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Two of the best trail systems in the East are the Wayne National Forest in Ohio and the Hatfield-McCoy trail system in West Virginia. We try to make it to these spots at least once a year. In mid-May, we were able to hit both trail systems -- the Dorr Run trail head at Wayne and the Bear Wallow trail head at Hatfield-McCoy -- back to back. It was a test, but one well worth the effort, fuel, wear-and-tear and relatively measly entry fees at both state-backed trail systems.
Wayne National Forest
Our group getting ready to hit the trails.
Little Tommy -- a trail terror in the making!
Shane in the thick of it.
James S. at the base of what becomes a pretty
steep hill climb.
While he had another perfectly acceptable excuse,
we think the real reason a riding buddy (who shall remain
nameless -- cough, cough ... Joe ... cough, cough) pulled
out of our riding trip at the last minute was fear over
mud holes like these babies.
A guy on a YZF250 was jumping this coal pile tabletop -- about
25 or 30 feet high but only about 12 feet across -- and Shane
thought it would be fun to give it a shot. He was right.
Your humble correspondent follows Shane over the coal jump...
...again...
...and again.
Kent V. missed the lip on this one and came up a little short.
Hatfield-McCoy
The black trails at the Bear Wallow trail head are very rocky.
On this particular trail, this stuff -- which is worse than it
looks here -- goes on for almost a mile. It's only hard when
you're going uphill, though.
Hatfield-McCoy has some cool things to see, like this mine entrance.
I was wondering here how many quad riders have tried to ride
back into it -- water, logs, rubble and all.
There are a lot of trails in dem, dar hills! Unfortunately, though,
there wasn't one on the other side of this coal cliff, which I
tried to descend anyway. Brakes don't work too hot when the
terrain beneath them just gives away like the loose shale that it is.
Luckily, it's soft enough it doesn't hurt too bad when your front
wheel finally sinks too deep and you launch over the handlebars.
Pretty trees.
Can you find Shane in this photo? The quad guys don't get to see
this prime section. It's deep into the #183 trail, which is all singletrack.
More singletrack.
We'll be back.
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