I use a cross bike and generally try to spin along at approx 15 mph. I found the first 3 miles of this trail to be incompatible with my style. the cinder portion of this trail stretches from shinnston to the marion county line, approx 3 miles. it has heavy horse traffic which gives the trail a mogul effect. you have to slow down considerably and ride tall. at mile two or therabouts, there is a deep rill of erosion about a foot deep. I was able to get stopped but it would certainly result in an accident if hit directly.

from marion county heading north the the fairmont section, it is nicely paved, however there are frequent road crossings. altough the road crossings do not appear to have heavy traffic, the trail has very narrow posts to prevent vehicular traffic. they are so narrow that you can put your feet out while going thru and touch each post. point being that the fast portion of this trail is frequently interupted with dangerous barriers.

scenery is modest, mostly going through residential areas.

As another reviewer noted, the Mary Lou Retton park entrance is not a desirable place to begin your ride. I would recommend starting your ride at mile 3 (approx). From Shinnston, cross a bridge then take Rt. 19 north approx. 3 miles. there will be another bridge near a low water dam with a sign that says 'public fishing access'. take that bridge (right turn off Rt. 19) and immediately across it there is parking immediately adjacent to the paved trail, and I believe a port a john. ride north from that point, not south!

hope this helps anyone considering the west fork river trail.

-Joe

We (wife and I) rode this in two sections. We are fairly new to biking and are keeping rides under 25 miles per day at a slow under 7-10 mph pace at this point. Our first ride was from Shinnston going north. This was a great ride with a lot of awesome scenery. We rode a few miles past Worthington which had a very nice park to stop and rest at. The next day we started in Fairmont at the Mary Lou Retton Park. It was difficult to pick up the trail and it appears that the trail shown on trailLink that loops around Fairmont is not really a "Rail to Trail" and mostly city streets with typical WV hills .. not fun .. at least for us. Once we got off the city street (Norway Rd) that leads to the actual trail it was great. We road south past Monongah to near our turnaround spot from the day before. On our way back, we stayed on the rail trail and went just past the spot (about a half mile beyond) where we got off Norway Rd onto the rail trail. We followed that to the Rail bridge which crosses the West Fork. Very Picture worthy!

Advice: Ride this great trail, but avoid Mary Lou Retton park and Norway Road. Use Shinstonn, Worthingon, or Monongah to get on the trail. Also, do ride all the way to the Rail Bridge in Fairmont .. just not through the city streets in Fairmont.

This trail is wonderful and I have enjoyed it several times....however....I took my son (8) to check out the Mary Lou Retton Youth Park Entrance. We not only didn't ride from that point, we locked the doors as we drove by! There where several people in the street (and they would not move to let the car pass at first). A young man stopped his car in front of us and talked to another youth for over 5 minutes blocking the one lane road. When we finally did find the entrance there were 5 shirtless young men hanging out by the gait blocking it. My son said "please don't stop here".
Definitely try out this trail but NOT at this entrance!

Rode this trail in 1998 from Durbin to Gladys. Camped at the Durbin town park. This is a superd trail, very beautiful, very private. The river is an ever present feature and impressive in its own right. The Gladys end had absolutely no services. Rode back on the Forest Service road and only saw one vehicle. Very highly recommended!!

This was a nice trail. It follows the river and is relatively flat. I didn't like going through the town of Shinston where I started. It is small gravel for about the first 3 and a half miles then it turns into paved. Very nice ride with a lot of wildlife. I saw turkey, deer, rabbit, geese, birds, and more. It isn't as much of a challenge as the Elkins to Phillip trail but a good trail and well kept for the most part. A great family trail since it is so flat and paved for such a long way.

My wife and I just decided to ride this trail on our way home after completing the North Bend Trail. We were a little confused about the trail access after reading that the trail only could be ridden 2 miles. Not so! The only washout is about 1 1/2 miles from Shinnston. Solution, start above Shinnston at any of the other access points and ride from there. The actual washout is only about 50ft. long, so if you want to complete the whole trail just ride back to to the wash out point above Shinnston. This trail should not be missed if you are in the area. Pa. tandem team. Roger and Marilyn

This trail has been washed out -- from Shinnston you can only ride approximately 2 miles.

This trail is kept in good shape and is a wonderful ride. Lots of scenery and good food too.