Twelve towns. Eight counties. More than 1,000 miles of gravel. West Virginia’s Mon Forest just became one of the most compelling bikepacking destinations in the eastern United States.
The Mon Forest Towns Partnership has formally launched a curated gravel and bikepacking route network spanning its eight-county region around the Monongahela National Forest. The network — developed over more than a year with involvement from V2V Trails, Mountain Rides LLC, and Bikepacking Roots — includes routes ranging from family-friendly day rides to multi-day backcountry bikepacking adventures, all navigable through the Ride With GPS platform. The routes were mapped in collaboration with locals from each of the 12 Mon Forest Towns, including Elkins, Davis, Thomas, Marlinton, Franklin, Seneca Rocks, and White Sulphur Springs, which serve as hubs and departure points across the system.
The initiative was funded in part through an ARC POWER Grant and represents one of the most ambitious trail-based tourism development projects in WV’s recent history. A companion event — the Bikepacking Roots East Coast Summit — is scheduled for Marlinton, May 29–June 1, 2026, and is expected to draw bikepacking community leaders from across the region. The Bikepacking Roots summit alone signals that the Mon Forest has arrived as a destination on the national bikepacking circuit — not just a place people pass through on the way to somewhere else.
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