Hi all,
This post is a little dated but I thought some of you might be interested in a trip my son and I took at the end of December to Hatfield & McCoy trail system in West Virginia. It was one of those last minute trips thrown together as part of a business trip I had to make.

Hatfield & McCoy is a system of trails put together by the state of West Virginia, local goverments, and private and commercial landowners. It is situated in the hills of coal mining country and currently is host to several hundred miles of trails open to ATV's and bikes.

It was a long, wet drive for us from Raleigh. Got to the trail head around 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday and rode until sunset (when the rules and common sense say you have to be off the trails). We rode on the Pinnacle Creek Trails and covered about 30 miles of the 60 available but had a great time and got soaked with mud and water.

Enough talking...here's a link to my photobucket album you can visit
http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/q...0Trip%2012-08/

....and here's a few photos from the trip

The clouds were parting as we hit the trail


The trails were well groomed and in excellent shape!


Jacob parts the waters...


The price you pay for getting your picture on the internet...wet boots!


We found a few dry trails...


Long story short...I started thru. The mud monster grabbed the tires and the engine stalled. Right in the middle of the lake. Engine refused to start. Threw a rope to Jacob and got pulled out! Oh yeah, got my new boots filled with lots of cold, muddy water.


A semi dry trail...


Nice sunset...bad hair day


A clean bike is like a clean desk....not much fun


Here's a plot off my GPS for the ride (black lines are available trails, red line is what we managed to ride)

 

Great pics, kmac. Some buddies and I went to the Browning Fork system of HM last September and it was great.

About that stall in the water - look into the carburetor "T" mod. Basically, with all the vent lines submerged, the carb could not breath, and thus the bike stalled. The "T" mod splits one or two of those lines and routes the segments up into the airbox so that the carb can breathe in high water.

 

Thanks for the advice. I wondered if the vent lines might have been part of the problem. The mud in the hole was like tar and I didn't carry much speed into the water not knowing what was there. Next thing I knew she died. I had to put my feet down of course. She refused to start and I couldn't push it thru the mud. When we got onto dry land I almost ran the battery down trying to get it started. These things don't like to be stalled then restarted.

It was a short but great trip and we hope to get back up there this spring. Maybe we can get a group trip together as long as you don't mind catering to those of us who think the green and blue trails are still fun!

 

The good thing about going in January is your trail pass is good all year long, right? So next time, you're already paid up.

I liked all the trails. We did some black and double black, but the green and blue were lots of fun, too. No bad trails up there from what I can remember.

 

Lived here all my life,, and never been to that trail system,, even when I was riding Qauds... Ill be going when it warms up though

 

Nice pics!

Did I mention I hate you because you're having a blast riding the trails and mountains that I grew up riding on while I'm stuck here in Memphis for the monsoon season? (cold & rainy from November to March)

Technically, I grew up riding all over the Browning Creek section, but I hate you nonetheless

 

Awesome photos. On the water and vent lines, one of the very first mods to my bike was the vent T-mod. It will keep the water from being sucked into the carb. I have pics somewhere. Thanks for sharing your ride with us.

 

Oh and this picture is priceless. You should print a good quality copy and hang it in the garage.

 

very good post. I'm hoping to be able to go out with my son this spring after I get him a bike.

 

Boot height vs water height is a predictable function of Murphy's law. Still looks like alot of fun on those trails.