Fellow Wisconsinites on the Hatfield-McCoy trails.
So we traveled the 12 hours from Wisconsin to West Virginia and our first day on the trail we ran into some other riders from Kenosha, WI, less than 30 minutes from us back home! They were staying at the Blue Goose as well and were leaving the day after we arrived. Kind of crazy we have to travel half way across the country to meet fellow Wisconsin riders.
I didn’t get their names but they were zipping down one of the harder descents and enjoying their last day on the trails. Most of our group was on bigger dual sport/adventure bikes and not quite so brave to risk that drop-off so we turned back around and took an easier route. No need to be heroes our first day out on the bikes in months.
Dropping down the big hill. It never looks as hard in the pictures!
One of the really cool things about the Buffalo Mountain trails (one of the six trail systems that make up the Hatfield-McCoy trails) is that there is a pretty wide variety of trails and difficulty so you can always find something to fit your skill level. Even some of the “easier” trails can throw a challenge or two your way when you hit some of the rocky climbs especially if it happens to be raining and making things a little slick.
Remus silencers on our 950 Adventures with 2-into-1 conversions
Craig and Matthew both were riding KTM 950 Adventures and this trip was a shake-down run in prep of their Alaska trip this summer. They both are running the CJ Designs 2-into-1 exhaust with Remus silencers. This setup saves about 15 lbs. and frees up space on the left side for other storage needs. Remus is one of the few pipes that will stand up to the added flow going from two to one and is also a spark arrested silencer so you don’t have to worry about starting any unwanted fires! This is a proven setup that works well on these bikes and Dual Sport Warehouse recommends Remus silencers when making this conversion.
We managed to get them nice and muddy – these are dual sport bikes!
Riding the rail bed to the Rock House trails
One of the unique things about riding in this area is that once you buy the $50 trail pass (good for a year) it’s pretty much anything goes. You can ride dirt bikes or atv’s w/o plates, lights or any road gear on the roads, into town and just about anywhere you want to go. We road down the rail bed for about 15 miles to get to the Rock House trails and you are literally riding less that a foot or so from the trains and you can see if you can out pace the train for a while! Don’t mess up or you’ll pay dearly.
Crossing the river by the train tracks
There’s lots of rivers and creek crossings in this area. It seems like the water running out of the hills is everywhere. This one was one of the few that was clear water. Most were muddy from all the rain run-off water washing the mud out of the mountains.
Matthew found the limits of what a stock 950 Adventure could do in the mud
Although this picture doesn’t look like a very steep climb it was worse than it looks and Matthew couldn’t get enough traction on the big 950 to continue this climb. It got steeper and rockier the farther you went and his tires were so full of mud that he was just spinning. Even with two guys pushing it was going nowhere. Craig was able to get through with the two wheel drive 950 Adventure but without the extra wheel pulling Matthew had to turn around and take a different route home. Craig went with him so that he wasn’t riding alone.
That left Dennis, Dan and myself to explore the rest of the Rock House trails.
A wet riding day on some tricky trails
With Dennis in the lead we rode all day in the rain, up and down lots of slippery, rocky hills with a nice layer of slick mud so you really had to pay attention or you’d end up on your head. We didn’t stop much, just kept a nice quick pace and covered a lot of ground that day. Not very many pictures though because of the limited stops.
We had started kind of late in the day so we were approaching darkness by the time we got off the trails and back to the road to take us home. The temperature was dropping pretty fast, it was raining and we had about 30 road miles to get back to the Blue Goose. By the time we got back we were very happy to crawl off our muddy bikes and jump into a hot shower and clean up for another great meal put on by Bill and Theresa.
My KTM 560 with a Giant Loop Mojavi bag & Leo Vince X3 pipe
For this trip I had equipped my bike with a Giant Loop Mojavi bag that is the perfect size for day trips from a base camp. Just enough room to carry a couple water bottles, tool pack, tubes, tire irons and a few snacks… everything you need for a day ride.
I have been running the Leo Vince X3 silencer on my bike for about 9 mons now and it has performed well. Quiet enough to keep everybody happy but it still has a good sound, it has a built in spark arrestor and the power is more than enough. It’s stainless steel construction so it’s very durable and I have to say it’s been a great addition to the bike. Leo Vince has models that will fit most current dirt bikes. Email us at info@dualsportwarehouse for pricing and applications.
It covers all segments of the motorsports world from watercraft to motocross so you are sure to find something you need if you take the time to check it out.
