Recap: North Bend Rail Trail Adventure
We headed out on the North Bend Rail Trail (NBRT), which stretches from just east of Parkersburg, WV to just west of Clarksburg, WV. I first rode NBRT back in 2006 and described the ride as the “tale of two trails” because half the trail was in decent shape and the other half was a train wreck. The disparity in trail conditions mostly followed the county lines. At the time we rode an out and back over a weekend from Wolf Summit trailhead to Happy Valley trailhead over 72 miles at our own risk. We really didn’t know what we were getting into and had a blast.
Telecommunications line work on NBRT bridges
Flash forward to today. The NBRT is currently having telecommunications lines (project started in 2020) installed along the entire trail and is officially closed except for the recently upgraded first 10 or so miles from the west trailhead. I noted the warning and downloaded the updated WV State Parks map for the trail and noticed a new campground just east of West Union. In the past we have camped at the free campsite just outside the Central Station Tunnel around mile 50. It has a shelter, pit toilet and space for 6 tents (maybe more if you like to camp close).
The Lone Pine Campground at Doddridge County Park opened in 2019 and is tucked down the valley about a mile south of Smithburg, WV accessible from the NBRT. To get there bikers/hikers take a spur trail crossing the Middle Island Creek and a tunnel underneath WV50. The spur pops out at the Fairview Diner. A Subway and Shell gas station with convenience store is next door. Follow Snowbird Rd and a special gravel hiker/biker entrance is just to the right leading directly to the campground.
Thanks to Eva Simons for tracking the stats. Short and slightly damp bikepacking adventure on the North Bend Rail Trail : 2 days, 1 night, 7 friends, 110 miles, 4 slow turtles, 5 fast deer, 2 snakes (1 dead), 2 donkeys, 1 fox, 8 dark tunnels each way, 3 tents, 1 yurt. Two flats, one bailing wire wrapped around rear wheel and one spill that was somewhat graceful. Many sore butts from bumpy trail and chunky gravel.
Bill ready to go
We parked at the Happy Valley Trailhead conveniently located off of 47(Staunton Turnpike) and headed off. Sunny and warm for day 1. The first 10-11 miles of the trail consists of new crushed/compacted limestone trail bed. We encountered a few crews working on the telecommunications and walked over any lines and stayed away from their progress. Immediately after the new section we dealt with sections of rough gravel and chunky sections. For our route length (54 miles) we went through eight tunnels and all bets are off on the conditions inside the tunnels. Typically they are chunky gravel, pitch black, foggy and damp. The tunnels did not disappoint.
We also stopped at the trail towns along the way, like Cairo (pronounced Kay-Row), Petroleum, Ellenboro, Pennsboro, West Union and passed through the North Bend State Park. Around the Central Station Tunnel we rode through a lot of washout damage on the recently installed crushed limestone trail bed. After checking out our normal camping site we dropped into West Union for a quick visit to the Shop and Save and then onto Lone Pine Campground.
Day 1 ride photos
Lone Pine Campground includes RV pads, tent camping sites and several yurts. We split our group in two and had three tents on one really nice level site near the stream. Potable water access and electric included. The shower house, camp store and outdoor patio were a short walk from our site. We also had a group of three cyclists and visitor stay in a yurt. The yurts sleep 4 or 8. We purchased firewood and cooked our brats and dogs over the fire. This was the first time many of us have been able to get together in over a year so we had a lot of great conversation. The campground manager was accommodating to our changing requests and is looking forward to hosting more bikers and hikers from the NBRT.
Lone Pine Campground photos + spur line photos
The next day three of us headed out early to beat the expected rain and the other three in the yurt shuttled bikes back to the trailhead. We stopped to talk to three cyclists heading east on a long bike adventure which was to end in Weirton WV, by way of the Morgantown, GAP, Montour and Panhandle Trail. Our group had a short rain shower outside of Pennsboro before we stopped at the McDonalds for late breakfast and then had steady sprinkles for the last 2 hours of the ride. Challenging and fun days in the saddle!
Day 2 ride photos
Pictures courtesy of Bill Ferriot and Ray George
