Wv Route Suggestions?

[Chuck78]

Research the western panhandle area south of Wheeling, in between the Ohio River and Pennsylvania.  Looking on the maps in the past, I noticed a massive amount of incredibly tight roads in that area, but I have zero rider reports on any other than 250 south from Moundsville, WV to Hundred, WV - which is supposedly one of the twistiest.  OH-536 is not too far across the river from Moundsville, and is probably the most technical long ride on any Ohio State Route.

 

It's really hard to beat the mountain roads... Lots of massive curves with good banks (sometimes very very steeply banked), some very long curves, some tighter curves and switchbacks, has it all... 33 and 250 especially. Reddish Knob/Moyer's Gap and Howard's Lick Rd are probably in the category you are asking about, based on looking at them on the map. and Dry Fork Rd north of US33 a little west of Seneca Rocks. Just finally looked into that one, very tight and finally repaved a year or so ago (was terrible before). It's a very narrow road, so you can't blaze through the blind turns very readily or safely. "Layover road" is what they call them, for two cars to pass, one car has to lay over to the side of the road down onto the shoulder in order for the other to pass.

 

in the New River Gorge area as drc said, WV-61 near Deepwater (to Kincaid?), and southwest of the gorge area on Coal City Road are some very tight ones.  Gauley Bridge to Hawk's Nest is also a very epic 20 minutes of road that you have to do, nonstop twists, rises, and drops on the side of a smaller mountain at the edge of the river.  Lots of elevation changes and tighter curves.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Chuck78

[Chuck78]

WV-72 Dry Fork Rd this should display the terrain layer, but if not, select the terrain layer, as you will see the road lays in the sides of a mountain and looks very very awesome. (I think the shortened goog.gl URL's may expire, so I included the longer ones as well, in a way as to not have the forums display them since that feature doesn't work right)

http://goo.gl/maps/0Rtbh

 

maps.google.com/maps?saddr=WV-72+N&daddr=WV-72+N&hl=en&sll=38.998108,-79.528999&sspn=0.203582,0.308647&geocode=FbftUgIdklJD-w%3BFZOWUwIdvIpB-w&t=p&mra=ls&z=13

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Coal City Rd:

http://goo.gl/maps/vW7qa

 

maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Coal+City+Rd&daddr=Coal+City+Rd&hl=en&ll=37.633402,-81.257973&spn=0.103726,0.154324&sll=37.667109,-81.195574&sspn=0.051839,0.077162&geocode=FSi6PgIdwrko-w%3BFVPLPQIdry8n-w&oq=Whitmer+Rd&t=p&mra=dme&mrsp=0&sz=14&z=13

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WV-61 Deepwater to Kincaid, also WV-60/16 to WV-60 to Hawk's Nest, with WV-16 south of the split also highlighted (very nice climb with a few really great turns and amazing scenery

http://goo.gl/maps/ty1Ce

 

maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Kincaid,+WV&daddr=WV-61+N+to:Midland+Trail+to:W+Main+St%2FMidland+Trail+to:WV-16+S&hl=en-US&ll=38.098902,-81.202698&spn=0.206144,0.308647&sll=38.088635,-81.17197&sspn=0.103087,0.154324&geocode=FVh0RAIdpOon-yldb39rycNOiDG999m3rW6tWg%3BFafARQIdAQ4o-w%3BFQ4wRgIdFkMp-w%3BFbm2RQIdSkcq-w%3BFctHRQIdv8Ep-w&t=p&gl=US&mra=mi&mrsp=4&sz=13&z=12

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Moyer's Gap Rd to Reddish Knob Rd

http://goo.gl/maps/t6zb9

 

maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Moyers+Gap+Road&daddr=Reddish+Knob+Spur,+Dayton,+VA&hl=en&ll=38.490413,-79.28833&spn=0.102518,0.154324&sll=38.495519,-79.321804&sspn=0.10251,0.154324&geocode=FTTFSwId1F9F-w%3BFY_pSgIdTd5G-ykvc3Ous7e0iTFKwijKrF_tSw&oq=Whitmer+Rd&t=p&mra=dme&mrsp=0&sz=13&z=13

