HATFIELD McCOY TRAIL SYSTEM
WEST-VIRGINIA, USA

LITTLE COAL RIVER TRAIL

After driving 16 hours from home, we're finally there..

16 hours is quite a drive, but, as you get closer you'll notice unmistakable signs that tell you your almost there:

TOP TEN WAYS TO KNOW YOUR IN WEST-VIRGINIA:

You know your in West-Virginia when:

• your in a valley and the only way to see the sky is straigth over your head (surrounded by mountains)...
• all the small towns look the same: a mountain, the road, a row of house, the river, the railroad track, a mountain...
• cars are parked on the sidewalk (no place to put them, because of the mountains)...
• to get from one town to the next, you have to go up-hill then down-hill and around sharp hairpin switchbacks (over and around mountains)...
• you continually see big trucks hauling coal (coming from the mountains)...
• the roads are all grey from the mountains of coal being hauled around...
• the weather changes every 15 minutes (because of... the mountains), very easy to predict: partly cloudy with risks of showers...
• driking alcohol in public is prohibited. (While kids play "hide and seek", adults play "hide and sip".)...(absolutely nothing to do with the mountains)
• there's no bars...
• but most of all, YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN WEST-VIRGINIA WHEN YOU MEET TONS OF WONDERFUL AND FRIENDLY PEOPLE!

ARE WE THERE YET?

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE HATFIELD-McCOY TRAILS WHEN:

• all the quads are the same color (brown), there's no such thing as a chrome wheel...
• you see guys doing the laundry with a pressure washer...
• there's more quads then cars in the restaurant's parking lot...
• there's a boot-brush instead of a welcome mat at the local Wendy's...
• you see a cop waving to a helmetless guy riding on the street...
• all the pressure "car-washes" are located near trailheads...
• and finally, you know you've made it to the Hatfield-McCoy trails when you see half a dozen mud covered riders taking their wallets out of "ziploc" bags at the local gas station...

First trailhead - we're off (last time we'll ride clean quads, for a while)

Trails are generally narrow and in a dense forest.

Yeah ! no mosquitoes ! Enjoying the outdoors in the woods without mosquitoes is a treat for us because in Québec at this time of the year you'd need deep woods repellent. Bof... where are you ? so many trails, it's like a labyrinth. Lesson no. 1: if you loose track of your partner, go back to the last place where you've seen her (him). Your partner will do the same. Lesson learned by experience

For a quick lunch the ''kitchen'' is great. 

The nice ''spot'' of the day.

Some locals told us they don't use that trail system 'cause: too many rules, such as no beer, no camping along the trails, no fires.  Plus, add $77US for a 7 day permit. But, that's the way it is, and we can live with it.

For a quick lunch the ''kitchen'' is great. The various compartments give us easy acces to everything we need, to prepare our lunch, like: pots and pans, plates, utensiles, cups, stove, etc... We built that ''kitchen'' according to our needs. Dust and water tight,... shock proof. The aluminium door, once opened is used as a table. Easy to clean, just wipe it off. This is our firt test of this outfit: conclusion, perfect.  Would'nt ride without it.

click to enlarge To see a list of all the tricks and infos, click here

Durocher transit

• 40 miles (feels like 100 miles)
• 6 hours
• $79 US permit for 7 days
• 1 gal. gaz

115     90     70     50     32F     15	Full sun

RM Motosport

Mountainl trails go up then go down then up again...

''moderate'' trails offer a good level of challenge taking into account the amount of stuff we carry and the trailer we're hauling.

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