Hello Dear Reader,

In May 2010 I and my partner rode the GRT completely in both directions in 3 days. We camped at the campsites, brought food from the local communities, and got water along the way. This is our resulting 'guide'.

Our Ride Plan: Drive down to Cass Wv. on May 6th, stay overnight in the Cass Inn, then hit the trail by 7am on Friday May 7th. Do the entire trail on May 7th from Cass to Caldwell (downhill) then do the return trip over the next two days at ~40 miles per day. In this way we can see the sights we noted on the fast trip downhill. we camped the entire time except for the first night, and were back at the car by 2pm on Sunday May 9th 2010.

About us: We are experienced rail-trail riders who train regularly at 20-30 miles per ride. We have the proper gear to handle the expected weather. We each pack our own tent. I am 48 and Matt is a spring chicken 45 years old. Both of us are riding 20 year old mountian-bike based mounts with 26" tires. We use fat street-based tires, preferring the Michelin City Tire which they advertise as being tougher for city streets etc. We regularly ride these tires on rail-trails with no issues at all except in the muddiest of spots.

Trail condition: The north end (Marlton to Cass) is roughest. It has the steepest climb average and the softest trail bed. We ride on street based tires (no knobbies tho they are 'fat' at 1.85") and there were times we were a bit twisted round by the ruts in the soft stuff but there were no incidents (falls). In soft stuff, if your bike starts to wiggle round, you just pedal as hard as you can. The soft areas aren't long, just a bit treacherous. You can see them coming though so if you need to walk your bike through those areas, they are easy to spot and not very long. Once past Marlton though it is smooth sailing...good hardpack all the way. There is a bit of 'single tracking' where the weeds are growing in the middle of the trail leaving only 2 'cart path' type wheel tracks to ride in but thats OK with us. The trail was generally fast. I also didn't think it was particularly 'rocky' compared to other trails I have ridden (Great Allegheny Passage or C&O Towpath for example).

Canopy: This trail has awesome canopy. We were under cexcellent cover for the most part. There are some breaks but they are usually fairly short. The one big exception is mile marker 23 where you pass through a dairy farm. Thats is about a mile with no cover at all. Not that sun is an issue (do wear sunscreen though!). but wind is. It can get mighty windy along the river but you generally only feel it when the canopy breaks. On our last day we were supposed to have 45 mph gusts but really only felt the wind at all in the breaks. You could hear it in the trees but under the canopy..very little.

Water: There is water available at both ends of the trail at eating places, and there is the town of Marlton at mile-marker 56 and a restaraunt at marker 45(ish!). There are also some pump-wells on the trail. There is one around mile-marker 61, 29, and 13. All three had excellent water quality. Note the 'doldrums' of the late 30's through to the mid 50's....if you miss that one resauruant in the 40's there isn't anyplace for water until either Marlton at mile 56 or the pump just inside mile 29. Water in towns is a bit hit or miss for its quality so taste it (we found sulphury water in one place) before you commit to using it until the next water source.

Camping: In typical park fashion, all sites are 'first come first served' so plan your trip accordingly. Every site we saw was clean and tidy. All had fire rings and picknick tables. This trail covers two counties (Pocohontas and Greenbrier...the line is at mile 32 I believe) and the situation is different in each. Pocohontas county has some sites with small 'adirondack' type shelters. These are three sided structures with a single row of three bunks (one each side and one on the back wall). Greenbrier county does not have any of those. GB county has better campsites though, and more of them. I say better because in GB county the campsite is more likely to have a raised tent-bed area and a chemical outhouse (permanent structures for all in both counties..no cheap plastic stuff here). Also, the pumps in GB county are at campsites, meaning you can find at least 2 campsites in GB county with both water and toilet. Campsites do get sparser in the 'doldrums' of the 30's and 40's. They get to being between 6 and 8 miles apart at times there. We passed one at mile 40-ish and didn't find another until mile 49. You will also find benches to sit on and enjoy the view all along the trail :)

Food Sources: This is rural West Virgina folks so stuff CLOSES EARLY. We drove in after 5pm and everything seemed closed. We had to buy some bread, PB, and Jelly to have a wonderful cold PB&J 'dinner' on Thursday. In the morning we ate at the Bear Creek Lodge right down the street from the Cass Inn. Standard fare delivered in the standard manner. Nothing exciting. We then rode to Marlton, the 'big town' on the trail and the county seat of Pocohontas county. It is at mile-marker 56. There are many places to eat there. We chose the Dirt Bean coffeehouse and bicycle shop for obvious reasons. Excellent coffee choices and good food. We didn't expect to stop in the 40's though there is a trailside eatery in that range, so we went 'across the bridge' in Marlton to the Subway shop. There we got a couple foot-longs with nothing on them. The folks there were very friendly and put everything in containers 'on the side' for us. We ate those subs for lunch and dinner. This way we didn't have to pack food except our preferred brand of energy bars. On Saturday morning we ate energy bars and cycled to the Caldwell end of the trial from our campsite (~ 2 miles). The trail SEEMS to end at a parking lot but take a left there and go 2 miles down the access road to the 'main road' of rte. 60 and you will find a place called Sam and Kitty's. The people were freindly and the portions were generous. We got some ham and chees sandwiches to go there for our lunch and found those to be a bit skimpy on the meat. So to wrap up, there is food at either end of the trail and at miles 56 and somewhere in the low -mid 40's. I don't think I'd expect to roll into anywhere after 5-6pm and find food with the exception of Marlton at marker 56.

