Mountwood Park/North Bend Rail Trail Connector to Petroleum

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Allowed

Features Commonly Bikepacked · Views

This route is along lightly travelled public roads, so caution should be exercised by mountain bikers. This route is also well signed by the West Virginia Division of Highways.

This route is one of two backroad connectors between the Stiles Mansion parking lot at Mountwood Park at the end of the Walter Taitt Trail and the North Bend Rail Trail. The North Bend Rail Trail is also a part of the American Discovery Trail, and as it travels eastward, it allows riders and bikepackers to access the wonderful trail network at North Bend State Park from Mountwood Park.

This route begins on a short, paved section of Volcano Road, and after about a mile, it turns right onto the gravel CR 11 (Petroleum Ridge Road). It then climbs up onto a beautiful, high ridge with occasional fantastic views into the heavily wooded valleys below. This route ends with a nearly two-mile gravel descent that finishes along a flat section of gravel road that follows Oil Spring Run (known as the place where the first engine-drilled oil well in the world was sunk in the mid-1800s).

Once you reach the Petroleum trailhead of the North Bend Rail Trail, you may continue eastward into the mountains of West Virginia or westward toward the Ohio River. Regardless, the North Bend Rail Trail is overflowing with natural beauty and historic sites that are absolutely worth experiencing.