Best network
Mon River Rail-Trail System
The Mon River, Caperton and Deckers Creek trails through Morgantown. Forty-eight connected miles, riverfront to rural, all from downtown.
Full guide to Mon River Rail-Trail System →Road Running
Rail-trails are the state's road-running infrastructure: flat, car-free, well-surfaced and long. The Mon River system in Morgantown, the Greenbrier River Trail and the Charleston and Huntington greenways carry most of the mileage.
The rail-trails are the running infrastructure. In a state with no shoulders and a lot of blind curves, that matters more than it sounds.
Hundreds of miles of flat, car-free, well-surfaced corridor, much of it running through towns.
Our recommendations
Where we'd send you
Longest uninterrupted
Greenbrier River Trail
The Greenbrier River Trail. Seventy-eight miles of gentle grade with bridges, tunnels and a river alongside.
Full guide to Greenbrier River Trail →For a change
North Bend Rail Trail
The North Bend Rail Trail. Seventy-two miles and thirteen tunnels — bring a light and run through the dark ones.
Full guide to North Bend Rail Trail →Practical note
Crushed limestone drains and holds up well in rain, but it's slower than asphalt and harder on the ankles than it looks. Trail shoes, not road shoes.
What to know before you go
- Rail-trails hold their surface well in wet weather
- Active Southern West Virginia offers free organized community runs
Regions that do it best
Cheat River whitewater and rail-trail network
Mountaineer Country
The northern counties around Morgantown.
Rail-trails, limestone caves, gentle river paddlingGreenbrier Valley
The Greenbrier Valley sits on Greenbrier limestone, producing karst topography: sinkholes, springs, sinking streams and extensive cave systems, several with more than forty miles of surveyed passage.
Water trails and forest trails near CharlestonMetro Valley
The Kanawha and Guyandotte valleys around Charleston and Huntington, containing the largest share of the state's population.
Every place we cover for road running
Trail · Greenbrier Valley
Greenbrier River Trail
Seventy-eight miles from Cass to Caldwell on a former Chesapeake & Ohio logging grade, crossing 35 bridges by the state park's count and passing through 2 tunnels, following the Greenbrier River the entire way.
78 mi length35 bridges
Trail · Mountaineer Country
Mon River Rail-Trail System
About 48 miles of connected crushed-limestone rail-trail through Morgantown: the Caperton Trail along the riverfront downtown, the Mon River Trail running north to the Pennsylvania line and south toward Prickett's Fort, and the Deckers Creek Trail climbing 19 miles east to Reedsville.
48+ mi connected19 mi deckers creek trail
Lake · Mountaineer Country
Cheat Lake
A long, narrow 1,730-acre impoundment of the Cheat River just east of Morgantown, with a shoreline rail-trail, boat access and the closest flatwater paddling and lakeside recreation to the city.
1,730 ac lake13 mi length
Trail · Mountain Lakes
Elk River Rail Trail
A developing rail-trail on the former Buffalo Creek & Gauley and Elk River Railroad grades, opening a long, remote corridor along the Elk between Gassaway and Clendenin.
73 mi planned corridorDeveloping status
Trail · Mid-Ohio Valley
North Bend Rail Trail
Seventy-two miles on the old Baltimore & Ohio grade from Wolf Summit to Parkersburg, passing through more than ten tunnels and over dozens of bridges — the longest tunnel run of any rail-trail in the region and part of the coast-to-coast American Discovery Trail.
72 mi length10+ tunnels
State Forest · Metro Valley
Kanawha State Forest
9,300 acres of steep, wooded hollow just fifteen minutes from downtown Charleston, with more than 25 miles of trails, a well-known mountain bike network, a swimming pool, campground and some of the best spring warbler birding in the state.
9,300 ac forest25+ mi trails
State Park · Mountaineer Country
Prickett's Fort State Park
A reconstructed 1774 frontier refuge fort at the confluence of Prickett's Creek and the Monongahela River, with living-history interpretation, a boat launch and a trailhead on the Mon River Rail-Trail system.
188 ac park1774 fort date
State Park · Metro Valley
Tu-Endie-Wei State Park
The smallest park in the system, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers in Point Pleasant, marking the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant.
4 ac smallest state park1774 battle
AdvertiseThis space is available
Guides and rentals for road running
Reserved for a West Virginia operator serving this activity. The listings above and below it are unpaid.
List your business hereQuestions people ask
Where can you run without traffic in West Virginia?
The rail-trail network — including the Mon River Rail-Trail System, the Greenbrier River Trail and the North Bend Rail Trail — provides hundreds of miles of car-free running surface.
Organizations, agencies and resources · 9
Groups that handle access, maintenance, licensing and conditions data for this activity. Starred entries publish updates worth following.
Friends of Deckers Creek
Deckers Creek restoration, trails, water quality and outdoor recreation in Monongalia and Preston counties.
Visit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy / TrailLink
Biking
National rail-trail advocacy and the most complete West Virginia rail-trail inventory, with paved and accessible segments flagged.
Visit Greenbrier River Trail
Biking
78 miles, 35 bridges and 2 tunnels along the Greenbrier River — the state's flagship rail-trail.
Visit Mon River Rail-Trails Conservancy
Biking
Maintains the Mon River, Caperton and Deckers Creek rail-trails through and around Morgantown.
Visit West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners (WVMTR)
Running
Statewide trail-running organization with races, group runs, trail resources and stewardship projects.
Visit Active Southern West Virginia
Running
Free outdoor fitness, hiking, running, paddling and community recreation programming throughout southern West Virginia.
Visit Strava
Running
Useful for identifying popular running, cycling and trail routes through segment and heatmap data.
Visit RunSignUp — West Virginia
Running
West Virginia trail-race and road-race discovery and registration.
Visit North Bend Rail Trail
Trail systems
72 miles through 13 tunnels on a former B&O grade — part of the American Discovery Trail.
Visit
Related activities
Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.