North Fork Trail

Hike Name: North Fork Trail Location: east WV Length: 24 Submitted by: John Wallace Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more West Virginia trail reviews West Virginia national parks West Virginia state parks
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Description
Unfortunately, this trail has changed significantly and doesn't provide the kind of vistas and views it once did. The trails have been moved down from the ridge, and the vistas are now pretty far off the trail. There is the occasional branch-off that will put you on the ridge, but they are pretty far apart. Hiking this trail is pretty much nothing more than a walk in the woods. As described in the other review of this trail, there are a number of nicely established campsites available. We just made the trek from south to north this past weekend (8/14/06)and were actually pretty disappointed. Last year we visited this area and hiked up the north side and camped overnight at the "North Fork Hilton", my title for the site located at around the 21 mile point (as measured from the south) if hiking up the North side, it's approximately 3 miles from the trail head. My recommendation would be to make a two-day hike, entering from the north. This is a reatively steep grade to the top, gaining a couple thousand feet or so over the three mile hike. You can set up camp at the "Hilton" and still have some time to explore some of the vistas before it gets too dark, and enjoy dinner on one of the many close by vistas as you watch the sun set. Then of course much of the following day to day-hike further on the trail to experience more of the incredible rock formations and views that stretch along for about a mile from the campsite, and still make it back down in time for dinner at the 4U Diner.
There is absolutely no water, so packing in your water is a must. If you do intend to hike the entire trail, you can make a water stash in the middle of trail by going to rt 79 and taking it to the radio tower also mentioned in the other review. This is also a great place to camp as there is plenty of flat space, although there is the ocassional vehicle that might drive by as this is right next to the Jeep trail. We encounterd several vehicles on this road as hunters brought their dogs up for training purposes. Other than that, once on the trail, we saw no one. The trail does run along the road for about a mile. By the way, there were 7 in our party, and the sites we used all accommodated us wonderfully (2 two-person tents and three bivvies) with plenty of space to spare. We did have one brief bear encounter that ended quickly with some whistling and banging on things. At another site, we had deer openly grazing closely to us and actually in our campsite at night.
I don't really recommend the full hike, as it just doesn't seem worthwhile for all the work. Packing your water is a lot of work and there's just no real payoffs along the way. The best payoffs are on the north end, and if I were to do this again, I wouldn't even consider the full hike. If you want to fill up a few days hiking, do the north side, then spend a night at the Seneca Shadows campground, and day hike Dolly Sods and/or Spruce Knob, which is the highest point of West Virginia. Both of those areas also provide excellent opportunity for camping. The sunset from Spruce Knob is well worth the visit. Also be sure to visit Seneca Rocks. There is a short hike to an observation deck, and short (yet discouraged) "boulder" to the rocks themselves affords an absolutely incredible view. Just be very careful; this is not the place to get cocky. One of the members of our party actually discovered a body up there some years back while climbing the face, and 16 year old girl was goofing around and fell to her death last year. That's not to say it's all that trecherous if you're careful, but obviously, it can be fatal if youre careless.
In general, there is a LOT to see in this area. Spare yourself the full hike of North Fork Trail, just do the north part in-and-out, and take the extra time to enjoy the many other areas this part of WV has to offer.
My rating is for the full hike. I would rate the north part by itself as a definite five.
One last thiing, there are services in the area that will do your water drop for you, as well as shuttle you to/from your car, for a fee of course. If you're at all pressed for time and plan to do the entire route, one of thse services would be well advised, as the water drop alone took us close to 3 hours in a 4 wheel Blazer. Don't even try it in a car.

Directions to Hike
Rt 33 to the south side of the mountain. The trail starts at a steel gate on the side of the road. It's not marked, so you have to be paying attention. This entrance is private property, so you need to park west of the trail head at the pulloff on the side of the road. Don't block the gate!
To enter from the north, take Roots Run Road. The trail head is approximately a mile from route 33 and is fairly obvious.

Contact Information
Little information is available from public sources that we could find. The 90 year old women at the Seneca Rocks visitors center knew nothing about the trail.

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