Needing West Virginia Advice

[bpreynolds]

Little bit of a complicated request for info here.  I am very mildly familiar with West Virginia having driven through various parts of Elkins, George Washington and Mononucleosis ( can't remember the name  ) Forests, but the vast majority of the state remains untraversed for me. 

Me and Pumpkin (KTM) are heading off next week on Wednesday afternoon to West Virginia for a very short tour/ride that will eventually culminate with a Staying Safe class with Eric Trow in Morgantown WV on Saturday, then back to Louisville on Sunday.  Because of distance and the fact that I can't leave Louisville until very early afternoon on Wednesday, I will be seeking a base for rides the first two days that is about 4 hours from me.  I have been considering - and got a great quote - a hotel near New River Gorge (Oak Hill to be exact) so that I could explore the Kanawha River/New River Gorge, and lower portions of the two aforementioned Forests.  I don't know much about these areas but they seem quite beautiful.  But perhaps I should be thinking differently?  I don't like going from motel to motel so where I stay on Wednesday and Thursday night will have to be the same spot and within about 4 hours of Louisville.  I could maybe make it to Elkins before dark on Wednesday but I dunno if the riding around Snowshoe and Elkins is any vastly better and/or different than say the New River area.  Plus, I've never been to the New River area (and have to Elkins) so there's some motivation to explore near Oak Hill.  Anyhow, dunno if this rambling message makes much sense, but I welcome anyone to try and decipher it and provide me with some WV riding and staying advice.   

[Wayne Orwig]

You can't go wrong staying in the Snow Shoe area. Lots of great roads there.
I have been to the Oak Hill area a few time. You can certainly find a lot of great rides in that area too.


You can't go wrong with any of those places.

[webmost]

4 hours doesn't give you much of WV to choose from. If you could add an hour, I'd suggest the Brazen Head Inn (http://brazenheadinn.com/) in Mingo, on 219, your side of Snowshoe. Wonderful people, great food, Guinness on tap... XLNT riding all around.

[Perazzimx14]

My advise is take more time an spend in WV. Great roads, friendly people and beautiful scenery.

4 days would not be enough time.

[bpreynolds]

My advise is take more time an spend in WV. Great roads, friendly people and beautiful scenery.

4 days would not be enough time.

Hey, I totally agree but 4 days is all I've got this time around.  And hopefully, it certainly won't be my last trip there, for sure.  And by 4 to 4 and a half hours, I just mean my base for the first two nights needs to be that close to Louisville or else getting there on Wednesday would be after dark and I don't wanna do that. 

[Shorty]

We went to WVA a couple times, and stayed in Summersville. Small resort town. Plain Jane motels, eateries, but surrounded by great roads. Good back road access to Richwood, Marlington, Cass, Snowshoe, Gauley, ect. WATCH OUT FOR DEER!!! Have fun!

[Wayne Orwig]

BTW, you may be coming up on 'Bridge Day' in the Fayetteville / Oak Hill, area, if they still do that. You may have trouble getting a room.

[Perazzimx14]

Closer to Morgantown is Buckhannon WV. The Bicentennial inn is a great little hotel with reasonable rates and clean rooms. Attached to the hotel is the 88 Lounge. Great food/drink and does not break the bank. If you go on Thursday the special is baked steak . From there East on 33 is Seneca Rocks and Black water falls 119 North is Morgantown.

   

[PeteS]

4 hours doesn't give you much of WV to choose from. If you could add an hour, I'd suggest the Brazen Head Inn (http://brazenheadinn.com/) in Mingo, on 219, your side of Snowshoe. Wonderful people, great food, Guinness on tap... XLNT riding all around.

+1 on the Brazenhead. The only question is when do they serve food. I know Breakfast is available only on weekends until ski season. Not sure dinner is served every night. Still a cool place to stay and Snoshoe is just down the road 20 minutes away with a few places to eat. If you take the road over to Cass check out the steam shays and other geared steam engines and just north of Cass is the National Radio Observatory in Green Bank. Also very cool. Just leave your cell off as you won't get any signal for a 50 mile radius around Green Bank.

Pete

[kingoffleece]

I've taken that class out of Morgantown-you'll have a blast.
I'll be all over WV next week-maybe I'll pass you guys.

