Peter Eddy Trail

Overview

Expanding Monongalia County

When I first started searching out new trails, I thought Mon. County would be pretty lackluster. I expected more remote counties to be the best place to find new paths. I mistakenly believed that large patches of forest and low populations were the keys to offroad trails. That’s partially true, but it’s only part of the story.

The part I somehow missed was the road itself. A forest is an excellent place for a trail, but roads don’t just pop up. They are put there for a reason. The real key to finding trails in West Virginia is looking at rural areas that once had higher populations or more industry, typically coal or timber. When you combine these, you wind up with old roads that haven’t been maintained in years. Thankfully, we have plenty of old access roads that are still public.

A Jaunt Through the Woods

Peter Eddy Road is a short track but a lot of fun. It begins and ends near a few houses, and I suspect it was once a shortcut up and over the mountain before better roads prevailed. There is one main through-trail and numerous other offshoots to explore. I haven’t mapped the entire system yet, so I don’t know if they go anywhere or are simply out and back detours. But they do give you a lot of areas to explore. If you want to make a full day of it, you can explore the nearby trails, Doll’s Run and Mt. Harmon.