Q's re Hatfield-McCoy Trail...UPDATE

[hoglaw]

Anyone here ever been to the Hatfield-McCoy trails in W. Va?  A few of us are planning a trip there later this week.  Looks like the Pineville area is closest for those coming from Florida.  Any suggestions on motels, trails, gear, etc?  TIA

Two of us made the long trip to Pineville, WVa over the weekend. It is well worth 12 hours each way. The riding is fantastic, lots of hills, trails that snake up and down, a little mud, and beautiful vistas around every corner.  They say there are 105 miles of trails at this part of the Hatfield-McCoy, we covered every bit of it, much of it multiple times.  We stayed at the CowShed (Cow Chip?) motel.  Nothing fancy, but clean and reasonably priced.  I was really looking forward to the freedom of riding from the motel to the trail head.  Frankly, it wasn't worth it.  Must be about 7 miles and I was constantly worried about getting rear ended.  The second day we trailered to the rail head, but did use the highway to get gas and lunch later in the day.  I would pucker up everytime we'd see a member of the local constabulary, but they just wave and move on. Whoever came up with this idea, and executed it so well, deserves commendation. We'll definately return after the spring thaw.

[blindkaeta]

You might want to pm mudrat he is going up on thursday.  I think they are going to have about six people.  They are leaving from Apopka

[RaptItUp]

I was there in June.  It's great! Challenging, but fun. Be ready for some real rocky trails.  Make sure you have good skidplates, Keep a tire repair kit w/plugs and fix-a-flat.  I punctured two tires on rocks.  You might want to take any spare parts you have just in case, but there are cycle shops in the area which are pretty good.
It will be wet in a lot of areas, some mud, streams to cross and tricky switchbacks.  I have an open airbox w/a outerwears and sucked some water on occasion, but not bad.
 
We stayed in Man WV at The Depot Lodge. Nice facility, highly recommended. 1mi. ride to trailhead, can ride to food etc in town.  Terry Fakete is the owner and great guy to work with. Pineville is closer but Man is centrally located.  We rode the Rockhouse/Browning Fork trailhead (Man to Gilbert and back)  Also trailered to Bearwallow/Dingess Rum (about 30 min) for some nice riding.    Also trailered to Xtreme Off-Road Park in Logan and did some Drag racing on Sat. 

Hope this helps.     

[mikeE36]

I was there in June.  It's great! Challenging, but fun. Be ready for some real rocky trails.  Make sure you have good skidplates, Keep a tire repair kit w/plugs and fix-a-flat.  I punctured two tires on rocks.  You might want to take any spare parts you have just in case, but there are cycle shops in the area which are pretty good.
It will be wet in a lot of areas, some mud, streams to cross and tricky switchbacks.  I have an open airbox w/a outerwears and sucked some water on occasion, but not bad.
 
We stayed in Man WV at The Depot Lodge. Nice facility, highly recommended. 1mi. ride to trailhead, can ride to food etc in town.  Terry Fakete is the owner and great guy to work with. Pineville is closer but Man is centrally located.  We rode the Rockhouse/Browning Fork trailhead (Man to Gilbert and back)  Also trailered to Bearwallow/Dingess Rum (about 30 min) for some nice riding.    Also trailered to Xtreme Off-Road Park in Logan and did some Drag racing on Sat. 

Hope this helps.     

Was it all rocky? I'd like to go there someday.

[jackinthebox23]

you may want to check this site out...

http://www.atvtime.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=c75d44017103c3f1948003d51a877b5b

[RaptItUp]

No. not all.  The trails were combinations of terrain.  There were some dirt/clay/muddy areas usually down near the bottoms of the hills and the trails that traversed up the hills were sort of a clay and rock base, with some real rocky areas.  I grew up riding ride dirt bikes in Ohio/Pa. and it was not too much of a surprise to me. But for someone who has only ridden on the sandy trails here can be a real challenge. We were all on sport quads Raptor & Z400's so traction and ground clearance were sometimes tough, but we were able to make it through the trails.  It was a 16hr drive to Man (last 3hrs on 2 lane winding roads) but definitely worth the trip.  You really need to take about 5 days trail riding time.  Go to trailsheaven.com  Check out some of the photo albums for the lodging areas.  Some have trail pics.  I will definitely go back next year.   I will post some photos on the Out Of State Rides board when I get some free time.    

[hoglaw]

Thanks for the info, especially about the tire patchs.

[trailhouseowner]

If you ever need info on the trails, don't hesiate to contact me!!  I am sure that I would probably be able to help.