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and here's WV-250 (rough in areas) Moundsville to Hundred, and then WV-7 from Hundred to New Martinsville. 

http://goo.gl/maps/63SDT

 

maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Moundsville,+WV&daddr=Hundred,+WV+to:WV-7+W&hl=en&ll=39.761047,-80.632782&spn=0.402738,0.617294&sll=39.623408,-80.692177&sspn=0.201771,0.439453&geocode=FeEiYQIdG_Uv-yk5OUGwvuA1iDFOoHu9WZGogQ%3BFW6GXQIdJ0s0-ynDIvGNTPM1iDG8z01IVwj_Rw%3BFfLLXAIdwj0u-w&oq=Big+Bend+Camp&mra=mi&mrsp=2&sz=12&t=h&z=11

 

Use the satellite view on that route and pick out all the tight roads that are in the triangle between the route and the Ohio River, and then google search them or zoom in to street view and see if you can tell if they are gravel or paved.  This could be well worth your time, they look VERY TIGHT.

 

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CR 28/11 (the turns are mainly gauleys and dropoffs on the inside, so fewer blind turns due to cliffs/hills on the insides)

http://goo.gl/maps/Tmz0q

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[drc32-0]

...since you're talking about the New Martinsville area...Proctor Creek Rd(cr 87) is 5 miles North of the bridge from Hannibal off WV2.it runs all the way over to 250 near Cameron(?).if I remember correctly it's 26 miles long...good pavement the whole way,but the road narrows and you lose the centerline the last 6-8 miles.Very remote,but pretty area.Don't cut the corners once you lose the centerline because there are a lot of frack trucks in the area.

Another good road that cuts off of Proctor Creek...Brock's Ridge...runs over to WV7.

I was living off of Proctor Creek last year,but I haven't been over there this year since early spring and there is a lot of fracking and fracking related work going on in that area so road conditions can change quick.

There was some other good roads in the area and one with a pretty cool name...Sally's Backbone Rd.

Edited August 21, 2014 by drc32-0

[Chuck78]

Very helpful video showing the best mountain section of US250 in VA near the WV border. similar to US33 on the same mountain on the WV/VA border. A little slow paced riding, but excellent example of these fine mountain roads. This camera position seems to help give a better perspective on the road than a helmet cam I feel.

[Chuck78]

And here's a nice writeup on WV-15:

Valley Head to Webster Springs is classic mountain pass driving with a little bit of everything: climbing switchbacks, straights, and sweepers. Medium to fast corners. Variable road quality, but mostly good to great. Some homes lower down the mountain, which thin out as you climb toward the peak.

Webster Springs to Diana is more mountain pass driving, albeit relatively shorter at ten or so miles. More homes and residences here, but traffic (cars and people) isn’t bad and there are still almost no stops or intersections to speak of. Road surface quality here is iffier, but still eminently drivable (nothing as bad as in the Northeast). A fun little section.

Diana to Sutton is lower elevation driving, but still features plenty of hilly and winding country roads. Nice road quality, fast corners, as well as some decreasing radius turns. There are homes near Diana and more as you start to approach Sutton, but the middle section is a real peach. The section that approaches Sutton is probably the least interesting because at that point it starts to get pretty residential. Just turn around and do it again in the opposite direction.

In aggregate, probably one of the single finest stretches of uninterrupted driving road that we have come across to date, if not the finest— Ed.

[drc32-0]

It's been several years since I've been on 15 in the Webster Springs area,but I always wondered why it wasn't mentioned more often when people talk about great W.V. rides.It's a very good ride!

 

I made my reservations for two nights in Beckley for this weekend.I'm going over to ride some of the routes that were layed out by a local rider from the FJR forum.I'm really looking forward to checking out these routes because they have quite a few county roads and some very squiggily lines on the map.Should be some good stuff.

[Mary#17]

Excellent! Have a safe trip and let us know what you find!

[Chuck78]

I got my time off request approved for Sept 12th, so the 3 day mountain biking & motorcycling trip in the Northeastern WV mountains is finally happening for me. I've barely had the time to ride this season, but am really craving more than just 2 Hocking rides & what the highway interchange ramps in town have to offer in the way of twisty roads... We'll be camping in the Seneca Rocks/Smoke Hole area most likely, or possibly Reddish Knob if warmer. The free backcountry sites there by Flagpole Knob & another are both very high elevation, so it will be 15-25 degrees cooler up there, & breezy... Sites sound great, however.

