Bikepacking the Greenbrier River Trail

Bikepacking combines long distance bicycling with backpacking. My wife and I made our first bikepacking trip on West Virginia’s Greenbrier River Trail.

While I had been backpacking and taken overnight river trips, I was not sure what to expect for bikepacking. I did order panniers and between two bikes, we filled two pairs plus one bike basket with our camping gear, strapping our sleeping bags and one air mattress on top. We encountered another cyclist with a trailer load of gear including a large tent and pillows so it is possible to pull along more stuff. However, this cyclist opted to leave his gear behind during the day whereas we were able to pack things away and pedal to a new site.
The Greenbrier River has 13 primitive campsites along the trail which typically include picnic tables, a tent platform and/or shelter, filtered water via hand-pump, trash cans, and outhouses. We spent our first night at MP 63.8 (mile post) and our second night at MP 69.6. The tent platform was occupied at the first site so we pitched our tent outside the shelter (it was a little dirty). Our second site had two tent areas, a platform next to the shelter, and a larger site on moss, the latter is where we set up camp. Both sites were relatively wild, the former was next to a quiet farm field and the second night had an even more remote feel. On the East Coast, railroads mostly pass through populated areas but the Greenbrier is in rural West Virginia and passes through a state forest and a state park so we heard only deer, owls, and other animals at night. We even stored our food in a tree which previous campers had done but it was unclear whether it was necessary. Compared to other long distance trails, the Greenbrier has relatively well-developed trailside camping.

Riding during the day was extremely straightforward, at times almost boring, and getting lost was impossible. There are nice views of nearby hills and relatively few homes immediately adjacent to the trail. We passed through one short tunnel and two bridges over the Greenbrier and passed a couple of neat old railroad buildings. The few road crossings have very light traffic. While we spend nights in wilderness areas, during the day, we would often pass old farms and a few homes, and then pass through small towns such as Marlinton.

 Marlinton has a couple of trail-oriented businesses. There was an artist’s co-op in Marlinton’s old railroad station. We had lunch at the Dirt Bean, a café and bike shop a block off the trail. While it was late fall and a Saturday, about half of the lunch hour customers were cyclists, albeit about six of us. For all the ballyhoo about cyclists spending lots of money along trails, there were only a handful of us on a Saturday. In fact in three days, we saw about 55 cyclists, a pair of horseback riders, and a pair of backpackers. About half of cyclists had camping gear. Thinking back to the Adirondack rail versus trail debate, despite being a premiere trail, the Greenbrier lacked hordes of cyclists I expected. In fact, I could not find any reliable estimate on how many cyclists and others used the trail or even recent economic impact studies.

The trail is a well-maintained crushed gravel with two trackers for wheels, encouraging side by side riding. Lots of leaves softened the tire noise on the gravel. In terms of bicycle type, I had 700x32c tires and a suspension seatpost, and was very comfortable. The Greenbrier River valley is fairly flat, in fact the river has no major rapids, which makes for a relatively flat trail. While the Cass entrance is 734 feet higher than Caldwell, that drop averages to about 9.5 feet per mile. The trail has lots of shade but some open sections too. There are several shuttle options but they require meeting the shuttle driver at the trail’s end and then riding an hour and a half to the trail’s start. In Maine for about the same amount of money, the shuttle will drive your car to the end of trail for you.

Bottom, I highly recommend this trail, especially if you have never been bikepacking before.

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Additional information
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