West Virginia
Hatfield-McCoy Trail
Around here
Around Hatfield-McCoy Trail
Data Source: Recreation.gov · Source: USGS GNIS · Public land: USGS PAD-US · Forest roads: USDA Forest Service MVUM · BLM routes and areas: Bureau of Land Management (simplified for web display)
About this off-road route
Hatfield-McCoy is not one trail, it is a network of separate trail systems stitched across southern West Virginia coal country, and this line links three of the best-known pieces of it. You start on Bearwallow, drop south through Rockhouse, and finish in Gilbert, one of the certified trail towns where you can ride a street-legal machine from the trailhead to a motel parking lot. The riding is Appalachian: steep, rocky, root-laced and frequently wet under the canopy. Grades are short but relentless, and the reclaimed mine benches deliver the long ridge-top views that the lower trails do not.
Ride the heart of the Hatfield-McCoy system, Bearwallow down through Rockhouse to the trail town of Gilbert.
Highlights
What earns the trip
- Three connected systems in one ride rather than a single out-and-back loop
- Gilbert is a certified trail town, so the ride ends at food and lodging instead of a parking lot
- Reclaimed mine benches open up long ridge views above the hollows
- Marked, mapped and patrolled, which is rare for terrain this technical
Stops
- 1
Bearwallow Trailhead
Staging lot and permit vendor at the north end of the ride.
- 2
Rockhouse Trailhead (Man)
The connector down into the Rockhouse system, the technical middle third.
- 3
Gilbert (trail town)
Ride-in town. Street-legal machines are allowed on marked roads.
When to go
Best time to go
Spring through fall. Summer is humid and the clay stays greasy for a day or two after rain.
Planner estimate for the mapped line: 2h 7m
Before you go
Know before you go
- A Hatfield-McCoy permit is required and must be displayed on the machine.
- Helmets are required for all riders, and riders under 18 must be supervised.
- Trail difficulty ratings are honest here. Black and double-black sections punish an underbuilt machine.
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