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.
Hatfield-McCoy Trails
The largest off-highway trail system in the eastern United States — more than a thousand miles across former coal lands in southern West Virginia, split into named systems including Rockhouse, Bearwallow, Buffalo Mountain, Pinnacle Creek, Devil Anse, Pocahontas, Indian Ridge, Ivy Branch and Warrior. Several connected trail towns permit street-legal riding directly to lodging, fuel and restaurants.
Know before you go
- Buy a permit online before you arrive; every rider needs one
- Difficulty is color-coded — green systems suit side-by-sides and beginners
- Gilbert, Man, Matewan and Bramwell are the classic trail towns
What you can do here
More than a thousand miles across nine-plus named systems — Rockhouse, Bearwallow, Pinnacle Creek, Devil Anse and the rest — laid over former coal land. Difficulty is color-coded, and green systems suit side-by-sides and first-timers. Every rider needs a permit, bought online before arrival. Gilbert, Man, Matewan and Bramwell allow street-legal riding to lodging, fuel and food.
Bikes ride the same permitted network as everything else, and the color-coding is the tool for sorting terrain before you unload: green systems are the mild end, and the other colors step up from there. Buy the permit online first — it applies to every rider, on any machine. The trail towns let you ride street-legal to fuel and a room.
Full-size vehicles have designated routes within the system rather than the run of all thousand-plus miles, so check which of the nine-plus systems takes your rig before you trailer it south. Permits are required for every rider and sold online ahead of time. Color-coded difficulty gives you a read on a trail before you commit to it.
Guides, gear and lodging near Hatfield-McCoy Trails
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Southern Coalfields
Twin Falls Resort State Park
A quiet resort park in Wyoming County with a lodge, golf course and two waterfalls on Black Fork and Marsh Fork.
Panther State Forest
Deep in McDowell County, one of the most remote units in the system, with a small campground, a swimming pool and trails through steep hardwood in the heart of the southern coalfields.
Laurel Lake Wildlife Management Area
A quiet 12,854-acre WMA in Mingo County built around a 29-acre lake, with primitive camping, warm-water fishing and public hunting in the southern coalfields.
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.