Hatfield-McCoy Trails

[GYT-R_Done]

Has anyone on here riden the Hatfield McCoy Trails in Southern West Virginia? I've been checking it out at www.trailsheaven.com It looks awesome, over 500 miles of trails. Thing I'm wondering about is if it would be wise to take my son this year or next. He is 10 and I got him a PW80 for Xmass. He had ridden a little before and is already progressing nicley. I know he needs more practice before riding trails like that, but he may be ready by summer. I would at least like to get him riding the intermediate trails. Not knowing what the trails are like there would his PW80 have enough ground clearance to make it worth while, or should I wait until he has grown into a bigger bike? By the way, his PW80 just got bored out twice over so it's got a little extra punch. It moves his 65lb self along pretty good. If anyone has some insight, even pics or vids, of the trails. Please let me know.

[kelsow]

Hi and welcome to TT.

If you do a search on Hatfield you will find plenty of info for sure.

A few club members made it down last year and are planning another trip in a few months.

Here are some pix of their trips.

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

[Wingman]

Each trail system is known for something ......... Pinnacle creek is the most scenic and the easier of all the trails. Little Coal (Waterways) is next in line as far as being easy to ride. It is known for mud if there has been any rain at all in the month before you go.

The last time we rode Little Coal it had not rained for a while and we still saw mud and water on the trail. While there we saw some little folks in the 5-6 year range. It tends to give the big folks a hard time, because you are scared they are going down and what is fast for them is to slow for you.

I would take him to Pinnacle Creek first. Do the easy trails first and go from there. Let the fun begin!

[SidewinderX]

My 8 yr old son and I are going from April 13-15th. We are staying at http://www.twinhollowcampground.com/

It is near the Browning Fork trails. It will be his first trip and I have been 10 or so times. He is going to be on a KLX110. I believe that he will do fine as long as we take our time and enjoy everything. If we do find it to challenging for him then I plan on going to the Pinnacle Creek area (35 miles away). I have been there once and found it so extremely easy, it was BORING. It may be that way for him also. We shall see.

We have been to the Wagonwheel area (below the Hatfield McCoy line) quite a few times together last year. He was actually on his CRF50 and he did fine as long as we did not come across a creek too deep for him to forge.

Your son should be fine. Prepare for a lot of mud. Extra clothes and mud-suits will be handy. It can be great riding and it can be an absolute mud-fest if it has rained a lot in the previous days. I would just come prepared for anything.

SWest WV overall is a great ride area. You are even legal to ride into a few towns and park at McDonald's and eat lunch. The people are extremely friendly and love to just sit and talk or help you find things. I went last Easter and broke my the rear-end out from under my ATV. I was in town wasting time while my brother came to pick me up and dropped into the local Polaris dealer. He said "You are welcome to take one of my used ATVs up and ride the rest of the weekend with your friends if you want". I was floored by their hospitality. Most if not all of the people you run into will be like this.

Good luck and check out the https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=51 section for anyone else planning a trip. ?

[Wingman]

Kelsow,

It looks like ya'll got your fill of water crossings. So far we have never encountered those conditions. It has always been dry. We were leaving one morning as the rain was setting in. I am sure it looked like that before the rain was through.

Some of the trails we struggled with smaller off-road bikes. Can't imagine doing them on bigger bikes and dual-sported at that! The H&M Trail System is a assume place to ride. Our enclosed trailer is large enough to haul all of our bikes. So, our vacations are always planned for the WV mountains. We get to mix it up with riding the hills, both on and off road. Can't wait to go back!

[12bridn]

I did the Dingess Rum trails on a DRZ, and had a range of bikes in my group, up to an 1150GS. It was rainly, and the only problem areas were snotty hills. There are two green (easy) loops that total about 45 miles. Most trails would be a piece of cake for a PW, but there are a couple of babyhead rock sections that may toss the little feller around. There is also a campground and some primitive cabins right on the trailhead.

http://www.trailsheaven.com/images/Dingessmap.pdf

[GYT-R_Done]

I've been looking at Pinnacle Creek as well. Looks like it would be a good confidence builder for him. I might find a few challenges along the way for myself as well. As he, and his bike, gets bigger we could move to the harder terrain. I'm having a hard time getting this one past the wife. She doesn't ride and my other son is only 6. She isn't too keen on a vacation not involving the whole family. She's cool with hiking, but I can't walk a trail without being sick to my stomach I'm not on my bike. She's from West Virginia so it's not hard to get her to go back. I would just have a one track mind and have a hard time thinking about doing anything else but riding. I keep trying to talk her into an ATV but havn't won that battle yet, then there is still the 6 year old.

