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A friend and I bike-packed the trail (Caldwell to Cass and back) 10-12 Sep 2018, Trail was in good shape. Keep in mind this is a long 77 mile trail (yes 77 miles, trail starts at mile marker 3, goes to mile marker 80) mostly through wilderness. Yet the upkeep of the trail was very good. Despite getting rain at least once a day (and locals indicated that the summer has been very wet), the trail was in great shape. There were some muddy/greasy spots - spots being the operative word here - (note; this is before Florence) but not many.
The trail surface was good, some isolated spots were more gravelly where recent repairs or maintenance had been done. I rode a full suspension mountain bike (definitely overkill - rode with suspension locked out). My friend rode a no suspension Trek Crossrip. Both of us were fully loaded with camping gear and clothes and neither of us had any issue with the trail. Any hybrid with decent off road tires will do fine here.
The trail is typically dual track with both "lanes" rideable. While there ar every short lengths where the tracks get narrow (mostly in open grassy sections), they are few and far between and not real problems at all.
We rode three days, 55 mi Caldwell to Marlinton (camped at Stillwell park) on day 1, then 65 miles up to Cass and then down to a cabin at Watuga St Park on day 2 before finishing 43 miles back to Caldwell on day three.
Note to bikers, if you rent a cabin at Watuga, know that the park office is 5 miles off the trail (uphill), not what you want to deal with if you've had a long day in the saddle already. We called and switched o one of the two cabins on the river and had them leave the key in the cabin for us - avoiding the trek to the office.
Note also that Marlinton is in the National Radio Quiet Zone and has very limited cell coverage. However, both the visitor's center and the Dirtbean Café have free wifi and you can make phonecalls over wifi from either location.
Only negative is the lack of towns and amenities along the route, especially between Caldwell and Marlinton. Once we hit Marlinton, the Dirtbean Café (Café, bar (wine/beer), Pizza joint, Coffe Shop, and bike shop) became our lodestone. Good food, good local craft beer, friendly staff. Hit it three times in our up and back journey (really good craft brews).
Bottom line, good trail for a multi day trip (have to plan it right though). An contrary to an earlier review, WV can be proud of this trail.
On Sept. of 2018 I rode the entire trial both ways over 5 days, a total of nearly 160 miles. I am confused about the post from pfh24 that said it was the worst trail he had ridden. I found the trail in good condition all the way. Of course, there were some muddy spots as it has rained a lot this year and the week I was there, there is new gravel in places which one would expect on a trail this long, and the grass needed mowing in a few places but the middle of the trail was always fairly short grass and most of the grass on the trail on both sides was fine. There has been a lot of rain so grass grows fast in that situation. I started in Lewisburg and rode up approximately 15 to 20 miles one way, turned around and rode back to my car. I like to ride trails both ways because it is like riding two trails as you see it differently in opposite directions. The trail follows the beautiful and crystal clear river most of the way and you pass pretty farms along the way. It was not near as remote as I expected as there are many homes, mostly weekend and vacation homes along the river in a number of places and there are people living at the trailheads so you do not feel isolated which is good and bad. It was a wonderful week and I plan to do it again next year. The Seebert trailhead is a nice one as you can take the bridge across the river and Watoga State Park is directly across the bridge and they have cabins, swimming pool , trails, tennis, etc. there so it is a nice park. I plan to stay there next time instead of 3 nights in Lewisburg and two in Marlinton. I definitely recommend this trail and will definitely go back again if possible. am a 72 year old male and would recommend the wider tires on a mountain bike versus hybrid or rode narrower tires. There are places where it is more safe for stability to have the wider tires. I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Lewisburg and the Old Clark Inn in Marlinton. The Old Clark is an old small hotel and is clean and breakfast was good. It is old though but I found it fine and the folks were very nice there.
For a person just starting out, this was a great way to get some miles in without killing my knees on hills. Very pretty. VERY FLAT!!
Trail was recently maintained, thank you. Enjoyed the workout in the middle section. Would have been nice to have known that the trail was closed at mile 15 due to construction.
