I recently mountain biked the trails at Lil Moe's in Philippi, WV. Even though the trail system is fairly compact and tucked into the hills and forest on the edge of town, I was pleasantly surprised by the trails and riding.
Twenty or so miles southwest of Philippi, and about twenty miles from my house, is the town of Buckhannon. Just like Philippi, Buckhannon has its own trail system not too far from town called the Upshur County Trails, located at the Upshur County Recreation Park. The Upshur County Park sits just a few miles outside of town on land surrounding the local high school. Just like Lil Moe's, these trails were built with mountain bikers in mind.
Even though I knew about the trails here, I initially wrote off the area. Having passed by the area, the land in the area didn't look that impressive. Most of the trails consist of stacked loops spreading out around the high school. Since Lil Moe's surprised me with its riding, I thought I'd check out these trails. The trails here are used for course in the West Virginia Mountain Bike Association's race series. And it looked like more trails have been added to the network since I last looked into the area. By now the area has grown to more than ten miles of trails and is growing according to the most recent post I have seen on the area.
I headed out on a Tuesday morning in early June. I was hoping to get in a ride to check out the area before weather moved in for the day. The morning was incredibly humid with showers and thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon.
Since maps of stacked loops can look confusing, I used the longer route for the WVMBA race course as a baseline for my ride. I planned to add other sections of trail to the course. Since the course falls under 10 miles, I figured I'd add another lap if I was feeling good and the weather held out.
Soon after turning onto the road to the local high school, I parked at a small lot by a kiosk. Before following the race route, I started with a trail called The Machine. From my understanding this was the first machine built trail (versus hand built) in the trail system. The Machine served as a good warm up for my ride and a good indicator of the rest of the trails. The Machine had a few climbs with nice flowy downhills as it made a loop around a small creek.
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| The Machine |
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| Ancient car frame along a creek |
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| The trails often follow natural gullies creek beds like this one on The Machine |
I never know how easy the trails are to find and follow in some trail systems. The maintainers here do a good job with signage guiding riders between sections. Leaving The Machine, I crossed the road to a 1/4 mile or so stretch through a field. Here I connected to The Pines. As its name indicates, the trail travels through an area with ample pines. The tread at times can be slippery feeling since the ground is carpeted in a thick layer of pine needles with some rooty stretches. The Pines runs less than a half-mile and seamlessly flows right into Roundabout.
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| Thick pine needle tread on The Pines |
Since the trails are built on a stacked loop system, you frequently ride past segments of the trail that you will be riding in a couple minutes. Roundabout covers a little more distance than The Pines as it snakes its way in a tight area. After reaching the height of the land pretty quickly, Roundabout drops on flowy singletrack past a couple of bumps and ramps. The ramps can be bypassed if you don't want to get airborne. A few berms let you carry your speed in the turns. Near its end a sizable rock jump called Chuck's Huck will please all mountain riders, but can easily bypassed. Roundabout ends with a short but steep drop through a field to the start of Holly Shed.
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| Bright green vegetation |
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| Most of the trails are smooth singletrack like this |
Holly Shed runs about a mile and is a pretty fun trail as it snakes around on mostly smooth and flowy singletrack. Generally you can ride pretty quickly through here. Like most of the trails, all the elevation changes are pretty short and not very steep. There are a few hairpin turns at times that can be a little tricky if your bombing through here. Some of the turns have berms to help ride through the corners. Like Roundabout, there are a few alternate lines if your looking for some jumps and hucks.
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| Occasionally there's a short rocky obstacle |
At some point Holly Shed transitions into Crossings. If there was a sign marking the change I didn't see it. Either way, the nice flow of Holly Shed continued onto Crossings effortlessly and I didn't realize I was on a different trail. Both trails rode similarly with nice flow and the occasional short climb as the trail negotiates natural gullies and drainages. The climbs are pretty short and the descents are fast and flowy on excellent singletrack.
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| Climbing along a natural drainage |
Crossing seamlessly transitions into Scotty's Cookout. Scotty's is a short trail that easily climbs most of its length to the junction of Whale Tail and Witches Fingers. Whale Tail serves as an extension of Witches Fingers. I rode Whale Tail, which climbs somewhat steeply to the height of the land. This allows for a fast and swoopy downhill on the second half of Whale Tail. Whale Tail runs less than a half-mile dumping into Witches Fingers.
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| Looking back at an optional rock huck with about two foot drop |
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| The trails are pretty well marked at junctions |
The fun downhill continues on Witches Finger for another 1,000 feet or so. From here I turned onto Standing Feather. I wasn't on Standing Feather for more than a couple minutes before the next junction. I turned onto Pumps, Bumps, and Rollers. This trail travels a small loop less than a half-mile long and basically ends where it began. The first half of the trail lives up to its name with a series of bumps on some fast and flowy downhill. After a couple opportunities for air near the end of the downhill section, the trail drops into a banked wooden berm. You can bypass the air and berm if you like.
