Rail Trail Biking
North Bend Rail Trail
Clarksburg to Parkersburg West Virginia
Riding the entire 72 miles in one day with lots of tunnels and near heat stroke!
August 1999 - by Dana Farnsworth, Outdoor Travels
Editors Note: Although this has been some time ago, the trail remains virtually unchanged.
The North Bend Rail Trail is one of two rail trails in West Virginia that are at least 70 miles long. This distance pedaled on a gravel surface provides plenty of riding for a two-day bike camping adventure. This was to be my first attempt at bike camping, and I was more than ready for the task!
Aaron, a biking friend, and I had been riding around 24-25 miles on different sections of the North Bend Rail Trail every Saturday morning for about six weeks, before we decided to do an overnight ride of the entire length of the trail. There still was a lot of trail that we had not seen. I packed up my panniers, filled my water bottles and was ready and anxious to ride! On the day of our ride, the forecast looked bad. Not rain, mind you, but searing hot temps, with high humidity. Saturday was forecasted to have a heat index of over 100 degrees! Undaunted, we made sure we had all of the water we could carry, and decided to make a go of it.
We arranged for someone to follow us to the Parkersburg terminus, drop off a truck and then drive us to the eastern terminus at Wolf Summit, around 70 miles east. We actually started at mile 68.1 in front of the first tunnel on the trail heading west. We had ridden the section between there and Wolf Summit to the west, and had found it to be an unremarkable section that ran mostly along the edges of nasty trailer lots and unimpressive rural white-trash clutter.
On this bright and sunny August morning, we posed in front of the first tunnel for a few pictures. Fog was rolling out of the tunnel, and was creating an eerily beautiful sight. After the pictures, we said goodbye to our drivers and headed off. This area of the trail was wooded and very pretty. We headed west towards the first notable landmark, the town of Salem. Soon after the first tunnel, we crossed back under SR 50 and continued on, now on the southern side of the highway. This area is well groomed and meticulously maintained. Rolling green hills are over your left shoulder. At Salem there is a nicely restored train depot, and a few stores if you need supplies. We had just started riding, so we continued on through Salem.
It's at this point that the trail makes its first significant deviation from the proximity of SR 50; it tumbles into the forested hills to the south. The sections that deviate significantly from the highway and are furthest from major access points are - no surprise - the most secluded portions of the trail. These sections can also be some of the roughest. Climbing up small inclines that are strewn with baseball-sized rocks can quickly sap energy reserves. It was beginning to get hot and, for the first time, we were beginning to feel some effects of the weather.
We stopped at an old cemetery that was off by itself on the right of the trail. It proved to be very interesting. All of the stones were pretty old. It didn't look like it had been in use for at least 50 years. We imagined that at some time this area was a booming little railroad town, fell on hard times, and disappeared, leaving only the deceased to occupy it. We snapped a few pictures, took a little break in the shade and continued on.
We encountered the second tunnel of the day soon after this point. The tunnels on the North Bend Rail Trail are plentiful and varied in their construction. There are a total of around 9 tunnels to ride through, plus two more that are abandoned but can be ridden and/or walked through with extreme caution. Although varied in length and appearance, they all share a thing or two things in common; they are dark, often moist or wet and often have uneven surfaces. Ride through using caution and make sure to have a light of some sort with you. Trust me, you'll need it. The tunnels stay cool even in the hottest weather, so on this particular very hot August day, they were a welcome relief to us. Nature and man-made structures teaming up for some natural air conditioning!
Soon after the second tunnel, we were once again in close proximity to SR 50. After passing the town of Sherwood, you'll cross SR 50 again and head towards Smithburg. At Smithburg, there is a nicely renovated rail station that also serves as a museum. It was closed when we arrived, but we still enjoyed taking a few pictures of it. There looked to be an opportunity to purchase snacks and drinks in Smithburg, but since we didn't need anything, I can't confirm this as a supply opportunity. There is a picnic area here, along with five primitive campsites at Spencer Park. Our plans were to camp around the halfway point between Pennsboro and Ellenboro at an area that we had scouted on a previous ride, which looked suitable for a self-created primitive sight. So we continued on.
Around three miles after Smithburg, we rode through West Union, another little ex-railroad town that offers an opportunity for food and lodging. You'll ride over one of many very picturesque bridges at the West Union Trestle that crosses over Middle Island Creek. A mile after West Union, we rode through the next tunnel, the 2,297 foot long West Union Tunnel #6, which incidentally is the longest on the North Bend Rail Trail. It was built in 1868. There are plans to have a pit toilet, shelter, fire ring and camping available there in the near future. As of this writing, the trail is unfinished for the next eight miles from West Union to Greenwood. This is some of the roughest trail surface we encountered, with some pretty sizable railroad slag to bounce around on. Not soon enough, we rattled passed Central Station on to better trail conditions at Greenwood and the tiny community of Toll Gate. Toll Gate proudly proclaims it's budding population of 53 souls on a little sign by the side of the trail.
At this point, we were hot, soaked with sweat, hungry, tired and looking forward to arriving at our planned lunch spot of Pennsboro, which was one more tunnel and around three miles away. Pennsboro offers lodging, several restaurants near the trail, as well as bike rentals and service. We chose to eat at P&H Restaurant, which is a family-style greasy spoon popular with the locals.
