for another mile and a half or so until you reach the white blaze/yellow blaze intersection ridden previously. Here you can turn left to get back to forest service road and a couple miles back to your vehicle but better to go right back on yellow blaze and back track fire road to concrete bridge crossing. Really nice down hill before bridge. Cross the bridge, exit to forest service road and turn right back to car. Total distance about 13 miles. logging road is easy but can be strenous, single and double is easy to fairly technical. Will test the intermediate rider and make the beginner think twice about going back. * Review edited 8/15/2011* Review edited 8/15/2011* Review edited 8/15/2011* Review edited 8/15/2011* Review edited 8/15/2011

Great ride. Hard workout. If you're looking for a hard ride with variety and nice scenery, this is for you. Lots of rocks, logs and thick underbrush interspersed throughout. Creek crossings & uphill also. If you want a smooth ride and not much challenge, this is not the ride for you.