Full of Trails

Whether it is off-road fun, a mountainous hike or just a scenic drive through the heart of the coalfields, all trails lead to Four Seasons Country.

The region is bustling with outdoor recreational fun, including local connector points for the Appalachian Trail , the Coal Heritage Trail, and the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Trail. In southern West Virginia , the Hatfield-McCoy Trail provides not only off-road fun, but also is proving to be a significant economic development and tourism tool for the counties of Logan, Boone, Mingo , Wyoming , and McDowell.

The professionally designed and regulated trail system is now responsible for bringing close to 25,000 all-terrain vehicle riders annually to the region. Those visitors in return spend money at local restaurants, convenience stores and shopping centers, and usually stay in the area for several days, thus benefiting local hotels, motels and campground sites.

“Our user permits have increased dramatically,” Jeff Lusk, executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Recreational Authority, said. “This year we are looking at probably a 5 to 10 percent growth, so we are looking at increasing by another 2,500 to 3,000 riders this year.”

When the trail opened in 2000, just more than 3,200 permits were sold. That number increased to 3,861 in 2001; 9,651 in 2002; 13,920 in 2003; 21,512 in 2004; and 24,285 in 2005.

Lusk said 81 percent of all the permits sold are to out-of-state riders. He said 52 lodging businesses have opened up throughout the five-county region since the trail opened in 2000. That includes a large campground site now operational near a planned trail head site in the Ashland section of McDowell County .

The new Ashland KOA site offers cabins, lodges, camper sites, tent sites, a full bath house and even a kitchen for visitors. It is located on a 2,500-acre private hardwood forest still under development at the border of McDowell , Wyoming , and Mercer counties.

“It's a tremendous investment those folks have made,” Lusk said of the campground site. “That was what we built the trail for us to do stuff like the KOA campground.”

Lusk said visitors along the trail stay in the area for several days.

“The average visitor stays three days and spends $113 per day,” Lusk said. “We are open 365 days a year, but we really have a season that runs from the middle of March to the middle of November.”

Right now, the trail system extends more than 300 miles through Logan, Boone, Mingo, and Wyoming counties. Construction is expected to begin this month on another 100 miles of the trail system in McDowell County , with an anticipated December opening date.

Although currently utilized only by ATV riders, the original 1996 study of the trail system by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers envisioned a trail network connecting coal mining access roads and gas roads into a professionally designed and guarded system for off-highway motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, as well as bikers, hikers, and horseback riders.

Lusk said the authority is still hoping to realize the original 1996 version for bikers, hikers, and horseback riders.

“Some of the parts of the trail system we need to start looking at are the equestrian and mountain biking, as well as full-sized vehicles,” Lusk said. “That's a direction we will probably start looking at. We can put those types of systems in to try to diversify. Because right now, it's all ATVs and motorcycles.”

The trail system is still proposed to extend into Mercer County . However, the authority also is interested in developing a separate horseback-riding trail in Mercer County near the site of the proposed equestrian park in Green Valley .

If an agreement could be reached between county officials and the authority, it would create an infrastructure that is unique to the region, Lusk said.

Lusk said that people visiting the equestrian park will be looking for different things to do during a period of several days. Thus, he believes a horseback riding trail extending anywhere from 15 to 20 miles would be ideal for the region.

--Charles Owens (Bluefield Telegraph)