I watched a video of Moyer's Gap Rd/Reddish Knob Rd, and it looked very nice although it must have been right after a huge storm (hurricane aftermath a year or 2 ago made the mountain bike trails impassable as well), as there were downed trees all over and debris everywhere... Looked very fun with many tight curves, although quite narrow, so blind turns you would not want to even attempt takng at higher speeds.

[Chuck78]

I got my time off request approved for Sept 12th, so the 3 day mountain biking & motorcycling trip in the Northeastern WV mountains is finally happening for me. I've barely had the time to ride this season, but am really craving more than just 2 Hocking rides & what the highway interchange ramps in town have to offer in the way of twisty roads... We'll be camping in the Seneca Rocks/Smoke Hole area most likely, or possibly Reddish Knob if warmer. The free backcountry sites there by Flagpole Knob & another are both very high elevation, so it will be 15-25 degrees cooler up there, & breezy... Sites sound great, however.

I watched a video of Moyer's Gap Rd/Reddish Knob Rd, and it looked very nice although it must have been right after a huge storm (hurricane aftermath a year or 2 ago made the mountain bike trails impassable as well), as there were downed trees all over and debris everywhere... Looked very fun with many tight curves, although quite narrow, so blind turns you would not want to even attempt takng at higher speeds.

[Mj 88]

I've got my time off Sept-20/21. Still trying to piece my trip together but it looks like we might stay at snowshoe. Also, I got my WV back roads atlas in the mail today.

[drc32-0]

Is that a Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer?

[Mj 88]

Is that a Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer?

Yes it is, it's the best map for the things I do. I now have MI,OH,WV,TN. I would still like to get GA,NC,SC,KY.

[drc32-0]

Nice books...great for finding little known twisty roads...and getting out when you're completely lost.

[Chuck78]

FODS 2015 Comes to Southern WV Routes

All pavement routes

Twisties South Loop http://goo.gl/maps/fVBnN

Potts and Peters Mountains Turnabout http://goo.gl/maps/7W3HC

New River Gorge Bridge by pavement http://goo.gl/maps/z6Oob

Burke’s Garden by pavement http://goo.gl/maps/7sa2T

Sights and Sounds Loop http://goo.gl/maps/8zt7X

above are the routes that Denny had mentioned, but none of us seem to be able to view them on the FJR forums, but I found them on a different Yamaha forum.these are all south of the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia and western Virginia, and show some seriously twisty back roads connected with some more subtle roads. I really have to make it to the Back of the Dragon next year, and the route there (the 1st map link) that skips a lot of 16 southout of Beckley looks much much better than the portions of 16 skipped.

[drc32-0]

That's where I'll be this weekend.I doubt

if I can run all of the routes In two days,but hopefully I can get three loops in.I've been on some of these roads ,but a lot of them will be" new to me" roads...it should be a good weekend.

Edited August 28, 2014 by drc32-0

[Mj 88]

I think I have a good plan for this trip. Friday after work truck the supermotos down to Snowshoe. Ride all day Saturday as far north as 33, load up drive over to Fayetteville stay the night. Ride all day Sunday. I wish I could make it a three day trip with all the good roads, maybe next year.

[Chuck78]

Back Mountain Rd east of Snowshoe is very tight, you might want to check that out. It's also very narrow, so make sure to proceed with extra caution around blind turns.

[Chuck78]

Denny, did you end up making it out to WV over the holiday weekend? Myself my wife Reda & a friend from Cleveland should all br riding our bikes there Friday early AM, with our friend driving out mountain bikes down in his truck. We'll be doing a fair amount of mountain biking (1 ride per day x3) & that will tire us out a bit, but I am planning on taking us up and down Smoke Hole Canyon & Rd, 33 from Seneca Rocks into VA & down the road to Lake Skidmore (down the mountain on the VA side, looks great & twisty on the map - IF PAVED), & most likely (hoping to have enough time) to Check out Moyer's Gap Rd/Reedish Knib Rd. I will definitely get to ride the paved route to the top of Spruce Knob, as we are doing the shuttle plan for the mountain bike trails where we bicycle down the entire mountain & then I'll take a passenger back up on motorcycle to retrieve our friend's truck. Pedaling up nearly 4000' in elevation with knobby tires would nearly kill me!

