Rough Run Maps & Directions

When you are not familiar with an area, it's hard to know the difference between Round Knob and Dunkle Knob and Brushy Knob OR Rough Run versus Road Run versus Stony Run.  It all becomes a bit of gibberish if you didn't grow up running all these ridges.  One of the beauty's of the internet age is access to some pretty specific trivia and one of the the things we found was a USGS map of Fort Seybert.

Not the most up-to-date maps (above) but when it
comes to topography, it is still going to work.

We found that if we carried an extra dog collar, learned how to use our Garmin, we could always know where we were.  With our maps, we could tell what everybody was talking about.  It was not a full-proof system but when the closest you ever got to a forest was watching Robin Hood movies, you needed something!

Here is Ft. Seybert with the old bridge configuration.

The cool thing about the USGS maps (available for free at http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/maps.html) is that it includes topography (helps us know where the ridges are), forest roads (helps us know where we're headed), and streams/rivers.  Some of the roads are a bit different and the area has grown, but the maps are a nice frame of reference if you've never traveled these ridges, 'hollers', or forest roads before.  We took these free maps to Kinkos and printed out some big copies (black-and-white is way cheaper by the way!)

Rough Run the creek and Rough Run the road.

Maps are no substitute for knowing the terrain and we certainly had a bit of a time interpreting "remember that place where we struck that time for Bobby's bear…" but a good map, a flashlight, and a basic sense of bearings will get you around Rough Run.  Getting around safely is another issue.  Particularly when you have  a fear of copperheads and all the rocks are loose!

Rough Run - The Drive Up

Rough Run is as much an attitude as it is anything but in reality it is the name of a road and a creek.  USFS 87 is the official designation, but the locals took to calling it Rough Run because it ran adjacent to the creek and the road was little better the creek.  Both can make you pay if you are not careful.

At the bottom, right after you turn off of Sweedlin Valley Road, the going is actually pretty gentle.  There's a nice pleasant-looking cow pasture on the right, and a well-tended fishing pond to the left.  There's a few houses and hunting cabins on the bottom between the road and creek where everybody knows everybody and keep watch on the entrance to the forest.  Keep on driving up the lane and you pass Scooters house & garage clubhouse followed by an ancient ghost sawmill further up on the left.   There's some off-the-grid living going on behind these far houses but we'll keep quiet about that.  Jerry Sr. has the last piece of civilization with his well tended place.  The house sits guard at the very entrance before you enter the George Washington National Forest and start to head up the hill.

You aren't more than a few hundred yards beyond Jerry's when you are already dodging tree limbs and driving on terrain that requires four wheels.  You pass Panther Rock (supposedly a guy back in the pioneer days was driving his wagon by when a panther jumped off the rock and killed him) and then the first of many crossings of Rough Run.  The creek is fairly deep here and can sometimes move at a good clip, so it's gonna take a real vehicle to get past.  After that, you had better be paying attention.

There's not much room on this road so there are few places to pass other vehicles.  As you climb, the vehicles are being punished more and more as the divots grow deeper and the banks of the creeks steepen.  Your truck bounces hard as it moves through this part.  The next wide creek has a very steep bank on the far end so you need to gun the truck a bit.  But be careful you don't bottom-out on on the boulders in the middle.  It's a tricky line to take.

There are some old logging roads that crop out here and there that provide some nice places to pull out of the way or turn around.  A couple of these form what are called 'switchbacks', an old railroad term used for these back-and-forth logging trails and the unique way they turn sharply back and forth in order to get heavy loads up and down steep hills faster.  Once you turn the corner after the big switchback and make that angle turn to the left, you are way up.  If you dare, you can look out the passenger window over the cliff down at the road you've just come up.  In the dark, you won't see much but the headlights of some other trucks following you in the distance.  In the daylight, you see a horrific drop.  As Jerry says, if you go off the road here, "Hang on for a ride".

Another turn to the left and the road starts to ease up on you as you make your way towards the top of the mountain.  Rough Run ends at the Virginia line and the series of roads that criss-cross the top of the mountain.  You breathe a sigh of relief and relax a bit before you realize that at some point, you're going to have to turn the truck around and make the journey back down.  Lord, I hope I checked my brakes.

