Little Moe's, often stylized as Lil Moe's, is a small trail system mostly catered toward mountain bikers in the town of Philippi, WV. In total, about 11-12 miles of trails make up the area. Given the smaller size and proximity to town, I initially didn't have much interest in the area. I then saw that the WVMBA's utilizes Lil Moe's as of its destinations for the cross country mountain bike series. I thought I'd check out the area since it's less than a half hour from my house.
I often use mountain bike dedicated websites like Mtb Project and Trailforks for planning rides. The area consists of a series of stacked loops rising from the Tygart River right from town. Since the trails are squeezed into a pretty tight area between the river, roads, and homes; it seemed a little difficult planning a route without too much overlap. I found a route on Trailforks that incorporated nearly every trail at Lil Moe's with little, if any overlap that ran over 10 miles.
I began my ride right off US 119/US 250 right by the covered bridge in Philippi. A dirt road travels along the river to the start of the singletrack trails that make up Lil Moe's. I started riding around 10AM. Rain and thunderstorms were forecasted in the afternoon and I was hoping to get my ride in before the weather turned. The days right before my ride were the hottest days of the year so far. The air was quite sultry at the start of my ride.
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| Trailhead sign |
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| Dirt road between parking and trails |
My first stretch of singletrack took be along the aptly named River Trail. As the name implies the River Trail travels close to the Tygart River. The trail doesn't have much elevation change and rides pretty fast on narrow singletrack with occasional views of the river. It serves as a nice warmup to the rest of the ride.
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| Near the start of the River Trail |
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| The River Trail rides fast |
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| Just a few feet from the river |
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| The Tygart River from the trail |
After a mile or so, the River Trail end and turns into Conflicted. Unlike the River Trail, which is pretty straight, the rest of the trails form loops for the most part. Conflicted, although considered an intermediate trail, rode more difficult than I expected. This wasn't because of the technical challenge, but more due to the vegetation encroaching it. At this point I was still pretty close to the river and the lower trails closer to the water, I found were grassier. The grass hid some rocks that were hidden in the grass. The grass was also pretty wet from the morning dew and dense humidity. This left the rocks pretty slippery. Conflicted also has the most elevation gain of any single trail.
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| Quite green near the river |
As Conflicted moved away from the river, the grass encroached the trail less. After some short ups and downs, Conflicted climbs gradually for its second half. A few rocky sections were still slick from the humidity in the air. Although not as flowy as the River Trail, the downhill stretches of Conflicted rolled nicely and the climbs were all manageable.
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| Short technical section on Conflicted |
Leaving Conflicted, my route continued onto the Hospital Loop. The trail system is squeezed into the forest on the edge of town. As you might have guessed, the Hospital Loop circles around the woods right behind the hospital in Philippi. The terrain generally rolls on a series of ups and downs along the Hospital Loop on narrow singletrack. The grass along the trail encroaches a little bit, but not enough to hide the obstacles.
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| Hospital Loop |
Leaving the Hospital Loop, I continued on the Rock Chute. Rock Chute runs about a mile. It starts with a descent into a series of switchbacks and ends with a climb. There are some neat rock features along Rock Chute and one technical passage over a small rock garden. Rock Chute is a fun trail with a nice variety.
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| Rock along Rock Chute |
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| Coming up to technical section on Rock Chute |
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| Neat rock features by the trail |
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| Short technical stretch |
After Rock Chute, I continued onto Double By-Pass. Double By-Pass climbs for the most part over its mile length. I didn't follow it very long though, I soon turned on to Corey's Loop. Corey's Loop is another mile-long loop that starts and finished early on Double By-Pass. Corey's drops steeply at its start before regaining its elevation on the second half of the loop on a fun trail.
I rejoined Double By-Pass after exploring Corey's Loop. Despite climbing much of its length, Double By-Pass flows pretty nicely with sections of old woods road on its way toward the height of the land. It ends at a junction for the Cell Tower Loop.
Like most of the trails, Cell Tower Loop gets its name for obvious reasons. The loop encircles a cell tower on the top of the hill. The start of the trail climbs to the highest point of Lil Moe's and passes a cell tower. After passing the tower, it begins a fun stretch of downhill. The trail crosses a road and passes a few houses. A brief climb leads to another fast downhill to the end of the trail.
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| Just below the cell tower |
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| Near the end of the Cell Tower Loop |
Leaving the Cell Tower Loop, I headed onto Indian Burial Ground. Unlike other trails with obvious names, I'm not sure if there is an actual burial ground in this area. But given the literal naming of several of the trails, maybe this area was actually the site of a burial ground used by the indigenous people that once lived here.
Indian Burial Ground features the most elevation drop of any trail at Lil Moe's. It begins with a steep drop, followed by a sharp switchback that could catch you off guard if you don't have your speed in check. After the initial steep drop, the trail mellows as it comes to a viewpoint overlooking Philippi.