If I get rral lucky, I can make it to Howard's Lick Rd @ Lost River State Park -OR- US250 on Virginia.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Chuck78

[drc32-0]

No,I didn't make it over there labor day weekend.Working 6 -10's,I just wanted to relax and not be rushed all weekend.

 

I hope you have fun on your trip[over there.

[Chuck78]

Made it to the Monongahela National Forest area this weekend, mixed purpose trip, and far too short, but still made it FINALLY!  We took the express route down since it was 5.5 hours google maps road time.  We left a little later in the morning than we planned, but it was still quite brisk. It took us nearly 8 hours to get there with gas stops every 100 miles or less, and two of those being "I'm frozen solid and can't feel my fingers" breaks for 35-45 minutes.  It was supposedly 62 degrees when we left (and all overcast).  It didn't get much warmer until well over halfway into our trip, and then I believe we were both feeling comfortable enough when the sun came out and it was 65.  Quilted lined leather jacket, hooded sweatshirt, double layer carhart jeans, boots, and some non-vented uninsulated gloves did me well enough, but I was having to make use of the air cooled engine's warm cooling fins on occasion as hand warmers. 

 

Coming in on 33 east (from 33E 69 miles, 50E 112.5 miles, I-79 19(?) miles) was the highlight of the arrival into the area.  My nice refresher ride can tell you more than I had previously rambled about on just the best of the best. 33 from Buckhannon to Elkins is basically a divided highway, but still not a bad ride, lots of elevation changes, tons of long sweeping curves, great scenery.  Elkins to Harmon was a nicer ride, down to mostly 2 lanes (maybe some truck lanes on the steep hills), and was full of great scenery and nice sweepers, etc. Nice ride.  33 from Harmon to Seneca Rocks... wow, this is where it starts to get really good. Steeper climbs, very necessary uphill "slow trucks use right lane" additions on the BIG hill climbs, some pretty good tighter curves, great scenery...  As soon as you come around a right hand curve heading southbound and see a sign "entering Pendleton County," This is were it gets to be a world class road...  10 feet later, you will see the steep grade warning sign, and the "ALL TRUCKS MUST PULL OVER IN TRUCK LANE AND CHECK BRAKES" warning - a 250' long brake checking pull-out right at the top of a long long steep downhill (with INCREDIBLE VIEWS).  Basically every time I came across a sign on any road in this area that read "entering Pendleton County," it meant that the already fantastic scenery  is about to be double as spectacular in terms of mountain views and natural sights... 

After this US-33 East entrance into Pendleton County, you go down a very steep descent for quite a ways, and make a very nice hard left turn, then a short and steep descent to an incredibly nice hairpin turn (along some nice rock faces?), and then many really nice turns after that as well.  Going westbound home on Sunday, that serious hairpin on the wider radius outer uphill lane was probably my most thrilling curve of the whole trip...  Maybe the only time that I've ever gone to the very edges of my tread.  I've been cornerning pretty low lean angles for my comfort zone for years, but usually still have the rubber mold nubs on the last 3/8" of my tread or so.  Very exhilarating, and very pleasing that all my brake/suspension/wheels/chassis/weight-loss work on my vintage japanese sport bike has all paid off quite well. 

Beyond that, you are at Seneca Rocks where 28/55 head northeast. BRAND NEW PAVEMENT this way, but this is not terribly exhilarating, but is INCREDIBLY SCENIC looking up at the mountain that Seneca Rocks sits on, and also North Fork Mountain behind it that comes towards the road as you go north. 

