Land-Between-the-Lakes LBL . . . OR . . . Hatfield & McC
Posted: 11:07 am Jun 07 2008
While a trip across the country is brewing for '09, time to schedule a ride over on this side of the country!
So if we wanna' ride for a long weekend, where's the preference?
I know LBL is located where many of us can get there in reasonable fashion. Hatfield & McCoy is well-known as well (and it's in God's country - West Virginia!).
A few links:
LBL - http://www.lbl.org/OHVTrails.html
H&C - http://www.trailsheaven.com/
LBL would be a simple trip to plan: bring the bikes and some tents.
There's lots of options with H&C. Here's a few descriptions from the different trail systems that make up H&C:
Buffalo Mountain: The Buffalo Mountain Trail System . . . consists of approximately 95 total miles of trail . . . has three community connectors. The breakdown in trail percentage on the Buffalo Trail System is as follows: 61% are green trails (easiest), 14% are blue trails (more difficult), 14% are black trails (most difficult), and 10% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to the cities of Matewan, Delbarton, and Williamson, WV. Each of these trails offer fuel, full service food, and lodging services.
Browning Fork: The Browning Fork Trail System . . . consists of approximately 115 miles of trail . . . has the largest total mileage of each of the five Hatfield-McCoy Trail Systems and offers a wide variety of trails for all difficulty levels. The breakdown in trail percentage for this trail system is as follows: 46% are green trails (easiest), 25% are blue trails (more difficult), 16% are black trails (most difficult), 5% are red trails (extreme difficult), and 8% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to the cities of Man and Gilbert, WV. Each of these towns offer fuel, full service food, and lodging accommodations.
Dingess Rum: The Dingess Rum Trail System . . . consists of approximately 53.27 total miles of trail . . . and is commonly known for its difficult single track and most difficult level trails. The breakdown in trail percentages for this trail system are as follows: 28% are green trails (easiest), 41% are blue trails (more difficult), 17% are black trails (most difficult), and 14% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to gas, food, and lodging.
There's plenty of campsites near these places.
Alternatively, there's some decent lodging near these trail systems and quite reasonable. Trails can very often be accessed directly from lodging. As an example here's a place near the Browning Fork Trail system:
http://www.promiserock.com/indexmain.html
In this case, 4 people can rent for about $37 per night, 8 people about $24. If we could get 8 people for, say, a Fri/Sat/Sun night stay that would be $75 for some very convenient and cozy accomodations.
Of course, a tent would be cheaper!
So what do y'all think? Any other suggestions for places?
How about some dates? I'll start with some suggestions of any of the weekends in July AFTER the 4th weekend.
Here's some driving distances for consideration:
LBL (I used Eddyville, KY)
Chicago, IL - 6.5h
St Louis, MO - 3.5h
Little Rock, AR - 5.5h
Cleveland, OH - 8.5h
Chattanooga, TN - 3.75h
Atlanta, GA - 5.5h
Birmingham, AL - 4.5h
H&C (I used Charleston, WV, so +/- 1h depending on trail and direction your coming from)
Chicago, IL - 8.5h
St Louis, MO - 7.5h
Little Rock, AR - 11.5h
Cleveland, OH - 4.5h
Chattanooga, TN - 6.75h
Atlanta, GA - 8h
Birmingham, AL - 8.75h
Let's hear your thoughts . . .
A BTW: whatever the case or choice, I'm willing to help check on, reserve, arrange accomodations (whatever they may be) if we can get enough interest.
So if we wanna' ride for a long weekend, where's the preference?
I know LBL is located where many of us can get there in reasonable fashion. Hatfield & McCoy is well-known as well (and it's in God's country - West Virginia!).
A few links:
LBL - http://www.lbl.org/OHVTrails.html
H&C - http://www.trailsheaven.com/
LBL would be a simple trip to plan: bring the bikes and some tents.
There's lots of options with H&C. Here's a few descriptions from the different trail systems that make up H&C:
Buffalo Mountain: The Buffalo Mountain Trail System . . . consists of approximately 95 total miles of trail . . . has three community connectors. The breakdown in trail percentage on the Buffalo Trail System is as follows: 61% are green trails (easiest), 14% are blue trails (more difficult), 14% are black trails (most difficult), and 10% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to the cities of Matewan, Delbarton, and Williamson, WV. Each of these trails offer fuel, full service food, and lodging services.
Browning Fork: The Browning Fork Trail System . . . consists of approximately 115 miles of trail . . . has the largest total mileage of each of the five Hatfield-McCoy Trail Systems and offers a wide variety of trails for all difficulty levels. The breakdown in trail percentage for this trail system is as follows: 46% are green trails (easiest), 25% are blue trails (more difficult), 16% are black trails (most difficult), 5% are red trails (extreme difficult), and 8% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to the cities of Man and Gilbert, WV. Each of these towns offer fuel, full service food, and lodging accommodations.
Dingess Rum: The Dingess Rum Trail System . . . consists of approximately 53.27 total miles of trail . . . and is commonly known for its difficult single track and most difficult level trails. The breakdown in trail percentages for this trail system are as follows: 28% are green trails (easiest), 41% are blue trails (more difficult), 17% are black trails (most difficult), and 14% are orange trails (single track only). This trail system has direct access to gas, food, and lodging.
There's plenty of campsites near these places.
Alternatively, there's some decent lodging near these trail systems and quite reasonable. Trails can very often be accessed directly from lodging. As an example here's a place near the Browning Fork Trail system:
http://www.promiserock.com/indexmain.html
In this case, 4 people can rent for about $37 per night, 8 people about $24. If we could get 8 people for, say, a Fri/Sat/Sun night stay that would be $75 for some very convenient and cozy accomodations.
Of course, a tent would be cheaper!
So what do y'all think? Any other suggestions for places?
How about some dates? I'll start with some suggestions of any of the weekends in July AFTER the 4th weekend.
Here's some driving distances for consideration:
LBL (I used Eddyville, KY)
Chicago, IL - 6.5h
St Louis, MO - 3.5h
Little Rock, AR - 5.5h
Cleveland, OH - 8.5h
Chattanooga, TN - 3.75h
Atlanta, GA - 5.5h
Birmingham, AL - 4.5h
H&C (I used Charleston, WV, so +/- 1h depending on trail and direction your coming from)
Chicago, IL - 8.5h
St Louis, MO - 7.5h
Little Rock, AR - 11.5h
Cleveland, OH - 4.5h
Chattanooga, TN - 6.75h
Atlanta, GA - 8h
Birmingham, AL - 8.75h
Let's hear your thoughts . . .
A BTW: whatever the case or choice, I'm willing to help check on, reserve, arrange accomodations (whatever they may be) if we can get enough interest.
