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.
North Bend State Park
A 1,405-acre park on a horseshoe bend of the North Fork of the Hughes River, with a lodge, cabins, campgrounds, a 305-acre lake nearby and direct access to the North Bend Rail Trail. Includes an accessible interpretive trail designed for visitors with visual impairments.
Know before you go
- Extra Mile Trail is designed for accessibility with guide ropes and braille
- Best base for riding the middle section of the rail trail
- The lake is 305 acres and 8.1 miles long, part of the North Fork of the Hughes River watershed project
- 10 horsepower maximum, with a boat launch, a canoe launch and two accessible fishing platforms
- The river at the Jug day-use area is stocked with trout from January through April
What you can do here
Trails run through 1,405 acres wrapped around a horseshoe bend of the North Fork of the Hughes River. The Extra Mile Trail is the one worth knowing, built for accessibility with guide ropes and braille. For mileage on the rest of the network, ask the park office, because the figures are not published here.
For riding the middle section of the North Bend Rail Trail, which runs 72 miles through more than ten tunnels end to end, this park is the best base. Lodge, cabins and campgrounds all sit at the access, so you can ride out and back without arranging a shuttle. Ask the park which tunnels fall in the section you plan to ride, and carry lights.
Two waters, two habits. The river at the Jug day-use area is stocked with trout from January through April; the lake, 305 acres and 8.1 miles long, is the warm-water option, with a boat launch and two accessible fishing platforms. A 10-horsepower maximum keeps it quiet. Current WVDNR regulations and licensing apply.
Campgrounds sit inside the park's 1,405 acres alongside the lodge and cabins, with the rail trail and the lake both close at hand. Book through the state park system, and ask which loops are open at the edges of the April-to-October window. Trout stocking at the Jug runs January through April, which is worth timing a spring trip around.
North Bend Lake is 305 acres and 8.1 miles long with a 10-horsepower maximum, which is the combination paddlers want: room to move and no wakes. There is a dedicated canoe launch in addition to the boat ramp. A long, narrow lake channels wind along its length, so check the forecast before a one-way trip.
The Extra Mile Trail is built for visitors with visual impairments, with guide ropes and braille, which is uncommon design for a state park. The lake adds two accessible fishing platforms and a canoe launch, and the flat surface of the North Bend Rail Trail starts right here. Call ahead about accessible cabins and parking.
The park sits on the North Bend Rail Trail, which is graded and flat rather than technical, so it is good riding but not the rock-and-root singletrack that defines the sport elsewhere in the state. No natural-surface trail mileage is published for the park itself. Ask the office what is open to bikes beyond the rail trail.
West Virginia State Parks runs an organized geocaching program alongside the global Geocaching.com network, and 1,405 acres wrapped around a river bend leaves plenty of corners to hide things in. The rail trail and the lake shore both make easy ground to work. Check the state park program listings for what is currently placed here.
Guides, gear and lodging near North Bend State Park
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the 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.
Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park
An island in the Ohio River reached by sternwheeler from Parkersburg, holding a reconstructed 1800 Palladian mansion, horse-drawn wagon tours and quiet riverbank walking.
Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge
Twenty-two islands and several mainland tracts scattered along nearly 400 river miles of the Ohio, protecting some of the last relatively undisturbed island habitat on the river — critical for freshwater mussels, migratory birds and river-bottom forest.
Mountwood Park
A county park outside Parkersburg with a 50-acre lake and one of the better mountain bike trail networks in the western half of the state, plus camping, disc golf and the site of the old Volcano oil town.
Hughes River
Three forks — North, South and Middle — draining a landscape of narrow ridges and small farms in Ritchie and Wirt counties, giving quiet Class I canoe water and good smallmouth fishing with almost no other boats.
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.