[bpreynolds]

I guess it's hard to go wrong pretty much anywhere in WV so we'll see.  For some reason the Kanawha County area and the New River seems to be calling me so I may make it my base for the first couple days of riding.  I'll need to pick a nice path to make my way from to Morgantown on Saturday.  Any suggestions of roads for around the New River area?  Roads for my trip on Friday north to Morgantown?

[twhitaker]

On US-60 the approach to Hawks Nest State Park is interesting.

[ohiorider]

If you're going to stay close to your base in Oak Hill, and only have 4-5 hours to ride from Lex KY to Oak Hill, I agree with T Whitaker regarding finishing your Day One  ride by jumping off of I 64 somewhere in the Charleston WV area, and picking up old US Rt 60. Not too good immediately out of Charleston, but the 15-20 miles from Kanawha Falls to Hawks Nest is interesting.

I remember driving that road prior to I-77 picking up most of the traffic, and getting behind lumbering 18 wheelers.  Now, most of that traffic is on I 77.  Another poster had mentioned Bridge Day, where (if still being permitted by WV) you could ask around the area about the old road that ran from near Fayetteville down the mountainside to the New River, which (with a repaired/replaced bridge)) will permit you to cross over and up the twisty road on the other side.  It presents quite a view of "the Bridge" which is over 800 feet from the valley floor.

There's also a small town by name of Thurmond that (I recall) can be accessed from US 19 in the vicinity of "The Bridge" road that'll take you into an old mining town that is now a historical site.  One other suggestion for a day ride.  Don't recall the route number, but it runs from US 60 to Webster Springs.  From there, you could cross over on (??) to US 219, take it south  into Lewisburg WV, and pick up US 60 again, and take it west back into the Oak Hill area.  If the weather is good, this is a nice loop for a day ride.

[pyoungbl]

Pocohontas County, in the southern edge of the state is fantastic for motorcycle riding.  For the past 8 years we have been staying in Marlinton, at the Old Clark Inn.  They cater to motorcyclists.  Tell Nelson and Andrea that Peter (Ducati group) sent you.  You will have day trips to lots of interesting sites and the roads are wonderful.  Love that part of WV.

[samfrank]

Marlinton is a great place to stay. I've stayed at the Marlinton motor inn and it was very adequate. They have a restaurant and bar on the premises and are very biker friendly. Problem is it's about 6.5 hours from Louisville.

[bpreynolds]

Okay, okay.  What about this.  I'm not gonna be getting any base riding done that first day anyhow, so what if I plan on just making it to Charleston, parking the bike, getting up on Thursday morning and planning a nice route that would end in Marlinton, spend Thursday night in Marlinton, get up Friday and take a fantastic route (if I can figure one out from input here) to Morgantown.  ???????

Looks like some good route suggestions here:
http://www.pocahontascountywv.com/Files/FInalMotorcycle2010.pdf

[webmost]

Best advice of all is simply get lost.

Doesn't matter which way you turn in WV you find a wonderful motorcycle road which you can then recommend to the next guy asking where to go in West Virginia. There are four cardinal direction in WV: up, down right, and left. At any given moment on any given road you are going two of these directions at once. These mountaineers may have heard about straight roads; but they reckon that's just tales which outlanders tell to fool with hillbillies.

Get lost. Best part of the itinerary.

[RightD]

Good Morning BP,

Great part of the country for riding... Suggest Lewisburg or Summersville (as someone else suggested) as a good place to stay (right in the middle of some great roads).

Here is a good place to start:
http://www.attacktheroad.com/Concrete5_EOM/index.php/rally-info/route-files/

It is a link to the 2015 FJR Meet that was based out of Lewisburg. Good route info there.

Good luck,
RightD

[mojohand]

An interesting choice for lodging in Elkins is at Davis & Elkins College: The Graceland Inn

http://www.gracelandinn.com/

But it's about 8 hours on slab from you. Louisville to Charleston is 7 hours...but considering that you'll ride two to three hours in the dark, I'd recommend you slab it to Charleston on Wednesday and then choose either Buckhannon or Elkins for the night. Stages you nicely to get up to Western PA.

[bpreynolds]

So sorry.  I meant to say Huntington, not Charleston.
Thanks to everyone for the super suggestions.