Okay, I just got back from a six-day trip so here is my advice:

1) If you are riding a sport quad and plan to go up the black trails (the trails are rated like a ski resort) at the BearWallow trailhead, you better be running 22" tires. The ruts are deep and unavoidable due to many narrow sections. You can make it up all the blacks on the Rockhouse and Buffalo trails. Waterways doesn't have any blacks.

2) A Pro-Tec stainless steel skidplate is the ticket especially if you are running 20" tires. We beat the crap out of 3 different brands of 1/4" aluminum ones (DG, Moose, and a weldless type from RPM) while running 20" tires. Don't even think about taking your quad if you don't have a full frame skidplate.

3) Always get your maps from the Ranger working at the trailhead. They are updated a few times a week and closed trails are removed. Check with him anyhow to make sure there aren't any other closures. You can get yourself into a bind thinking you are going to come back on a certain trail only to find it is closed due to a mud slide or a tree being down. It would be easy to run out of gas in a situation like this. Don't think you can just find another way around either. These mountains are steep and the only reason you can travel them is because of the dozers they used to create the trails.

4) AT&T is the only cell phone that has much coverage. Sprint and Nextel have no coverage.

5) If you plan to go in a group, check around for rentals. We rented a single lodge type unit with three bedrooms that could sleep 10 for $75 a night. Although there aren't a lot of these rentals yet, they are way cheaper than a hotel room. As far as I can tell, the Best Western is the only nice hotel in the area. We stayed at a dump one night before going back to the trusted Best Western. It is on Route 119 about a mile south of Chapmanville. There is a washer and dryer at the hotel. You can use the car wash in Chapmanville to spray off the heavy mud from your clothes first if you don't want to wash them several times to get them clean. They also have full Internet access in every room.

This was my fourth trip in two years. I could probably come up with a hundred detailed pointers but these are the biggies.

I've also marked up some maps so I remember which direction is best for most of the trails (some I don't care about since they are just to get you to the next trail you really want to ride).

/Jon

 

Hey could you give me a phone # to the cabin rental place.We're planning on going there sometime before the summer is over..You can e mail me if ya want..njb3760@aol.com Thanks!