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| It's fun to speed through the narrow singletrack |
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| Wooden berm on Pumps, Bumps, and Rollers that's about 4' wide |
Back on Standing Feather, nice flow continues for another 1/4 mile or so before I turned at a junction marked for the Southside Loop. Although it wasn't signed as such, on the map it's called Super-Bowl. You pass a giant wooden cactus wearing boxing gloves along here that seems out of place. Super-Bowl rides fast downhill for maybe a thousand feet with a couple of ramps available for air before dumping out on a gravel road.
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| I don't know the story of this cactus |
Although not signed, ribbons mark a route for a trail called Eager Reager on Trailforks. It looks like Eager Reager is actively being built. While the trail was cut and in place, some sections didn't have the tread packed in place yet. Some parts you travel a grass or dirt swath in the trees. Some places it seems the tread is already packed. Riding clockwise, there is a short but steep downhill with some fun turns. After the downhill, the trail is relatively flat with a few transitions through ditches or gullies and a few snaky turns. Eager Reager runs just under a mile and dumps you back on the gravel road.
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| Newly cleared vegetation on Eager Reager |
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| Another section on Eager Reager where the tread hasn't been cut in |
Another unmarked trail is flagged off the gravel road. On Trailforks, the trail is labeled Subway. I followed this half-mile trail. It was still very much a work in progress with little tread in place much of its length. This was the only trail I didn't ride on my second lap.
Subway dumps you back on the gravel road. From here I headed onto Double Ridge. This 1/2 mile long trail has probably the longest sustained climbed on my ride on a mostly doubletrack surface. Double Ridge brought me to the beginning of the Southside Loop,
Southside Loop is the longest trail in the system, running about two miles. Since it begins at the height of land off of Double Ridge, it drops into a fast and flowy singletrack for its first 1/2 mile. The trail then begins a gradual climb for less than a half-mile as it snakes its way along the singletrack. At times the vegetation can get a little tight on the trail. The downhill sections are super fun.
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| The start of Southside Loop |
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| The trail drops through here allowing pretty good speed on the narrow singletrack |
Another 3/4 mile burst of flowy downhill follows. The trail drops down along a creek that it rides above for a short distance. From the creek, Southside follows with a section of steep and punchy climbing on somewhat loose tread. The climbing lasts less than a 1/4 miles before beginning another nice flowy downhill back toward the creek for the final 1/2 mile plus stretch that dumps you out back at the gravel road.
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| Section of lush green vegetation |
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| Start of another section of good flow on Southside |
I followed the gravel road back toward the main cluster of trails. This brought me to the lower stretch of Standing Feather for maybe a 1/3 mile and then the lower end of Witches Fingers for less than a 1/4 mile on yet another fast stretch that descends along a drainage. A couple optional jumps can be taken at the end of Witches Fingers.
Leaving Witches Fingers, I hit a punchy little climb at the start of Well Road. I quickly turned on to Ruins from Well Road. The fast flow continues on Ruins. There are a couple bridge crossing on Ruins with the option to ride a normal bridge or narrow bridges that thread the needle between tight trees. Ruins dumps you out on the last 1/4 mile of The Machine.
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| Dropping onto Ruins |
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| Bridges and line options on Ruins |
I ended up riding just over 26 miles on my two laps. Even though the most recent info on the trail system show about ten miles of trails, I think the area is closing in on 15 miles of trails if you include the newer trails that aren't quite finished like Subway and Eager Reager. I saw a few other freshly cut trails that were flagged closed. I'm guessing these are more trails in the works.
These stacked trail systems always look more confusing on paper than they are on the ground. The Upshur County Trails are signed in such a way that they flow effortlessly with the terrain from one trail to the next. I use, and highly recommend, the Trailforks app if you ride here. As far as I know, there aren't paper maps available. Trailforks shows even the newer trails that were not officially ready and signed yet.
The area is divided into two sections. The main trails stretch around the Buckhannon high school and the road that accesses the school. Southside, Double Ridge, Subway, and Eager Reager are separated just a short distance away by a gravel road.
The trails here are fairly condensed in a small area. They may not have far reaching views and the scenery blends together. However, the area was really a blast to ride. They are trails built by mountain bikers, for mountain bikers. They utilize every last bit of the available terrain with continuous, fast and flowy singletrack. What mountain biker doesn't love speeding down tight singletrack? Most of the trails are beginner friendly and not overly technical. Optional jumps and drops will keep more adventuress riders entertained as well. There aren't any long climbs and descents that are overly steep. You can cut your ride short if your a new mountain biker or turn laps to stretch out your ride if you want to clock in more miles. I didn't know what to expect before I hit the trails here, but they far exceeded my expectations.
If you enjoyed this post, check out, and "LIKE" Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures where I post photos more often and revisit past adventures.
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