We dragged our dehydrated, sweaty, stinky and dirty selves into the restaurant; stares of curiosity followed us around the room. After washing up a bit, I immediately imbibed two or three tall glasses of ice water before devouring a cheeseburger, fries and a slice of graham cracker cream pie. Yummy! After lunch, we filled up our water bottles and mounted back up. We were exhausted, and I for one, was looking forward to finishing the next mile or two that we needed to cover to get to our planned camping site. This is where things started going bad.
Aaron had already mentioned a time or two before that he "someday wanted to ride the whole 71 miles in one day." I had blown his comments off, but after lunch he persisted with the same now droning message. Since I was planning to ride the full trail again soon, and camp overnight with Aaron and my two best friends, Christopher and Jeff, I reasoned that if I wanted to quiet Aaron down and enjoy an overnight ride the next time, I probably should go ahead and appease Aaron by riding the whole thing now. As tired as I was, in a moment of sheer stupidity, I agreed to attempt it. Normally, 72 miles wouldn't be a big deal to ride, but with slow-rolling gravel trails and 100-degree heat, it didn't seem to be an easy task ahead.
It was difficult to get back on the bike and leave Pennsboro, I was tired, hot and full of food. Soon after leaving Pennsboro we came upon Tunnel #8, our sixth tunnel of the day, including one that was abandoned. As we rode by the site where I wanted to camp, I thought of how much easier riding the trail in a day would be if I didn't have 20 pounds of camping gear hanging from the back of my bike. At this point I was running on empty reserves, my ass hurt and I was tired. Rest and sleep would have been nice, but noooooooo, I had agreed to a masochistic near-death trek!
The next major stop is the town of Ellenboro. Here you'll ride by an interesting glass and marble factory, have a chance to stop at Dairy Queen if you wish, buy supplies and cross a neat elevated bridge that spans a road which is, incidentally, the steepest grade on the trail. After crossing back under SR 50 again, you'll encounter a series of three tunnels, numbers 10, 12 and 13, within only two miles as you make your way towards North Bend State Park. The trails here are well maintained, creating some of the easiest riding on the trail system.
Cairo is a neat little "Mayberry-esque" sort of town that is an excellent access point for riding what is arguably the best section of the trail that extends east of Cairo, back to Ellenboro. The trail runs through the town center and by a well-placed bike shop. Country Trails Bikes offers bike rentals, fresh water, a soda machine, helpful advice, and a couple of comfy rocking chairs on their front porch. I was SERIOUSLY more than tired and was feeling like I had mild heat exhaustion as we pulled up to Country Trails' front door. We collapsed in their rocking chairs, downed a cold soda and filled our bottles up before I drudgingly mounted back up for the final 22.5 miles. 22.5 MILES! I wasn't sure if I had it in me, but I had little choice at this point. Incidentally, Cairo is your LAST practical stop for supplies, heading west toward Parkersburg.
I practiced for a ride of this magnitude and I was in pretty good shape. That didn't keep me from feeling wiped out, though. As dusk was falling, we posed outside of tunnel #19 at the 1,376 foot Silver Run Tunnel for a picture that a local man offered to take for us. Tunnel #19 is supposed to be haunted by a ghost of a woman who appeared on the tracks several times in front of oncoming trains. We didn't see her, but if we did, I was hoping she could point me to the nearest shortcut to the western terminus.
It was getting dark. Aaron was hitting his stride and I was hitting a wall. This last 22-mile section easily had the most frequent short sections of rough trail. I understand that since then, these areas have been fixed, and are actually some of the nicer sections. We stopped at an old signal tower that we both climbed and snapped pictures of ourselves on. Looking at my picture now, I notice how beet-red and soaked with sweat I am. I'm lucky I didn't tumble off of the tower from exhaustion.
We pounded the pedals and headed on as darkness fell. Soon, it was honest to goodness dark. The trail was getting hard to see, so I taped my flashlight to my helmet "coal miner style." It was around the last ten miles that I had to start taking breaks every mile or two. I seriously doubted my ability to finish. Aaron seemed tired, but fresh. I seemed dead. Heat exhaustion is a bitch!
These last ten miles or so, I'm sure are very enjoyable. The problem is, I couldn't see them that well, nor did I actually give a damn about the scenery. I just wanted to finish. There is a seeming pretty section near the Parkersburg terminus that runs along the Little Kanawha River. What I could see looked very nice. We finally arrived at Aaron's truck, a cold cooler stocked full of icy Coronas awaited us. I look back at this and note that my next action was a indication of how sick I actually was: I laid down in the back of the truck, reached in the cooler and pulled out. a block of ice! I didn't desire beer at all! I needed to cool off immediately!
I must have laid in the back of his truck with a block of ice on my head for a good 10 minutes before I was ready to sit up and go. I arrived home around 11:00 p.m. We had been out for over 12 hours. My now ex-wife greeted me with a disdainful, "What are YOU doing home?!?"
On my several rides on the trail, I have spotted great blue heron, white-tailed deer, an orange baby copperhead snake, a family of wild turkeys, and numerous other small critters. The trail is double track, so ridding with a friend is easy and comfortable.
North Bend Rail Trail is a fun and interesting ride. Whether you're riding it in sections, a full one-day ride, or an overnight trip, this is a trial that is fun, scenic, and interesting. I wouldn't suggest riding the entire length in one day if the weather isn't right. In fact, I suggest enjoying the ride and splitting it into two days. There are several camping opportunities as well as hotel and B&B options if you desire.
As for me, the next time I ride the entire length, I'm staying somewhere where I can get a shower and relax! I really enjoy the North Bend Rail Trail and can recommend it to anyone, young or old who wants to enjoy a nice bike ride.