Once we set up our campsite on some remote backcountry site along a beautiful stream, all I had time to ride was CR28/11 and CR2/3.  Amazingly tight and twisty road, almost perfect pavement (was gravel not too long ago, just paved in recent years), but not a high speed road at all... barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other on.  Many very tight blind outside turns that you have to come into fairly wide at a cautious pace (in case a car comes barelling at you and you need to brake and rapidly steer to the apex earlier than planned) and apex the very inside pretty early just to make sure  to cars are coming at you.  Still, VERY well worth it. That time I didn't see any other vehicles on the road other than my wife catching up to me on her 77 GS550 and our buddy in a 4X4 who could not keep up with us at all.  The wider radius outside turns with a better line of sight you can take faster, as well as almost all of the very tight inside turns (a bunch of hairpins even!), as long as you can see through the trees or around the turn to judge.  There were a few gravel pulloffs (3 of which are hiking/mountain bike trailheads) where there may be a bit of pea gravel in the road on the left hand turn southbound.

 

This road takes quite some time to get through due to the tightness, even with twisting the throttle quite a lot whenever I could safely do so... the most curve packed section was about 5+ miles and 50+ significant turns and hairpins, with a dozen or two more over the rest of the 11 mile duration. Mostly heavy tree canopy and hills, some hilly farmland.  Great ride either direction and into the gorge to the south (mostly all very scenic long sweepers). 

 

My buddy who hauled our mountain bikes (bicycles)  in his truck was driving us up Pub Rd 79 (forest road/4x4 path to some very remote homesteads and the North Fork Mountain hiking/mtb ridgetop trail - talk about EPIC!), and I really really had to keep yelling at him on 28/11 (dropping off shuttle vehicle for after a day long one way mountain bike ride) to not take the turns the way he was - in the middle of the road, or sometimes apexing on the shoulder on the other lane on the left turns... It was a very lucky reminder for me that if someone was doing that and I was coming, that I had better have my eyes and ears alert, and always on narrow roads take the turn cautiously and with a tight radius apex, as cars may be very likely to be coming head on towards you in YOUR lane on blind turns!!!!

 

Saturday was mostly a mountain bike adventure on the North Fork Mtn trail. Absolutely phenomenal... sad to see near Pub Rd 79, what I thought was black fungus on a lot of the tree trunks was actually charred bark on the tree once we got up to the trail.  Apparently there was a minor forest fire at the ridge near the backpacking campsite locations.  a small portion of scattered trees and downed logs were charred a lot, for about 1/2 mile, but many were still growing strong.  They need some Smokey the Bear signs up that way... The mtb trail ride north was absolutely breathtaking in more than one way. The most technical and boulder/rock garden filled trail I have ever seen or ridden, but a quick 30 to 150' climb to the ridge from almost anywhere had you sitting on rock formations at the tops of 40 to 150'+ cliffs overlooking the western side of the mountain, with Chimney Top to the far north being the absolute pinnacle spectacle.  Such amazing views of all the mountains and hills to the west from almost 3000' above the south branch potomac rivers on their side (north and south forks).  There were tons of climbs on the trail, but the downhill cruises were well worth it, as the mountain peaks up and down nonstop along the ridge.  The 4 of us had many many bicycle wrecks, including my buddy almost breaking his ribs, and getting gashed up on 2 or 3 others, my wife getting her legs all scraped and bruised up, and me getting launched over the bars on a fast boulder-path downhill with my bike flying straight down on top of me... wrist pain is luckily all I had to suffer with... Well worth the thrill and amazing views

 

Sunday on the way home, we took 220 south from  CR2, which was a lot more enjoyable than I remembered it, and was a nice sweepers/valley warmup with some good turns and some decent hills and rock faces. Mountains in the background 360 degrees makes it even better.  No real intense cornering, but a good route.  33 east of there is the amazing Shenandoah Mountain climb and then descent across the VA border... So many thrilling and incredible curves  (many with very steep banks to them) and views that I can't even keep track them... take my word for it, this is a MUST RIDE.  Really from Harmon, WV to Hinton, VA is all an absolute MUST RIDE on US-33, and must do in both directions,as so much of it is quite a bit better from one direction than the other.   Very nice high mountain peak (4000+ feet I believe), amazing views the whole time...

