Riding the Rockhouse Trail System

Where the Rockhouse trail system sits in the Hatfield-McCoy network

The Rockhouse trail system is one piece of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, the off-highway network the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority has been assembling across former coal lands in southern West Virginia since 2000. The network as a whole now exceeds 1,000 miles, split among nine or more named systems: Rockhouse, Bearwallow, Buffalo Mountain, Pinnacle Creek, Devil Anse, Pocahontas, Indian Ridge, Ivy Branch and Warrior. That structure is the single most important thing to understand before you load a trailer. You do not ride the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in a weekend, and the systems are not links in one continuous loop — you choose a system, buy one permit good across the network, and ride that system for the day.

Because each system is managed as its own unit, mileage and difficulty ratings are published per system, and they change as trails are added, rerouted or closed. The Authority is the place to get the current figure for Rockhouse, the current color rating and the list of trailheads that are open — not a guidebook, and not a screenshot from somebody's trip two seasons ago. This is working land as much as recreation land, and a section can be shut for reasons that have nothing to do with the weather.

What the riding is like

The tread is inherited industrial infrastructure. Old haul roads climb at grades laid out for loaded trucks, which on a machine means long sustained pulls rather than short technical steps; benches cut into the hillsides give flat, fast, wide running with a drop on one side and a cut bank on the other; and the connections between them drop into hollow bottoms that are narrower, rockier and wetter than anything above. Second-growth hardwood has closed over much of it, so the character changes several times in a single loop — open reclaimed ground in full sun, then a shaded creek crossing a short way on.

Color coding is how the Authority tells you which of that you are getting. Green-rated systems and trails are the ones that suit side-by-sides and beginners, and the ratings rise from there; on a mixed-machine ride the ratings matter more than anyone's confidence, because a line a narrow dirt bike takes cleanly can stop a full-width side-by-side with nowhere to turn around. Read the rating for the specific trail rather than the reputation of the system, and plan a loop you can reverse. Coalfield mud is the reason most groups turn back, and it does not announce itself from the trailhead.

The permit, and the rules that come with it

A Hatfield-McCoy permit is required, and it is required per rider — everyone on the machine, not one for the group. Buy it online before you arrive; that saves the errand, and permits are also sold by local vendors once you are in the coalfields. There is no separate Rockhouse permit, because one permit covers the network. Beyond that, the statewide rule that catches visitors out is helmets: they are required for riders under 18 anywhere in West Virginia, regardless of what the law says in the state you trailered from.

The season is year-round, which is unusual for a trail network this size and is genuinely part of the appeal. There is no closing date to plan around and no lottery. What you plan around instead is water, because the surface is clay and the drainage was cut for trucks rather than for rain: a wet week slicks the benches and deepens the ruts in the hollows, and the late-winter freeze-and-thaw cycle chews up tread that was firm a few weeks earlier. Ride within what the day gives you rather than within what the map suggested.

The trail towns you can ride into

The thing that separates this network from the rest of the eastern United States is that several coalfield towns passed ordinances permitting off-highway vehicles on public streets, so the machine is transport as well as recreation. Gilbert, Man, Matewan and Bramwell are the classic trail towns, and in a participating town you ride to fuel, to a meal and to your room without loading the trailer between rides. The Authority publishes which connectors link which system to which town; use that to work out where the Rockhouse trail system's Hatfield-McCoy connectors put you, rather than assuming the nearest town on a road map is a legal ride.

The ordinances are municipal, which has a practical consequence: they cover named streets inside particular town limits, and they stop where the town does. Signage is what tells you the difference, and it is easy to miss at speed in a group. The other consequence is more pleasant — because the towns are part of the plan, an evening in one of them is part of the trip rather than a drive at the end of it. Fuel up before dark; hours in small coalfield towns are shorter than most visitors expect.

Where riders stay

The trail towns themselves are the reason most people ride here, and the lodging in them is built around riders and ride-in access. If you want something more conventional, the state parks in the region take that role: Chief Logan State Park covers 4,000 acres in Logan County with a wildlife exhibit and trails through reclaimed coal country, and it is convenient to several trail systems; Twin Falls Resort State Park is a lodge park that riders use as a base for the same reason. Both mean driving to the trailhead in the morning rather than riding out of the parking lot, which is the tradeoff for a bed and a restaurant that are not on a trail.

For camping, the region's season runs roughly April through October. State park campsites go on sale a year ahead and the popular parks fill fast for summer weekends, so a campsite is something to book when you book the trip, not after. Wildlife management areas in these counties allow primitive camping at designated sites, which is the cheapest way to be close to the trailheads. Whichever you choose, factor in the wash: you and the machine come off Rockhouse dirty, and where you can hose down is worth a question when you book.

Timing a trip

September and October are the strongest window. The hardwood turns through October, the clay has usually dried out from summer storms, and the heat and haze that make July riding in a helmet unpleasant are gone. It is also the busiest stretch, so book the room before the permit. Summer riding is entirely workable if you start early and carry more water than feels necessary; the hollows hold heat and the reclaimed benches have very little shade on them. Spring is the gamble — the color comes up the hillsides early down here, and so does the runoff that keeps the hollow bottoms soft for weeks.

Autumn brings hunting season onto the surrounding public land at the same time, so blaze orange belongs in the pack for anyone walking off a machine on a wildlife management area. The same reclaimed ground carries elk — reintroduced in West Virginia in 2016 and established on the mine land in Logan, Mingo and Boone counties — and they move at dawn and dusk, which are exactly the low-light hours when riders are hurrying back to a trailhead. Slow down on the benches at either end of the day, and give any animal on the trail the room to leave on its own.

Questions

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