Bike Trails WV. North Bend Trail
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Raw file: North Bend Trail.gpx (684.49 KB)
My wife, brother and I are bicycle enthusiasts who enjoy riding the ever increasing number of rail / canal trails located mostly in the Northeastern US. We also do volunteer work for NOAA by recovering US Coast & Geodetic Survey Benchmarks. We often combine these hobbies while trail riding.
Unlike geocaching, benchmark hunting serves a valuable purpose by providing NOAA with updates on the condition of their 700,000+ benchmarks across the Unites States. Information on Benchmarks is available here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/.
We have been riding these trails for over 10 years now and I decided to share some of the .GPX files I’ve created. Of the hundreds of trails available in this part of the country, I selected these for their quality, scenic beauty, lack of excessive grades or hazardous terrain and overall riding or hiking enjoyment. These files contain tracks for trails and waypoints for significant features such as parking areas, road crossings, bike shops, campgrounds and USCGS benchmarks along or near the trail. These files were compiled using a variety of resources including:
NOAA - http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/
Garmin’s Mapsource & Basecamp software
USCGS Topographic GPS Map Files. Available Legally at no cost for many States here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/
Google Earth & Google Maps
Garmin’s Birds Eye Imagery
Camping Rivopom’s COMBINED US Campground POI file
Personal Knowledge
Various Internet & Print resources including:
Trail Link’s North Bend Trail page : http://www.traillink.com/trail/north-bend-rail-trail.aspx
WV State Parks North Bend Rail Trail web page: http://www.northbendrailtrailstatepark.com/
WV State Parks North Bend Trail Brochure: http://www.wvstateparks.com/Brochures/NorthBendRailTrailBroc...
North Bend State Park: http://www.northbendsp.com/
North Bend Rail Trail Foundation web page: http://www.northbendrailtrail.net/
Outdoor Travels North Bend Trail web page: http://www.outdoortravels.com/biking_west_virginia_north_ben...
This file is for West Virginia’s North Bend Rail Trail. The trail traverses 72 miles of beautiful and varied West Virginia countryside from Wolf Summit in the east to Parkersburg on the Ohio River. The trail passes over 37 bridges and through 10 tunnels, two of which are reported to be haunted! According to folklore, the Brandy Gap or Flinderation Tunnel
http://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/201....
And the Silver Run Tunnel
http://users.wirefire.com/magick/new_page_9.htm
have quite a gruesome history!
In addition to the 10 tunnels still in service, the trail passes the remnants of 10 other tunnels that have been bypassed, collapsed or abandoned.
The trail from Parkersburg to Toll Gate is fairly well maintained but a few sections are not recommended for narrow tired road bikes. West of Toll Gate, the trail is in rather poor condition in places and suitable mainly for serious riders on hybrid or mountain bikes. Be advised the tunnels can be rough and wet. Flashlights are a must and bring plenty of water due to the distance between places to refill. It is always a good idea to check the above website links for current conditions before planning a ride.
Anyone interested in Benchmark hunting can obtain detailed data sheets for each mark by going here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_pid.prl The PID is the waypoint name symbolized by the color coded cube icons. Green= Recovered within the last 10 years. Blue= No recent recovery but set in a massive structure which still exists. Red= Likely missing or reported destroyed.
Be aware that the GPS coordinates provided in this file for benchmarks are approximate and can be off by as much as 600 feet. In most cases, the specific detailed information provided on the data sheets is necessary to locate the benchmark. The on line data sheets are easily converted into .PDF files and can be stored on most smartphones.
Free, legal, 24K and 100K topo map downloads for states where these trails are located are available here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ Segments of these maps covering the above trails can be loaded into many older handheld GPS receivers with limited memory by using Garmin’s Mapinstall program available here: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3291
I’ll post more trail files as I update and clean them up.
I always enjoy conversing with fellow bike trail enthusiasts so please feel free to contact me with comments, questions, inclusions or revisions. – Enjoy!
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