Are you looking for a great get-away ATV trip? Look no farther, we recently visited the Suzuki Dirt Days event held at the Hatfield and McCoy trail system. We all look for great places to ride and have family fun, well this is the place. The Hatfield and McCoy trail system has become one of the most visited trails on the East Coast, plenty of riders plan their vacations around such events as Suzuki Dirt Days. The Dirt Days events are held several times a year and provide plenty of riding, entertainment and competition. Once you have attended one of the many summer ride events at the Hatfield and McCoy trail system, you’ll be back. The Hatfield McCoy Trail system located in West Virginia is one of the largest legal riding areas on the East Coast. The trail system has now grown to over 500 miles with five individual trail heads, located in four different counties in West Virginia. Let’s start with The Little Coal River trail Located in Boone County which is just over 75 miles long, Then the Bear Wallow and Rock House in Logan County which are about 125 miles each, Buffalo Mountain in Mingo County comes in at 85 miles and Pinnacle Creek in Wyoming County with a respective length of 100 miles.

Where To Stay/ What To Do:


Don’t worry about where to stay or what to do we have done all your homework for you. Although there are plenty of places to stay and camp, we have found a great place to stay just South of Charleston. Traveling 15 miles south out of Charleston West Virginia on highway 119 a small group of cabins resides. Here we found Kathryn’s Kabins, a quite family oriented cluster of cabins located just a short ATV ride from the main trail. The Little Coal River trail is just a short ATV ride from your cabin, no tailoring required. Should you want to ride all thedifferent trails, Kathryn’s Kabins is an easy drive to any of the Hatfield McCoy trailheads. The cabins are owned and run by the Boone CO. Sheriff, Randall Blethen. We had a great time while visiting with Randy, the cabins are not large but they offer a private bath, heat andair-conditioning, refrigerator and microwave. Personally I liked the family environment, each cabin has a large front porch for relaxing and most evenings Randy will be on hand providing good conversation and catering to anyone’s needs. Each night we would sit around a campfire with the other cabin residents and talk about the days adventurers. Early on when Scott and I were in the planning stage of our trip we wanted to stay just a bit farther way from the main event so we could ride the Little Coal River trail which is about a thirty minute ride form Logan. We felt that there would be a minimal amount of riders on these trails which would give us a better chance to ride one on one with our youngsters and as with younger riders we knew that they would want to do something besides ride the entire trip. Another case of good planning, we found out that just a few hundred yards from the cabins a county owned water park was located just north traveling highway 119. As it turned out we all enjoyed the Water Ways water park, it gave our trip that little extra boost of excitement with two giant downhill water slides a large pool and everyone’s favorite the lazy river.

 
When planning your trip be sure to visit the Trails Heaven website were you can purchase trail permits on line, annual permits range from $25.00 for residents to $75.00 for out-of -state riders, also available are 3 to 7 day permits for $35.00 and a single day permit for $18.00. Rest assure there are plenty of places to stay, and eat along highway 119, just out side of Logan resides the Logan Inn. Also

for any power-sports need there is Keefer’s Kawasaki and Suzuki Motorcycle and ATV dealer and a Super Wal-Mart open 24 hours a day to provide almost anything a rider could need.  



The Hatfield and McCoy trail system is all about having a great time riding and enjoying your vacation. Each morning we would pack our gear and ride our ATVs from the cabins directly to the Waterways Trailhead of the Little Coal River trail system. The trails on this system are mostly rated easy with a few sections marked more difficult and just two small sections marked most difficult. We would loop the rated easy trails starting with trail ten to trail seventeen and then try to make our way back on trail eighteen but we never did make the entire loop. The day would always pass by way to fast and before we knew how long we were on the trail it would be time to head back to the cabins. Our daily trail rides needed to end by around five-o-clock each day because everyone wanted to be in Logan at the Rolling Thunder X-treme race park in time for that nights ATV events.

Suzuki Dirt Days:

This Suzuki Sponsored event ran from June29th thru July 4th. The main event headquarters was located with in The Rolling Thunder X-treme Race Park, just outside of Logan West Virginia. Each day events such as poker runs, mud pit competitions, drag racing, sled pulls and the ATV Hill climbing would bring plenty of competitors as well as spectators. Last report we had was that there were over 3000 spectators and 750 participants in the Suzuki Dirt Days competitions. Each evening the crowds would forum around the main event for that evening, our first night it was the mud-pit competition which turned out to be quite exciting. The mud pit was a switch-back channel of deep, thick mud which snaked its way around several corners and beyond each corner another new mud hole would lie. The last portion of the mud pit was a 40 yard long straight-away leading to the finish line. The mud-pit competition was a timed event with the shortest lap time presenting the winner. The crowd found this event to be very exciting, probably because the edge of the pit was so close to the roped off area for spectators which made for an excellent view of all the action. This is the place to be for true ATV excitement. The following night was the ATV Drag competition, each class would line up in the pit area just waiting for their class to run, first off were a few of the modified drags. These machines ran some of the fastest times I’ve ever seen, running some pretty extreme 2-stroke engines. We even had a chance to see a few of these modified ATVs are set up just for weight-sled pulling and believe me, it was a full-pull every time for these radical ATVs. The Rolling Thunder X-terme race park is set up quite well. As the night progressed racers from each class would line-up and when it was their turn, they would be motioned to the starting line. At this point each rider would set the line waiting for the staging light to turn green. We could only imagine the excitement these riders felt, racing other enthusiasts each putting their skills and machines to the test. At the end of each run the racers receive a print-out of there timed run, perhaps a memento of their fastest race. Now that the ATV drags were in full swing the priority. Before each event the track personnel would give the youth riders a chance to participate in the  next event started, the hill-climbing event which really turned out to be a crowd pleaser. I have to hand it to the Rolling Thunder X-treme Race Park, they make the youth rider’s top scheduled race. Even the ATV hill climb, track personnel would line-up the length of the first section of the main hill and be there in case any of the young rider’s encountered trouble. On this particular evening only two youth riders made the hill, both on Suzuki LT 80s and yes, I’m proud to say my son was one of the youth riders that made the hill that night. It’s strange and exciting to share in a child’s first race experience, I have to admit parents worry about something happening but the Rolling Thunder crew made every effort for a safe run.

Next came the full size hill climbing ATVs most were modified with engine and suspension work and with good reason. The main event hill was very steep and long, it was recommended that only modified ATVs should enter this event. The crowd loved the hill-climbing ATVs, everyone’s attention was focused on how far each entry would make the climb. Quite a few riders tried the hill but is seemed that the two stroke machines had the advantage once again with quite a few Yamaha banshee’s doing well.

Nightly competitions included the ATV Mud-Pit Competition, ATV drag racing, weighted sled drags and the Hill-climb Competition. The evening events provided plenty of entertainment for competitors as well as spectators, this years Suzuki Dirt Days totaled 750 competitors and over 3000 spectators with the ATV drag racing and Hill-climbing events being crowd favorites. We have to hand it to the Rolling Thunder staff and the Hatfield/McCoy personal, they provided a large group of enthusiasts with safe Competition, entertainment and an opportunity to make new friends.We spent the week in West Virginia riding and having a great time, our trip provided wholesome entertainment and gave us the opportunity to spend a few days doing what we love with our family. Check the Trails Heaven website for more information on scheduled Hatfield and McCoy Trail events.