• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

  • Beginning April 1st, and running through April 30th, there is a new 2024 BMW MOA Election discussion area within The Club section of the forum. Within this forum area is also a sticky post that provides the ground rules for participating in the Election forum area. Also, the candidates statements are provided. Please read before joining the conversation, because the rules are very specific to maintain civility.

    The Election forum is here: Election Forum

West Virginia

W

wwalton

Member
Planning a Spring trip from Florida up through GA, NC to WV, up hwy 16 then over and back on mostly 20 with a side trip to Green Bank. Most likely the first week of May, perhaps the last week of April. Anything I should be looking out for in that time frame? Should I hold off a few weeks? Any advice is welcome. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
At April's end there is a chance of the roads being messy from a late snow fall. I would wait for mid May if you can.

If going to Green Bank you may as well stop at The Cass Railroad. After your visit there and directly behind the RR building take Rt 1 North to US 250 between Durbin, WV and Cheat Bridge, WV. Head south on 250 past Durbin and pick up Rt 28... run that north through Cherry Grove to Judy Gap... Left onto Rt 33N to Riverton, WV for lunch at the Gateway Restaurant. After lunch at the Gateway and while your there go on up Briery Gap Rd to The Spruce Knob Observation Tower. From there you can go anywhere!

Spruce Knob Observation Tower http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mnf/recarea/?recid=7053
Cass Railroad. http://www.cassrailroad.com/


FYI: Some fine folks over at Sporttouring.org are pulling together a spring meet at Canaan Valley Resort May 13-15. You should go.

Marty
 
I second the idea of late Apri or May. We tend to push our start of season weekend and 2 years ago we went down April 5-6 and woke up to 25 degrees on Sunday morning. This past spring we waited to the third weekend of April, still frost on the bikes in the morning, but we had stayed in a cabin, so not a big deal.
 
what others said, sand on roads is the main thing. Weather generally pretty good.
 
Timing

Sounding like May is the right call. I hate to wait too long because I want to be on the road before school is out so probably the week preceding Memorial Day, or the one before that. I'll try to figure how to post my planned route. Perhaps someone familiar with the area can point to any obvious bonehead mistakes. Thanks again for your comments.
 
Hi

May want to check out U.S. Route 33 from Harrisonburg, VA to Seneca Rocks, WV. A few years back the American Motorcyclist Association rated it as a top 15 motorcycle road.

Have fun!

Maurice
 
mauricedonini said:
Hi

May want to check out U.S. Route 33 from Harrisonburg, VA to Seneca Rocks, WV. A few years back the American Motorcyclist Association rated it as a top 15 motorcycle road.

Have fun!

Maurice
Click to expand...
We usually run a route 33 - route 250 loop coming out of Stauton Va.
Two of the BEST roads in this part of the country!
Don't miss either one!
jason
 
So after my reply to wait for warm weather, it looks like I will be headed to Seneca Rocks, WV April 22-24. Just the way my riding buddies schedules worked out...... Might opt for a bunk house instead of the tent.
 
Look for Moyers Gap Road, Howard Lick Road, Reddish Knob, Smokehole Road, etc... all in the same area...
 
Depending on how West you go on 250 or 219, you can grab a room at the Brazen Head Inn in Mingo, WVA. Been there a few times. Great place, great food, great inn keepers, and twistelicious heaven in every direction.

Last September, my daughter and I covered 1500 miles in a 5 day trip starting in Winchester, WVA with a stop over Elkins, WVA. Here's an excerpt from our summary which might give you other roads to explore. The great ones were pink lines on the GPS. The best ones were microscopic gray or the ones we found by accident or by asking the locals....

"Those of you who have been there will appreciate our ride down Route 20 and up 219 with endless twists and turns for a good hour + each way. We took a ride to the top of Snow Shoe Mountain and found some fantastic roads through the town of Helvetia. Rode Williams River Road from Webster Springs through the valley of Monongahela National Forest and didn't see another vehicle for a good 30 miles. Then swung up on Route 150-The Scenic Byway and did that one 3 times! Beautiful mountaintop vistas as far as the eye could see. Rode past the Brazen Head Inn in Mingo and the roads were amazing."
 
