Find the top rated running trails in Oceana, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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I took my gravel bike on this trail and won’t do it again. There’s large stones and branches. I had to carry my bike over several downed trees and several big wash outs. A beautiful ride next to the creek for sure. A great place to hike I’d say. Please don’t think of this as a rail to trail flat ride, it is not.
Easy to get to just south of Whitesville, WV; cross Clear Fork at Vest Road for nice parking at the trailhead. Raleigh County did a good job; the bed looks to have larger aggregate underneath a smooth but already hard-packed crushed stone the whole way. Very gentle slope the complete way.
Sights to see are many bridges, farms, tall hills besides the trail, and I even disturbed a flock of wild turkeys, that, yes, contrary to WKRP, they can fly (but very slowly). The waterfall was dry, due to our drought, but should be good again after the snows.
While in the New River Gorge area, I decided to bik this new trail, and it exceeded my expectations. Great Surface with two river crossings and great river views along the trail. I wish the water level would have been higher with all the rapids.
I started at the Trailhead sign in Russellville and headed north. There is an a gravel section suitable for parking near the Trailhead sign. I will point that there were "No Parking" signs here. I believe it meant "No Parking" on the grass area, but it was ambiguous. I went ahead and parked there anyways without issue.
I ran north all the way to the Trailhead sign in Nallen. The path is mostly flat, well maintained, and very suitable for running. I ran a faster "tempo" run without issue.
I ran the Southside Trail starting at the parking lot (across the bridge from Thurmond). I ran out 3.25 miles and came back.
The trail had some water/mud covered sections. These sections weren't long (10-20 yards), but I had to stop and walk around the mud. I had to do this approximately 10 times during my 3.25 miles.
This was closer to trail than rail trail. There were sections with more larger rocks, stumps, roots to be dealt with. Expect to be paying attention to the ground as much as the scenery.
From Nallen 9 miles to the second bridge crossing is wide smooth trail that follows the River with only slight grade.
Very remote area of WV with beautiful mountains and no crowds. You won’t meet very many people on this trail. Good for bicycles or walking. At any age.
Easy flat and filled with views. For beginning bikers or casual warmup…
The ride was on a narrow rough sidewalk, busy street on one side and steep hill down to river on other side.
I rode this trail today after riding the Rend Trail. Well, I rode the 1.2 miles closest to Southside Junction, at least. There are two basic options for starting on this side. The only way to avoid crossing the tracks is to park at the Rend Trailhead, ride that trail, and carry your bike down the Arbuckle Connector. It's mostly rock steps, not rideable, and thus it's carrying your bike down 300 feet of election over less than a mile. But it avoids the tracks, and is how I got there.
The other is starting either at the Rend Trailhead or Thurmond and crossing the tracks. Today, a CSX crew was welding the tracks on the Thurmond side, and all signals were red as a result, but most days there are likely trails rolling through. Realistically, I expect anyone starting at the north end and traversing the whole length will want to cross the tracks and explore Thurmond, and I didn't see a reason to expect it to be any more hazardous than crossing the tracks near my grandparents' house. Why hasn't the NPS put more emphasis on making an official crossing? That is a great segway into the trail itself.
Between the Arbuckle Connector and the tracks, the trail is wide enough, and directly parallels decades-abandoned track. It's scenic, and in one section there were flowers dropped from trees all along the ground. But it's also not exactly well maintained. I had to dismount and duck my bike under one tree, and lift it over three others (two of them grouped together). It's clear that active maintenance of this trail isn't a high priority, which is likely related to why an official crossing at the southern end hasn't been a high priority.
North of the Arbuckle Connector, the trail narrows into a singletrack, and I eventually hit a lengthy mud patch that I decided was not worth traversing.
You do get some views of the New River that you don't on the Rend Trail, but none that beat what you can get from the pedestrian observation points on the bridge into Thurmond. Overall, if you're starting from the south, the Rend Trail is the better bargain even with the trestle out, at least in the spring. Maybe in August there wouldn't be mud, and the Southside would be more traversable.
I'll also note that despite rating this trail 3/5, I'd still very much recommend a day exploring Thurmond, the Rend Trail, and if time permits the Southside Trail. But Thurmond should be the main draw, not the trails, and given their short lengths and rough terrain, it doesn't really make sense to haul bikes there if you don't already have them loaded onto your car for another destination.
I rode the southern part of the Rend Trail today, up to the second trestle, which unfortunately remains closed due to being "critically structurally deficient". I am not an engineer, but it appeared that the steel substructure under the second section of the deck (from the south end) has slipped from its intended position. Unfortunately, it's probably very expensive to fix something like that in such a remote area.
As for the rest of the trail? It's quite scenic. Beautiful forest and mountain views. Sheer drops off to the east that are steep enough I'd need a topo map to tell you how far they drop, and equally steep mountain on the west side. Coal baron Rend built the trail in 1901-1904 for $350,000, and it's no wonder it cost so much, it's a small wonder the trail exists at all. Many rail lines have small areas that are challenging, more so in West Virginia, but on this one pretty much the whole route would be challenging to build.
Thus, TrailLink is correct that this is, technically, a rail-trail. But the farther you get from the southern trailhead, the less it feels like one. It gets narrower, eventually becoming a singletrack through a short meadow before opening up a bit before the closed trestle. It's also about 240 feet of elevation gain from the base to the closed trestle, which is officially 1.27 miles. The plus side is that you could likely coast most of the way back, but it's definitely rougher than the nice, crushed-limestone covered rail trail you may be expecting if you've ridden the Greenbrier River Trail.
There's also a Church "Loop" trail that you can hike from the Rend Trail, which takes you to the Thurmond Baptist Church, which from the exterior appears to be in fairly good condition for being in the middle of the woods. I put the "Loop" in quotes since I couldn't figure out how to make a loop out of it. It is definitely not bike-accessible, and still has some trees down across the trail from the hurricane last fall.
In summary, this trail is best combined with exploring Thurmond, and perhaps some of the other short, nearby trails. Expect some work but also some nice scenery, and you'll likely ride away happy.
If you’re a strong male and have a weapon, it’s a cool trail to be on. If you’re a single woman who isn’t a martial arts expert, I would advise against it. The parking area has a lot of nefarious looking people loitering about. When I first pulled up there were two cop cars questioning shady looking people. Sad that a nice trail is in such a bad area
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