Make a trip to a state park or any other area that caters to the public and you will probably be handed a map to easily plan your ride. Even without the map, you could find your way around, as there are signs pointing and naming each of the trails you can choose. None of this occurs on the 12,000 acres of rough and unscathed land that surrounds Carvin’s Cove. This manmade reservoir spans 1,100 acres and has provided much of the Roanoke Valley’s water for several decades. Here you will not find one trail marker or sign to point your way. And although there are several maps available online, an official map has yet to be made. This terrain has several gravel fire roads and is crisscrossed with many narrow single track trails that are perfect for mountain biking.

Mike and I rolled into the parking lot about 8:30 on a Saturday morning and read the sign explaining that we had to have a pass in order to park and ride. We asked a local who was on his way onto the trail and he explained that we needed a pass that would cost us $2 at a bike shop back up the road a bit.

We pulled into the “Just the Right Gear” bike shop and walked in at around 8:45 a.m. The shop hadn’t opened yet, but the girl at the counter let us come in and look around while the owner was in the shower cleaning up from his morning ride. The shop is small, but has everything you would need for the ride. It was one of those places that you could feel the love of the sport in the air as we browsed around waiting for the shop to open.

We picked up our passes, some tools and chain lube and headed back out to the trail. There are two main sections of the Carvin’s Cove trail system. On one side of the lake is a trail system that stays pretty flat and offers several great single track options. On the other side of the reservoir are two trails that will take you up a 1,000-foot climb to the top of the mountain.

We opted for the flatlands and took off down the road. We followed the paved road a bit until we hit the fire roads and started into the trail system. We took the first trail we saw on the left and made our way up a pretty steady and technical climb. Lots of roots and rocks made, what appeared to be a simple ascent, into lung burning climb. Once we crested the top of the climb, we made our way down a rather bumpy and muddy trail. It crossed a couple of streams and had enough muck to make it look like you just came out of something difficult.

This trail dumped us back on the fire road and we headed toward a 1.5 mile track commonly called ‘Kit n’ Kaboodle.’ This track took us through several streambeds, one that had me wading out of knee-deep water after I decided I would come to a stop halfway in. Once you get a hang of what the trail is throwing at you, it becomes a very fun trail. You never gain much speed or make any major climbs, however you still work pretty hard picking your way through the rocks and over the several fallen trees in the way.

After you ride on this track awhile you come to the one-mile stretch called ‘Enchanted Forest.’ This was an amazing ride. Gigantic pines that have no other shrubbery or bushes filling the void between them surround the trail that is covered with a bed of pine needles that absorb all of the sound that usually comes from the trail. There seemed to be a thick haze throughout that added to the eerie quiet and peacefulness. It is hard to describe everything about this place, but it made you look around in awe.

We wound our way around and over the fallen limbs as we made our way through the forest. After taking a couple more turns, we went through a few more streambeds and came out about a quarter mile from the trailhead. We made our way back to the car and could not believe the enjoyment we had just experienced while pedaling our way around Carvin’s Cove.

We packed up the car and stopped back in at Just the Right Gear to let them know we would most definitely return, and then made our way home. Once again, being on a bike back in the woods made all the troubles of life seem farther away and made Monday not seem so bad after all.