Suggest you see The New River Gorge and Bridge near Fayetteville, WV. The bridge is spectacular and you can ride the old road (now one way) down into the gorge, across the old bridge and then back up the other side. Its a very fun ride that will take a couple hours tops.
 
Just did a 3 day trip through the WV mountains

Of the trip, the thing that stood out most was the trip on Rt32 - Appalachian Highway from Dolly Sods "Bear Rocks" to Harman WV. The blacktop is new, it is twisty, runs along the Cheat and there is no traffic. Bear Rocks are great. They are all the way at the end of Dolly Sods. If you don't like gravel, you will hate it because there are 9 miles of it, and a fourth of that is going up the mountain. For gravel roads, they are pretty good. Some bumpy parts on the hill and some thicker gravel here and there. The roads are wide enough to be of no concern.

Here are Bear Rocks. In mid to late summer, the Huckleberries and Blueberries are everywhere.

26mIq1Dh.jpg

g67vr8gh.jpg

SX3mIREh.jpg


The Highland Scenic Highway was nice. We went to the bottom of the mountain on HWY 150 to the Williams river and did some trout fishing.

KQNcJzEh.jpg


We went through Cass and Greenbank. Cass doesn't open until Memorial Day weekend, so keep that in mind! Greenbank visitor center was open, but we didn't go in. It's an OK road, but I am a bigger fan of 219 this time of year.

tMzvtT4h.jpg


We stayed at my condo at Snowshoe, and there isn't anything open there until Memorial Day either.
 
bobframe said:
Suggest you see The New River Gorge and Bridge near Fayetteville, WV. The bridge is spectacular and you can ride the old road (now one way) down into the gorge, across the old bridge and then back up the other side. Its a very fun ride that will take a couple hours tops.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is called Fayette Station. It's cool to look up and see that immense bridge. When I was in college, we used to go on the catwalk of that bridge. I don't know if you can now, and even back then we snuck on. :)
 
rocketmanli said:
Depending on how West you go on 250 or 219, you can grab a room at the Brazen Head Inn in Mingo, WVA. Been there a few times. Great place, great food, great inn keepers, and twistelicious heaven in every direction.

Last September, my daughter and I covered 1500 miles in a 5 day trip starting in Winchester, WVA with a stop over Elkins, WVA. Here's an excerpt from our summary which might give you other roads to explore. The great ones were pink lines on the GPS. The best ones were microscopic gray or the ones we found by accident or by asking the locals....

"Those of you who have been there will appreciate our ride down Route 20 and up 219 with endless twists and turns for a good hour + each way. We took a ride to the top of Snow Shoe Mountain and found some fantastic roads through the town of Helvetia. Rode Williams River Road from Webster Springs through the valley of Monongahela National Forest and didn't see another vehicle for a good 30 miles. Then swung up on Route 150-The Scenic Byway and did that one 3 times! Beautiful mountaintop vistas as far as the eye could see. Rode past the Brazen Head Inn in Mingo and the roads were amazing."
Click to expand...

Snowshoe will be pretty much closed till Memorial Day. 219 is in great shape.. 150 is awesome and the Williams river on 150 is the best fishing hole in the state.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

detbmw
Scheduled ETBMW+MC club rides for 2024
Replies
2
Views
612
detbmw
detbmw
S
New to BMW!
Replies
8
Views
1K
6322
6322
B
Introduction
Replies
4
Views
850
langoptc
langoptc
CaptRehkopf
2023 April 1, Ride To Eat, Northweat TN, See the Eagles
Replies
4
Views
2K
CaptRehkopf
CaptRehkopf
M
Cross country ride - suggested routes?
Replies
0
Views
3K
mzeitz
M
Back
Top