Virtual Tour Fernow Experimental Forest

The Mileage and Ride Time (RT) figures were taken from my bike computer. Ride Time is just the time actually moving. Your total trip time will be higher. There are two photos with the each "Mile and RT" listing. Usually the first photo is the view up the trail and the second is the view looking back. Two views for the price of one.

Click on photo to enlarge

Mile: 0 RT 0:0 Loop Start Begin the loop in Mill Race Park in Parsons. This is a small well maintained city park off Route 219 and next to the Black Fork River. From the parking lot get on the paved bike path and go left (northwest).
Mile: 0.1 Intersection with McFadden St. Turn right off the bike path onto McFadden Street. At the stop sign turn right onto Pennsylvania Ave/Route 219 East
Mile: 0.4 Black Fork River Bridge Off to the right you can see the old bridge piers of the Western Maryland Railroad.
Mile: 0.5 Allegheny Highlands Trail ahead. After crossing the bridge look for the sign for the Allegheny Highlands Trail. Get on the AHT. It's right next to the road.
Further out this road is the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Timber and Watershed Lab. The Fernow Experimental Forest is managed from this station.
Mile: 1 RT 0:6 Allegheny Highlands Trail The Allegheny Highlands Trail sits on the old railbed of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway. The rails were first laid through here in the late 1880s.The WVC&PR was later bought up by the Western Maryland Railroad.
Mile: 1.4 Black Fork River

Mile: 1.6

Then & Now: How it looked here in 1957.

Mile: 2   RT 0:11

Allegheny Highlands Trail
The trail passes through the small town
of Hambleton.

Mile: 2.9

Then & Now: How it looked here in 1906.

Mile: 3 RT 0:16 Allegheny Highlands Trail Just ahead you can see part of Hendricks, WV.
Hendricks, WV At one time Hendricks was an important railroad town. Extra locomotives were stationed here to help get trains up the steep Blackwater Canyon grade. Here are now and then photos of the First National Bank of Hendricks. Notice how the front of the bank faces the railroad and not the main street since this was where the action was. The bank closed during the depression of the 1930's.
Mile: 3.1 Allegheny Highlands Trail trailhead We turn off the trail just ahead at the stop sign. In the distance you can see the end of the trail and the beginning of the Blackwater Canyon.
Second Street After turning right at the stop sign go down Second Street till it ends. The street ends at a cement berm that was built to protect the town after the Flood of 1985. Time for a short history break.

The Flood Of 1985
Saint George Bridge over the Cheat River.

Photo courtesy of John Warner.

"The floods of 1985 devastated much of West Virginia. Authorities called the record-breaking floods that began November 4 the worst this century. More than 3,500 homes and 180 businesses were wiped out. 123 bridges were destroyed or damaged and hundreds of thousands of farm animals were killed. 47 West Virginians lost their lives, 28 of whom resided in Pendleton and Grant counties. 33 of West Virginia's 55 counties were declared disaster areas. Damage was estimated at $570 million."
West Virginia Division of Culture and History

Mile: 3.3

Black Fork River Suspension Bridge
The first footbridge was built in 1901
to access the town of Brooklyn Heights.
This town was built after Hendricks
voted itself "dry". Brooklyn Heights
was "wet" with the Cream Of Kentucky
saloon

There is a reason for the
warning sign.

Black Fork River Suspension Bridge In the photo you can see there is a broken board causing a gap in the deck of the bridge. It has been fixed since I took this picture but as you cross the bridge walk to the side and not the middle. Just in case.
Black Fork River Look left (east) from the middle of the bridge. Three different rivers are visible. The river coming from the right is the Dry Fork. Coming from the left is the Blackwater River. The two combine to create the Black Fork River which you are standing over.
After crossing the bridge turn right (west) onto Brooklyn Heights Road. It is a gravel road. The second photo is looking back toward the bridge we just crossed. In the distance is Backbone Mountain on the left. Blackwater Canyon in the middle and Canaan Mountain on the right.
Mile: 4 RT 0:24 Brooklyn Heights Road Ride surface has become pavement.
Mile: 4.3 On the other side of this rock outcropping is the lower end of Elk Lick Run. The original logging railroad used this run as the route up the mountain. From this point on it is almost all uphill for the next 5 miles.
Mile: 4.5 Intersection with Forest Road 701 Turn left off of Brooklyn Heights Road onto Forest Road 701. The Forest Road is gravel.

Welcome to the Fernow Experimental Forest
The Forest sits on land that was orginally
granted to Francis and William Deakon in
1783. The Elk Lick Lumber Company
bought the timber rights in 1901.
The company built a logging
railroad and cut timber between 1903
and 1911. This land then became part of the
original 7200 acres purchased in 1915 to
create the Monongahela National Forest.
In 1934 the Fernow Experimental Forest
was established.

Since the forest is also used as a teaching tool there are a number of wooden signs that explain the forest and some of the experiments underway. The date of 2061 on the second sign shows that some of these are to be long term experiments. If you'd like to see more of these signs click HERE.
Since this is a managed forest there is the possibility of active logging. Be on the lookout for logging trucks. Give them a wide berth.
Mile: 5 RT 0:33 Forest Road 701
Mile: 5.4 The runoff from John B. Hollow flows under the road. Look to the right of the right of the road and you'll see a old pipe. You can see it's purpose farther along.

