http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2004123126/"Trail would cater to larger vehicles"
By The Associated Press
Friday December 31, 2004
The Hatfield-McCoy Trails system is planning a new Kanawha County trail for full-sized off-road vehicles, officials say.
The new trail would be a "pilot project'' for incorporating full-sized vehicles into the existing network of all-terrain vehicle trails in four West Virginia counties, said Matt Ballard, executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Recreational Trails Authority.
"We realize that there is an opportunity in full sized 4x4 vehicles, and there's not a lot of places for people to utilize those vehicles,'' Ballard said.
The Hummer Club, the national owners' organization based in Belmont, Calif., has been encouraging Hatfield-McCoy to expand from its ATV roots, Ballard said.
The location for the new trail -- which would be built on private land -- has not yet been determined.
"We will be looking for very large land owners,'' he said. "It's much easier when you find a land owner with, say 20,000 acres, than working 400 landowners that have 400 acres a piece.''
Once the location is decided, it will take about a year to plan, map and build the trails, Ballard said, especially because of the differing specifications needed for full-sized vehicles over ATVs.
"I'm very, very happy and excited about the news,'' said Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy.
"I think this carves a niche for Kanawha County for off-road 4x4 vehicles.''
Hardy said building the new trail in the upper Kanawha Valley would "be a perfect fit with the existing whitewater rafting community.''
The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs and BSR Inc. at Summit Point in Jefferson County offer off-road driving courses in West Virginia. But the Hatfield-McCoy trail will be different in that it will allow open access to permitted drivers using their own vehicles, Ballard said.
The trail system consists of more than 500 miles through Logan, Mingo, Wyoming and Boone counties. It is part of the National Recreation Trails System.
The trail is named for the legendary feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families on either side of the Tug Fork River, which divides West Virginia and Kentucky.
