West Virginia Bikepacking FAIL

I set out on a overnighter on my mountainbike in West Virginia, starting next to St. George and planning on 55-60 miles with mostly gravel and some rough trails on day one (clockwise in the map below). Everything started smooth with the usual amount of hike-a-bikes and brushing against mountain laurels in the tight trails.
 

My dreams of an early dinner were shattered when I turned into Limerock trail No 142, which was supposed to be a fun 4.5 miles downhill from the rim to the bottom of the Blackwater Canyon. The first two miles were actually a blast, with flowy sections and doable rock gardens. But then things went south and all these things happened in too rapid succession:
- I lost a water bottle
- I went over the bars and the bike fell over me
- I had to drag my loaded (carbon) bike over three slippy rocky waterfalls--luckily I just chipped away some paint. It was beautiful though (picture proofs below)
- my right shoe fell apart
- the trail disappeared into shrubs and gardens of stinging nettle.

The last 2.5 miles took 2.5 hours. I had to cut my losses and returned back to my car, which involved 7 miles of fast traffic road--probably even less fun than the trail.

Lessons learned:
- never trust hiking trails
- when the going gets rough, do not put a water bottle under the frame (although it might have protected it)
- check your shoes before a big ride
- again, never trust hiking trails

One of the first rough trails of the day

Wind power on the ridge

Waterfall no. 1 (notice the missing bottle on my downtube)

Waterfall no. 2

Waterfall no. 3

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