Elk Lick Run flows just to the left side
of Forest Road 701. The Forest Road
follows the path of the original logging
railroad that was built here in the
early 1900's.

Otter Creek Boom and Lumber Company - 1902.
This is a picture of a Shay Locomotive.
A Shay Locomotive is a type of geared steam
engine that was needed to transverse the
steep rail grades used in mountain logging
operations. This particular engine was
built in 1897. It and other Shay Locomotives
were used by the Otter Creek Boom and Lumber
Company to log the land around Otter Creek
from 1897 to 1914. The Otter Creek Wilderness
lies next to the Fernow Experimental Forest.

Mile: 6 RT 0:42 Forest Road 701
Mile: 6.4 Forest Service Maintenance Buildings There are a few other things in the area around the maintenance buildings. Forest Road 704 heads across Elk Lick Run towards Hickman Slide Hollow.
Fernow map

Wilson Hollow Weir

Mile: 6.8 Forest Road 701 crosses over Elk Lick Run. The stream will now be on the right hand side.
Mile: 7 RT 0:52 Forest Road 701
Mile: 7.1 Parsons Reservoir Through the trees you can just make out the dam for the Parsons Reservoir. Constructed in 1934-36 by the Civilian Conservation Corps this was the main water supply for Parsons until 1996. The exposed old pipe at loop mile 5.4 was part of that water system.
Mile: 7.2 Forest Road 701 splits. Both roads are actually FR 701 since the road will go up McGowan Mountain then loop back to this point. Take the left (uphill) fork.
Mile: 7.8 Zero Grade Trail Big Spring Gap Trailhead There is a parking area for both trails. The Zero Grade Trail is a short flat walk that shows different forest harvesting methods. Big Spring Gap trail is part of the Otter Creek Wilderness. No bike are allowed in the Wilderness area but we are OK here in the Experimental Forest.
Mile: 8 RT 1:08 Forest Road 701
Mile: 8.3 Turkey Run Trailhead Also part of the Otter Creek Wilderness.
Mile: 9 RT 1:16 Forest Road 701
Mile: 9.2 Intersection with McGowan Mountain Road Forest Road 324/McGowan Mountain Road branches off to the left (south). Stay on FR 701. This marks the highest point on the bike loop. There will be a downhill section before the climb up Fork Mountain.
Mile: 10 RT 1:21 Forest Road 701 Intersection with Forest Road 709 Leave FR 701 and get on FR709. This road heads up Fork Mountain. FR 701 continues downhill back to the reservoir.
Mile: 10.1 Intersection with Forest Road 828 Turn left at the intersection onto Forest Road 828. This is also called Stonelick Road.

Forest Road 828
This road isn't as well traveled as
the previous forest roads were. Road
surface starting to head towards dual
track.

Mile: 10.8 There is an unmarked intersection. Go left.
Mile: 11 RT 1:31 Forest Road 828
Mile: 12 RT 1:37 Forest Road 828
Off to the left you can see several soil emergence traps being used for a study of SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF SPRINGTIME PRESCRIBED FIRES ON ADULT POPULATIONS OF SOIL-EMERGING WEEVILS IN CENTRAL APPALACHIAN HARDWOOD STANDS.
Mile: 13 RT 1:45 Forest Road 828
Mile: 13.2 Intersection with County Road 41 Forest Road 828 and the Fernow Experimental Forest both end here. Go right (north) onto County Road 41. The view up CR 41. Gravel Road.

Mile: 13.5

Looking left across the Shavers Fork
River valley. Looking towards Laural Run
on Cheat Mountain.

Mile: 14 RT 1:52 County Road 41
Mile: 15 RT 1:57 County Road 41
Mile: 15.3 Shavers Fork River Here's our first good view of the Shavers Fork River as it flows to Parsons. The city sits where the Shavers Fork and Black Fork Rivers combine to create the Cheat River. The loop has now passed within sight of four different rivers. The Blackwater River, Dry Fork, Black Fork and Shavers Fork.
Mile: 16 RT 2:04 County Road 41
Mile: 17 RT 2:09 County Road 41 Road has become pavement.

Mile: 17.3

The rock outcropping on the right marks
the last uphill stretch.

As you climb the hill you can just see
the top of the Tucker County Court
House clock tower in the distance.
The clock was bought in 1920 with money
collected from fines for bootlegging.

Mile: 17.7 The outskirts of Parsons Shortly you will crest this hill and then it's downhill almost all the way back to the beginning. To wind your way through this section of Parsons just keep heading downhill.
Mile: 18 RT 2:17 Long Street in Parsons At the stop sign just ahead go left.
Mile: 18.7 The road flattens out as we come up to dual intersections. You can see the bike route signs for the Allegheny Highlands Trail on the first road. Turn right onto the first road. The second road is Route 219.
At the end of this street the bike route goes left. If you were driving to the Fernow Experimental Forest you would go right here.
Mile: 18.9 You are now back in Mill Race Park. Here is the intersection with McFadden St where we first turned out of the park.
Mile: 19 RT 2:22 Mill Race Park, Parsons Right at 19 miles and within sight of where the loop began. I'll end it here. Once nice feature of this park is the public restroom. You might need it after 19 miles.

Some information on this web page taken
from the most excellent book Tucker County
by Cynthia A. Phillips.
Arcadia Publishing

A great visual guide to the early
history of this part of West Virginia.