[flintlock28]

I've been to H&M twice in 2005. I too would recommend Pinnacle Creek to start out with. Most areas won't be a problem, but occasionally you can run into some slick areas if it's rained recently, that can be a bear to get up. I think on Rockhouse trail, there were some hills through the woods that were on very hardpacked, wet turns that had guys slipping all over the place while climbing. The tires simply couldn't get any bite into the surface.

Another thing be careful on Rockhouse trail, early in the morning. I came ripping around a hardpacked, claylike section, that still had the morning dew on it. Needless to say, I wiped out doing about 30 m.p.h. ripping my brand new Ymaha jersey.

[Skinsfan6]

When any of you guys went, did they check to see if you had a spark arrestor? When I went last summer with the Thumpertalk crew, they didn't check any of us. I didn't even see any rangers.

[Mike_Thomson]

Go to Pinnacle Creek and see how he does, DO NOT take him on anything intermediate or higher anywhere else. It won't be fun for you or him. It could also be considered dangerous, on most of the trails there is huge unforgiving drops on 1 side of the trail. Very little room for error. Sorry just my opinion, I go there twice a year every year and everyone I ride with agrees they wouldn't bring thier kids anywhere but Pinnacle. MIKE

[Mike_Thomson]

No problem with not having a spark arrestor. MIKE

[GYT-R_Done]

Pinnacle Creek it is then. Does anyone have reccomedations on lodging there? Nothing too fancy, in fact I've even thought of packing the tents. Although after a hard day on the trail a bed might be nice. Either way I'd like the option of sitting around a campfire.

[txfour]

That looks real fun. What do you do for fuel? Are there places to pull off and get fuel? I have no idea how far I could go with my YZ250F.

[SidewinderX]

Either pack fuel with you or drive up to the pump in town and fuel up. ??

BTW: my brothers 04' YZ250F gets around 75-80 miles out of his stock tank. I get around 40-55 miles with my CRF450R. Of course this has a lot to do with the conditions and speed you are riding.

[Orionbeer]

Last August we stayed at the Browning Fork trailhouse, a fully equipped trailer house (all appliances, dining ware, silverware, etc) that sleeps 7 comfortable with all amenities such as a/c, telephone, cable tv, shower, washer & dryer (pay per use). I tell you what, it was nice to have a real bed and not worry about the weather the whole time. Our party consisted of two adults and 3 kids, aged 13-6 and there was something for everyone. I picked this trail because it has over 50 miles of easy trails, plus many miles of more difficult ones for our "adult/older kid ventures." Marty and Lisa were very nice and treated us like family. If you plan on staying more than one day, I highly recommend it. Just my thoughts, I hope to get back there this summer for 3-4 days. ?

[pduane]

I just rode rockhouse this past oct. The green and blue trails would be a piece of cake, the black and single track would be a challenge, pretty rocky. We rode on a thursday and pretty much had the place to ourselves. I'm sure the weekends are a little busy and you will have to watch out for traffic . We had alot of fun and are hoping to check out some of the other locations. We mostly rode the black and single tracks. but we we did catch several green and blue trails.

[Mike_Thomson]

I think you need to reread his first post, he is taking his 10 year old son on his FIRST bike a PW80. If you love your kid take some of this advice and deposit it in the garbage. MIKE

[Browning Fork Trailhouse]

Skinsfan6, the HM authority does not strictly enforce the spark arrestor rule

[DRpuckheadZ]

I want to go!!!! great pix!! ?

[micksXR400]

You need to be very careful taking your 10 year old son on his first dirt bike with limited exp. Eventhough H&M is one of the best (if not the best) trail sytems around it has several problems for young riders. (I rode Dinges Rum system)

#1 it is not a 1 way loop so you will be constantly looking for some monster Quad coming up a tricky downhill. (Can be busy during prime time)

#2 It is in the mountains (not hills) so one side of the trail is a near vertical drop (little margin for error)

#3 Green trails which are rated as "easy" are not easy on some trails systems(dingess rum for one)

#4 Its really rocky. Take a look at the pic gallery. Most of the trails are like the narrow rocky ones not the wide open nice ones (those are few and far between)

As the father of two riders and a rider myself I would not take my 8 and 12 year there. It would be me constantly looking over my shoulder to see if they were still standing.