 

West of 220 are some pretty nice curves and smaller hills leading to the next mountain (North Fork Mountain).  This mountain pass is like the little brother to the Shenandoah pass, but still has quite a lot of thrills to offer.  slow truck lanes for passing the slow vehicles, great curves, nice bank so the curves. Towards the end of the mountain, there is one rock formation on the north side of the road (as the road goes around a long sweeper) that was very similar to Seneca Rocks but on a smaller scale, but more impressive due to the up close view from the side, where you see these massive rock outcroppings are merely just several feel thick but very very toweringly tall and quite wide. 

 

After Seneca Rocks westward, you get some still quite fun curves and climbs, the 2nd to last curve (the great hairpin) in Pendleton County  - the uphill hairpin, wow... Great skill tester/thrill seeker...

 

Sunday was quite brisk at 60 degrees in the towns, but much cooler at higher elevations.  The afternoon got very nice and warm and sunny luckily.  Even moving at a very fast pace, it still took us  6.5 hours to get home to Columbus from the backwoods Seneca Rocks/North Fork campsite with gas/restroom/food stops every 75-130 miles... Only saw one person pulled over the whole trip, with zero law enforcement presence the rest of the time other than a Pendleton Sherrif cruising around the little towns.

 

Hope more of you can get out to enjoy this region. Unfortunately I didn't get to try out the Reddish Knob/Moyers Gap ride at all, and did not make it to US-250 over Shenandoah Mtn at all.  Next time.  With the colder temps at higher elevations (we're talking 15-30 degrees cooler and much more wind than at the base of the mountains), and fall coming, unless you want to wear winter gear, there are only about 4-5 weeks left this year to experience these roads on a long road trip from Ohio... Best of luck everyone, be safe.

 

I tried posting photos, but the 1.96K max file size basically means only thumbnail sized pictures can be attached...bummer. 

Edited September 15, 2014 by Chuck78

[Chuck78]

When I said "outside turns," I meant a right hand turn with a steep hill/cliff on the inside and a steep dropoff on the outside of the turn across the other lane, where you have no visibility through the turn.  Inside turns would be me referring to say a left turn into the crotch of the hill/mountain gauley, where the only possible sightline obstructions you would have on the hillside would be trees down the slope. 

[Mj 88]

And I'll scout out what you missed. I'll be riding up to 33 from snowshoe and trying to hit all I can in one day. Day two all around the gorge. Come on Friday!!!

[Chuck78]

I'm very curious about Rt 7 in WV after reading some ride reports on my lunchbreak and seeing this photo/sign:

http://www.ridingwv.com/FolderStreetReports/WV06.htm

"After just a few miles past Hendricks on Rt 7, this sign told me of good times to come."

 

Denny or anyone else, do you have any knowledge or experiences of this road?

[Chuck78]

I believe the author made a typo, and the sign is showing the county route # 72, as he continued to talk about it in the next few photos:

"Rt 72 about 10 miles east of Hendricks. Motorcycle heaven! Watch out for gravel, though."

 

 

This road ends at the Canaan Valley region just northwest of the Monongahela area (Seneca Rocks/Dolly Sods/Spruce Knob/Smoke Hole/etc). Pretty close to some of the great stuff that I love so much.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Chuck78

[Chuck78]

This photo is from the same website I linked above, and is the road to the top of Spruce Knob:

"Coming back down from Spruce Knob – now THESE are hairpins! Who needs Deals Gap?  Not me!"

Yet another hairpin curve pic of CR 33/4 up to the top of Spruce Knob:

 

Well well worth the ride just for the views, but the road is nothing short of an amazing ride itself...

 

 

And a good note on Smoke Hole Rd CR28/11, 2, 2/3:

 

 

[ PLEASE NOTE ]

If you decide to ride Smoke Hole Road, it is tempting to think of it as another Deal’s Gap road-racing course.  IT IS NOT!  This is an outdoor recreational area with lots of families (and children) stopped along the narrow road for fishing, hiking, camping, etc. We do not want to have motorcycles banned on this road just because of a few irresponsible racer-wanna-be’s.  Ride responsibly.  The speed limit is 35MPH.  If you’re in a hurry, stick to the main highway. There is also fine gravel on many of the corners, so Racer-Boys may quickly find themselves over the side of the hill hoping someone comes along and finds them. There are very few guard rails to keep you from ending up in the river or in the bottom of a ravine.