Philippi looks like a quaint town from the perch. The Barbour County Courthouse and a church catch your eye. The real attraction is the view of the covered bridge over the Tygart River, which is framed nicely from the vista. The hills surrounding the town make for quite a nice scene.
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| View of Philippi |
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| Covered Bridge |
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| Closeup of the bridge |
Leaving the view, I continued on Indian Burial Ground. After a little bit of a climb, the trail dropped again and passed a large rock outcropping along the trail. A few rocky sections followed. Indian Burial Ground rides fast as it continued downhill, ending after a little over a mile.
I headed onto the Cliffhanger Loop next. Cliffhanger begins with some rocky tread. It quickly entered a tight switchback. The switchback was unrideable though. A big blowdown fell down across the trail just before the turn. The same tree continued onto the lower part of the switchback. There wasn't any cliffs on the trail, but it did drop on narrow singletrack, that's rocky at times, for much of its nearly 3/4 mile distance.
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| Large rock along Indian Burial Ground |
I continued onto Rock Pinch. Rock Pinch travels over rolling terrain. One technical section over a small rock garden, squeezed next to a huge rock, keeps you on your toes. Rock Pinch was a maybe a little rougher than most of the trails so far and generally not as fast flowing.
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| Perhaps this is the "rock pinch" the trail is named after |
I came to the end of Rock Pinch after a little over a mile and hit my last trail, Brickhouse. At this point I was pretty close to the river again. You can actually see the River Trail off to the right between Brickhouse and the river. Since I was essentially at river, there aren't really any big elevation changes on Brickhouse. Being close to the river, I started to encounter some grassier trail that hid some rocks. Generally the flow wasn't as good on Brickhouse as many of the other trails.
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A nice section at end of Rock Pinch
or beginning of Brickhouse |
Part of the way through Brickhouse, the trail passes under a the overhang of a huge rock. The rock seems a little out of place this low on the hillside on relatively flat ground.
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| Passing by large rock on Brickhouse |
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| Looking back, trail passes under the overhang |
Passing by the large rock, I stopped to take a picture. I noticed a box turtle on the trail just ahead of me. I like a reptiles and amphibians. I even have a special box turtle conservation license plate on my van. This was the first box turtle I have seen in a couple years and only the second I have seen in since living in West Virginia. I used to see them fairly often growing up in Pennsylvania. It's always a pleasant surprise when a box turtle crosses your path.
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| Box turtle |
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| Hello |
I finished the 1/2 mile Brickhouse Trail. It ends across the access road where my ride began on the River Trail. I had ridden close to 11 miles but still had plenty of energy. I started a second loop. I stopped to take pictures the first time around and wanted to ride it again without the photo breaks.
I didn't travel too far on the River Trail before I noticed the sky ahead was getting cloudier and dark. Since I was basically in town, I had service and checked the radar. Some storms were developing, but radar showed I had at least an hour or more before it would reach the area. Even if weather moved in, I had numerous places to cut the ride short.
I made my way through the fast-riding River Trail pretty quickly and was back on Conflicted. I wasn't on Conflicted more than a few minutes when it started to thunder. The thunder grew louder as the sky became darker. After 6/10 of a mile I reached a junction for the Green Trail, which headed back toward the starting point of my ride. I checked the radar again. A new cell popped up, and it was close and looked intense. I only had a couple minutes before the weather caught me.
I turned onto the Green Trail and sprinted. Fortunately, the Green Trail is one of the easiest trails at Lil Moe's. It's flat and fast-riding. I covered the 3/4 mile trail pretty quickly. Light rain began to fall near the end of the Green Trail and the thunder grew louder. I still had about a 1/2 mile on the dirt road back to my van.
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The incoming storm headed to Philippi on radar,
with a second cell not too far behind
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The road is flat and I sprinted on my bike the last 1/2 mile. The rain was picking up. The last minute or so I was riding in a steady light rain. I reached my van and loaded my bike. I don't know if the rain made me much wetter. Because of the intense humidity, I was pretty well drenched from sweat already.
As I changed out of my cycling shoes and got situated in my van, the skies opened up. I made it back to cover with about two minutes to spare as the rain now came down in sheets of water. As I left, I stopped to get a drink in town. Streaks of lightning were hitting the hillsides above town. I'm glad I baled on the second lap when I did. The rain was bad enough. I really didn't want to be up in the hills with the lightning.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the trails at Lil Moe's. The builders did a good job putting in a lot of trails in a fairly small footprint. The trails offer a nice variety. Sections of flow, climbs, descents, and occasional technical stretches keep it interesting. Majority of the trails aren't beginner friendly. Most intermediate riders should be fine though. Most of the more advanced technical sections are pretty short. Starting and finishing by the covered bridge, one lap as I rode it covered a little over 11 miles. I ended up riding just shy of 15 miles total.
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