Ashland and ancillary activities, Day Two (Friday)

Started by brianreynolds, April 12, 2013, 12:54:57 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

brianreynolds

On Thursday, about half of the counties we passed through were new for Sam.  None were new for me.  Today would be different.  I was specifically targeting new counties in eastern Kentucky, maybe some in Virginia, Tennessee, a corner of North Carolina, more in Virginia and West Virginia.

I was up fairly early on Friday, but Sam was catching up on some Zs.  I was showered, dressed, fed (if you can call it that) via the hotel (so-called) breakfast.  Eventually, I rattled Sam's chain, and after the necessary preliminaries, we hit the road.

The Daze Inn is on KY-180, a very short connector between I-64 and US-60.  Thus, KY-180, I-64 and US-23 to Ulysses, KY-645 to Inez, KY-3 back to US-23 to KY-80 to the Hal Rogers Parkway to exit 56 (KY-80 again) to KY-699  to KY-463 to Cumberland.  Then KY-160 almost to the Virginia state line.

The Kentucky high-point is Black Mountain.  KY-160 and VA-160 pass within a half-mile or so.  There is a road (?) of sorts that extends southerly (and up) from KY-160.  This is mostly a work road, traveled intermittently by logging trucks and other work vehicles.  About a quarter-mile in, there is a trail that continues up toward the summit.  About another quarter-mile or so UP the trail is the summit.  I accompanied Sam about half-way up the trail before my limitations became obvious to both of us.

Sam continued, I turned back.  At the top, Sam found and photographed a survey point that we both assumed to be the high point marker.  Now that I have read through the Wikipedia article about Black Mountain and looked carefully at Google Maps, I'm pretty sure we missed it by about a half-mile.  The point Sam found may very well be an angle point in the state line, but does not fit the description of the Black Mountain monument.

Back on the road, VA-160 down the mountain to the small burg of Appalachia, a short hop over to US-23/ALT US-58 northeast.  We missed the exit for ALT US-58, so we went through Wise VA.  I surmised (incorrectly) that we were probably on the old road for ALT-58 so we continued East on a local road (CR-640).  Eventually, this emerges onto VA-72, but the signage is non-existent.  We turned south on VA-72, but a short ways down, an advisory indicates CR-640 to the left, nothing at all about VA-72.  We turned to follow CR-640, but a half-mile or so down, it just looked wrong.  We turned around, went back to VA-72, then south to Coeburn.

Based on the Mapquest rendering of maps and photos and county lines, it seems that Sam and I stumbled into Dickinson County without even trying.  It might be an ugly way to visit a county, but I'll tally that one.

ALT-58 and US-19 to US-11.  We were quite close to Bristol, and I recalled from my previous visit that there are some notable shield assemblies in Bristol.  We headed south to get one more county in Tennessee and an independent city in Virginia for Sam. 

Back to US-58 east of Abingdon.  Near Damascus, we turned south on a local road, intending a short loop through a corner of North Carolina.  About a mile down, the pavement ended at what we assume was the state line, though it was not marked.  We expected to come to NC-194 shortly, but didn't.  About four miles of iffy road later, we emerged onto a paved road that we thought was NC-194.  A few miles later we came to the real NC-194 in Lansing NC.  Our visit to North Carolina was thus quite a bit longer than expected. 

NC-194 north back into Virginia, then US-58 east to VA-16 north to I-81 at Marion.  We were out of daylight, and a long way from our hotel.  I abandoned my original route to pick up counties in West Virginia.  I-81 to dinner in Wytheville, I-77 and I-64 back to Ashland, arriving about 1:00 AM.

Total new counties for me for the day: 12.  For Sam, the total was much higher.


Bitmapped

If you only got about 1/2 mile from KY 160, you would have still been short of the Black Mountain high point.  To get to it, you take the paved road that heads west from KY 160 to where the pavement ends by a FAA radar facility.  If you keep going about 500 feet past the radar then take the short side road (about 500 feet as well) that heads to the left, you'll get to the high point.  There are a bunch of antenna towers there.  I have some pics from 2010 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmpowell/sets/72157623634568741/with/4486176394/.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.