A 161-mile one-way ride on the Coal Heritage Trail National Scenic Byway, from Bluefield through the McDowell County coal towns and Beckley down to Fayette Station, under the New River Gorge Bridge.
West Virginia Bikers publishes routes as a guide, not a guarantee. Roads change, conditions change, and GPX data can be wrong — check the weather, judge the surface for yourself, and ride your own ride. Road conditions, closures, traffic and wildlife are yours to assess on the day. Riding a motorcycle carries inherent risk. We do not verify or warrant the accuracy of any route, map or GPX file, and you ride at your own risk.
The Coal Heritage Trail is a National Scenic Byway, and it follows the towns the coal industry built, one company store at a time. This version runs one way, south to north: Bluefield to the New River Gorge in a long day.
Start in Bluefield and swing through Bramwell, the old millionaires' town, then on to Kimball, where the War Memorial was the first in the country built to honor African American veterans of World War I. Welch is the natural lunch stop. From there the road works west through Iaeger, then turns north through Pineville and Mullens. It's the quietest stretch of the day, mostly creek, ridge and coal camp.
Beckley brings you back to traffic for a few miles before the last leg into Fayette County. Save something for the end: Fayette Station Road drops you down the gorge wall in a run of tight switchbacks, across the river on the Tunney Hunsaker Bridge, and straight under the New River Gorge Bridge.
Built by riders
Gravel in the turns, a road closure, the best lunch stop on the loop — riders post it in the group first.
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