Bear Hunting 101: Soup to Nuts Beginners Guide

In Rough Run, the boys (and girls) do lots of things to amuse themselves during the fall and winter that the normal person may not be… comfortable with.  One of those things is bear hunting.  When bears are running through the yard, tearing up the trash, yanking refrigerators out houses and eating the leftovers, you've decided to mess with the wrong bunch.  Besides keeping the wildlife at bay and helping with the ecology and all that stuff, bear hunting can be fun.  Heck, most of the time bear hunting isn't hunting in the usual sense of "let's find something and kill out".  Most of the time, hunting really refers to finding bears, chasing bears, taking pictures of bears, and watching bears run away.  Unless it's a bigun'…

Since bear hunting is a little different than most of the other creature-hunting where you sit in a blind/tree/rock ledge and hope something with antlers wanders by, we decided to give you a brief primer on how it all goes:

BEFORE-HAND STUFF

1a.  Get up 2:30am - I know, I know, this is an ungodly hour but apparently 'bears own the night'.  

1b.  Eat some grub - This is literally 5 or 6 hours prior to when one normally eats breakfast so it is best to grab some chow first thing.

1c.  Ready to go out (make 2nd breakfast, make or bring lunch supplies, grab waters & snacks, grab supplies, 

1c.  Get the dogs form their kennels, put them on the truck and head up the mountain

Disclaimer:  This isn't a legal document that purports to explain all of the laws, regulations and game rules.  Know your area and rules.  In Rough Run, there are certain seasons where certain things are allowed and it is a hound hunting state.  No baiting or anything like that.  You need to find 'em…

SNIFFING OUT A BEAR STUFF

1.  Find a Track - The 'track' is the term for the scent-trail.  When a bear runs through the forest, he leaves a trail that can be followed.  This is the track.  Finding a good track & fresh track is part art, part science and is the one big separators from the amateurs and the seasoned houndsmen.  The Rough Run boys know how to find the track.

2.  Release the Hounds - Once a good track is identified and the appropriate time has been reached, the dogs are turned loose.  Again, this is part art and part science knowing which dogs to release and how many dogs and when to send them.  

3.  Track the Dogs as they chase - Once the dogs are on the loose, it is time to track the chase.  If all goes well, the dogs will get on the track of the bear and follow it to their goal.  Bears are seldom up for a fight, so they tend to run for the high ground.  The chase is on.  This is called "running the bear".  The Rough Run boys use tracking devices, GPS collars and other sophisticated gadgetry to follow the chase.  

4.  Tree the Bear - The end goal is to get the bear in a spot where he wants to stop and end the chase.  If the bear is big enough, he won't go up a tree and will fight the dogs on the ground.  But most bears do the smart thing (in bear logic) and go up a tree to rest.  The dogs can't follow, so the bear wins (in bear logic).   Once your dogs have the bear up a tree, the hunters dash to the tree.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET ONE PART

5.  Maybe you shoot it (go to step 6), maybe you don't (tell everybody you shot it anyway and make up a huge weight) 

6.  Drag it Out - As horrible as it sounds.

7.  Weigh It and Tag it - Again, know your laws and tag when you are supposed to tag.  Basically, follow your local rules here. 

8.  Multiply all Numbers by 3 and tell everybody about it - Lying about your exploits is a time-honored and legitimate aspect to life in Rough Run (and bear hunting).

9.  Slice It, Dice It, Make Julienne Fries - Some like bear eatin', some do not like it.  Waste not, want not.

10.  Take the dogs home and get them bedded down for the night - More nights than not, they have gotten no bear so reward the pooches.

11.  Clean everything up and kick out the mooches - Since this is a complicated and difficult and expensive endeavor, lots of people hang out for a piece of the action.  Remove them from your clubhouse.

12.  Go to Bed - Set alarm for 2:30am, the bear season is short and sweet.

Note:  If nothing happenS, remember to tell everyone you "ran" a huge bear but __________ (fill-in the blank with some incredible excuse [see LYING]).