North Bend State Park, hidden treasure in northwest WV

[Outdoornut]

Many people know of the 72 mile North Bend Rail trail however not many mountain bikers know there are more than 20 miles of awesome singletrack in the park as well. This has been a hidden jem for quite a few years that many of us just learned about during their first ever West Virginia Mountain Bike Association Series XC race held last summer. I volunteered to assist with the race as a sweep rider and found that the trails here were sweet and challenging with a few tough climbs thrown in.

Sorry, I put the IMG in here as I always have and is doesn’t bring up the picture. I must have missed a memo that this changed, so I’m just putting the links. (EDIT) Note: make sure the "Disable BBCode in this post" is not checked. That was the problem..

My son and I enjoyed our end of the year (2008) ride there on the 30th of Dec. and then our first ride of the year on Jan. 3 2009. Found serveral trees down and one trail we knew was nearly impassable and very seldom used needed some work. So in February we worked with the Park Superintendant (who is a mountain biker by the way) and scheduled our clubs trail work day there. We completely cleared 10 Acre Trail which has been nearly abandoned due to the number of trees down and then most of Nature Trail and Tank Run Spur Trail. 10 Acre Trail is in the best shape it’s been in for years. Here are a few pics from 10 Acre Trail that may not be shown in the trails section.

Check out the trails section for more pics and info. There are some very interesting sections at the park. If you plan on being in the area it would be worth checking out. A trail map is available at the following location:

http://www.northbendsp.com/NorthBendStateParkMap06.pdf

PM me with questions I may be able to help you with. If I’m available when you visit I’d be glad to give you a tour. Just shoot me a PM. Also, if you are in the area don’t forget to hit some of the best singletrack in the state just 15 miles west of North Bend, just off Rt.50 at Mountwood Park.

ODN

[CraigCreekRider]

Thanks for the post ODN. Its good to see mountain bikers reclaiming trails that someone obviously put a lot of work into. Thanks 😀

[Outdoornut]

Thanks CCR. It was great to clear that trail. We were riding it anyway,
it was just a bit difficult with all the trees down, sticks and 6" deep leaves.

Mongoose,

I found the problem with the pictures. For some reason the box below the post was checked to disable bbcodes. I’ll check my profile and make sure something didn’t get changed there. Thanks for your input.

ODN

[Author]

Posts