W VA Route/Trail Suggestions?

[DanW]

I´m taking my girlfriend to W VA this weekend to enjoy the fall colors and to explore a bit. We´re going to check out the New River Gorge National Park area and then will be just looking for scenery, beautiful drives, small towns, and trails, too, if there are any that are free. From mild to relatively hard, we´d love to find some. (I´m not interested in Bear Wallow trails and their pricey bullshit and even dumber helmet rule). We´ll get there Friday early evening and will come home Sunday early evening.

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

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[Bowser-II]

The Flagpole Knob up Union Springs is popular for a good reason. It’s in the GWNF with plenty of other stuff in the region. It’s technically in VA though.
Cannan Loop and area in northern WVA is a nice area.

I recommend something like Trails Offroad or OnX for good guidance.

 

[Kajo]

I was at New River Gorge last fall and had an awesome weekend we missed the peak by about a week but definitely worth the trip, you will have a great time. I be you spend most of Saturday on the road down to the River and spending time near the river. We were on a couple gravel roads exploring the area (Beury Mountain Road and Panther Mountain Road) with beautiful scenery but 4wd was not required. If you did want to pay to play, Good Evening Ranch is about 30 miles away and costs $40 a day for driver and passenger. Trails are Easy to Extreme.

 

[bd100]

Even the paved roads can be a blast. Mountain switchbacks. 55MPH zone with 15MPH turns. Especially fun with stick shift.

 

[DanW]

I found some that look great on TrailsOffroad. And @bd100 I agree, paved roads are good, too, with the scenery there....I almost want to take my Vette. But I always worry that in the Vette, I will find a dirt path that I cannot Explore. So far, every trip, a Jeep will win out over the Vette. Because it can do it all.

 

[bd100]

On the other hand, the Vette can go faster around those turns! I think I had a back tire slide slightly for a moment on one of those turns. Don't know if stability control kicked in or not. But the truck has stiff LT-E tires and Bilstein shocks, stock height, so it handles well enough to have fun. Just don't go to the limit, so you don't go over the edge!

 

[Scott L]

It’s been nice convertible weather lately in the Shenandoah Valley bit East from where you’ll be an Indian summer I guess. Should be peak or very close to peak this weekend too. Though we’ve had a pretty severe drought so IMO it’s not as spectacular as years past it’s still a spectacular site. Worst part for me is taking in the view while trying to drive.

 

[DanW]

On the other hand, the Vette can go faster around those turns! I think I had a back tire slide slightly for a moment on one of those turns. Don't know if stability control kicked in or not. But the truck has stiff LT-E tires and Bilstein shocks, stock height, so it handles well enough to have fun. Just don't go to the limit, so you don't go over the edge!

We´re in Summersville now. We drove in on country roads and yeah, they are pure Vette roads! But we will find a few Jeep roads/trails today, for sure.

The Gladiator is on a 2.5¨ AEV lift with Bilstein 5100´s. It has a stiffer ride than my JL and the steering feels better, so it isn´t bad on the twisties. In fact, it handles surprisingly well. The only thing I missed about not bringing the JL is the manual transmission. MUCH more fun on mountain roads. But I love having the truck bed for all our shit. And the gas mileage is far better in the JT. I averaged a solid and true 21mpg on the trip here. I think this tank could push surprisingly close to 400 miles!

But the good thing is that I have the Sunrider for Hard Top on it. So we´ll have that top open for the scenery. We had it open last evening and it was just awesome!

 

[DanW]

We wound up doing a few trails listed on Trails Offroad. Unfortunately, the only trail with anything more than a medium rating (those were easy) was blocked and closed off by a logging company.

Here are a couple pics. I will post more later, when I get a chance.

 

[cranbiz]

If you head back that way, The Good Evening Ranch is well worth the $40. It's got everything and it's compact. I go there at least 2x a year and it never disappoints.

Potts Mountain Jeep Trail in the Jefferson National Forest is also a nice day out. A couple of challenging sections and several play areas. It's free and the Pines Campground is also free (primitive camping)

 

[DanW]

If you head back that way, The Good Evening Ranch is well worth the $40. It's got everything and it's compact. I go there at least 2x a year and it never disappoints.

Potts Mountain Jeep Trail in the Jefferson National Forest is also a nice day out. A couple of challenging sections and several play areas. It's free and the Pines Campground is also free (primitive camping)

We are definitely going back. Such a beautiful state. We´ll check out both of those!

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