Wildlife: We were constantly remined that this is wild country by the deer leftovers we saw on the trail. We saw a lot of old dead deer skin/fur on the trailside. Also, about 2 miles into the first day, we passed a large scat that just screamed 'bear' at us. It was too large for anything else by far. We put our food-smelling trash away from our campsites at night in fear of luring in a bear with it. We also saw lots of small woodland creatures such as groundhog and woochuck. We saw trees with evidence of beaver but no actual beavers. We also saw and heard a LOT of woodpeckers. Hawks were also seen but no eagles, though the trailside signs said they were in the area. The Cass Inn did have an awesome community of hummingbirds :)

People/Safety: We met few people actually on the trail, though everyone we met was very nice. The folks in town were also quite nice. We never felt like we had to worry about anything from a safety point of view.

The View: We were riding along somewhere about 50 miles into the first day's ride and Matt (a spiritual but not at all religious person) said to me "You know, its easy to live in the city and think God doesn't exist. But out here..." and I replied "It punches you in the face". This is truly 'God's River' to me. The views are spectacular, the river is incredibly clear and clean, and the overall effect is just spirit lifting.

Notable Items:

1. We hit the Dirt Bean in Marlton on Friday morning at 10:15am and the place was hopping! Lots of retirees sitting on the comfy couches enjoying thier favorite coffees and the company. They were tres friendly to us! If you like coffee and company then hit the Dirt Bean! I will stop there every time now :)

2. We stayed at the Cass Inn on the first night before we hit the trail. We thought it would be best to get a good night's sleep before an 80 mile day. The accomodations were good. The beds are antique and seemed a bit short to my 5-11 frame. No feet hanging over the end but I knew the covers were tucked in at the foot of the bed. Also, unfortunately, this is where we found the well water to be a bit sulphurous. Fill up at the Bear Creek Lodge instead. On the plus side though, Penny, the lady who owns/runs the Inn, was extremely nice to us. She let us park our car there until we got back etc.

3. The trail maps are misleading. We stayed at the last campsite on the Caldwell end, which the map said was ~4.7 miles from the end. This is true only if you place the end at the junction of the access road for the Caldwell trailhead and rte 60. If you parked at the lot at the physical end of the trail on the Caldwell side you would be around mile 2 or 3 already.

3. Sam and Kitty's was a good place to eat. The folks are very friendly and the portions were mostly generous. Its also very convenently placed about 300 yards from the junction of the trailhead access road and rte 60 in Caldwell.

Good luck and enjoy the trail! We had a blast and plan on making it a regular part of our riding schedule.

Chumley

I have led several end to end rides along the GRT. It is a great ride for both families and experienced riders. Most times we park at the Caldwell Trailhead and shuttle to Cass. There are several Shuttle Services, best option is to have at least 6-8 people to split the cost. We usually drive up on Fri. and bike about 15 miles or so and camp, Sat. breakfast can be in camp or bike 10 miles to Marlinton and eat at the Riverview Cafe. We ride about 50 miles on Sat. and finish with an easy 10 miler, still plenty of time to stop and explore. I love riding through the 2 tunnels you can still smell and see the soot on the rocky ceiling. I have seen fox, deer, thought I saw a bear but not sure, whatever it was it darted across the trail better than 100 yards in front of me, and a giant snapping turtle just out of hibernation (he must have had 10 pounds of mud on his shell). Some of the camp sites are very nice, high enough to drain excess water, most have chemical toilet, pump water (if your by yourself jamb a small stone into the relief valve, otherwise you need 3 hands) and a few sites have small shelters. A few sites are low and dark usually muddy. Most also have a picnic table and fire pit. It's not a good idea to plan a trip for the 4th weekend of April (April 24 this year, they have a big bike/run/kayak event,trail gets crowed around Marlinton) Having said that, I will say that we were there that weekend last year and really didn't have a problem but we got through the area before hand and we would have been going against the racers.

A great trail, and always fun.

I walked the trail from North Caldwell to the 7 mile marker and back. It was a peaceful hike with low traffic and a good surface. Having the river by your side and being shaded by trees makes it even better. I liked how this trail has amenities like trailside camping and restrooms, even in the middle of nowhere! I would love to bring my bike and ride the entire trail sometime!