A major regional bikepacking network just got bigger — and the story of how it was built is worth telling.
The Mon Forest Towns Partnership announced a new gravel and bikepacking route network spanning its 12-town corridor — and a key part of that network now reaches Hardy County in WV’s Eastern Highlands. The expansion was developed through a collaboration between V2V Trails, Mountain Rides LLC, and Bikepacking Roots, whose teams met with local stakeholders at Sweet Water Farm Trail Center in Sugar Grove to begin mapping routes through the upstream Potomac Highlands region. Hardy County’s inclusion adds trails through rugged Grant County countryside near the Spring Run Trout Hatchery, with routes extending into Virginia’s George Washington National Forest.
The full network — branded under the Mon Forest Towns Partnership and navigable through Ride With GPS — now spans more than 1,000 miles of curated gravel and bikepacking routes, making it one of the largest route systems of its kind on the East Coast. V2V Trails, founded by David Landis, played a central role in curating, documenting, and GPS-mapping the routes that make up the network. The result is a system that connects isolated rural communities via rideable terrain, positioning individual towns as hubs within a destination-grade outdoor recreation network. Hardy County’s connection to that system is a significant step for a county that often falls outside the region’s mainstream outdoor recreation spotlight.
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