The longest non-road paved section is at Riverview park at 2.1 miles. It is level. Beyond that you will need mountain bike or go on streets.
Rode 26 miles of the trail over the weekend and have to say it was probably the worst trail that I have ridden.
We rode from the northern trailhead in Cass on Saturday, and then headed south from Marlinton on Sunday. There was one location of less than a quarter mile where it seemed to have been maintained - more for hiking than for biking as it was a combination of so much gravel that it was like biking on sand then in the same stretch there were large stones better for keeping a pickup from sinking than for biking.
Much of the trail was a pair of tire grooves spaced about the width of a pickup truck, with weeds growing in between. There was little evidence that trail - the riding surface - had been maintained in a few years. In a couple of areas the trail was barely visible through the freshly mowed lawns. There were areas where the tire tracks were without gravel and which had become mud for a biker to navigate.
And, it's a state park? So, are we to assume that there is an annual maintenance budget??
Maybe the sections of the trail further south are better for biking.
Overview: The trail length has doubled from about 7.2 miles to 13.7 miles making it 27 miles round trip. This provides a biking distance attractive enough to justify the travel destination for many riders.
Access: To the new Natural Well Trailhead, take US 220 North of Covington to just beyond the Nissan Dealership. Look for the brown Lake Moomaw sign prior to a left turn at route 687 Jackson River Road. Careful, you don’t have good sight distance for turning left in front of oncoming traffic on US 220. Following one route number 687 makes the rest of the trip easy though.
Trail beta: This trip we biked only the newly opened 6.5 mi section from Smith Bridge to the northern terminus which has no vehicle access there. The Natural Well Trailhead is half way in between. It has awkward off street parking with only one way in, a picnic table in the sun, and a porta potty, the sole ‘rest room’ currently on the new section. The most scenic section of the new trail is between Natural Well and the northern terminus along Cedar Creek. It is the most remote section and worth the road distance of 12 miles from I-64 to Natural Well and 20 minutes in time. The surface is smooth fine gravel.
Sweet Lunch Spot: On the entire trail it is in the new section about ½ mile north of Natural Well at MP # 11.5 the trail distance from Intervale. The picnic table is in the shade on the river bank within the sound of a river rapid. In the new section, most of the other 10 plus picnic tables have been placed in the open, in the midday summer sun. Stainless steel MP markers are installed including ‘FULL’ markers showing cumulative mileage for those doing a round trip. Will come again.
Davefox October 2017 has an accurate writeup.
We started at the Lexington end and the first part of the trail up to the first cow pasture was great—well maintained and highly trafficked with joggers and walkers. The cows were crowding the first gate, which meant a lot of poop. It was impossible to ride or walk the bikes and successfully navigate all the patties. The section of trail that follows the road is uphill traveling east, then a steep downhill gravel path to the trail. We made it a short way beyond the second cow pasture on the other side of rt. 631 when we encountered a mama bear and two cubs on the side of the trail. We rode close enough to determine it wasn’t cows or dogs, but far enough that we were able to turn around and speed back toward the gates. Appa Turn around and sp
This trail is actually 80 miles. I'm not sure why it says 77, but my family started at mile marker 80 this July. We road down to mile 75 and back. This part of the trail starts at Cass and has a slight downgrade. It's crushed stone, but the trail is kept up nicely. It also follows the river. Our goal is to keep going back and doing it in sections each year.
We started at Marlinton (milepost 56) and headed north. Found that perfect campsite at milepost 69. Toilets, water, shelter, near the river. We ended up staying 2 days! The second day we rode to Cass for lunch and see the trains. We stopped near milepost 74 to read, swim, enjoy the day. Beautiful spot!
Flat, easy, and wear a swimsuit! The river is beautiful and begs for a swim. Note: there’s been some trail maintenance in the first mile (probably related to 6 weeks of rain), and the gravel is a bit deep in some sections. We have hybrids and were fine, just required a little attention.
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