Some places are just made for biking. Start with just-right rolling terrain, add diverse riding surfaces from singletrack to country roads, and top it all off with epic scenery. That’s Pocahontas County, West Virginia, home to the rolling Allegheny Mountains and shady trails of the Monongahela National Forest and rightfully known as Nature’s Mountain Playground. It’s a place with accessible outdoor adventure for all ages and vibrant mountain towns that ground the experience in welcoming rural communities. And when you explore from the seat of a bike, you’ll go at the perfect pace for taking it all in, with long-distance rail trails, scenic highways, and world-class mountain biking terrain to guide your way.

Ride the Rails

A day of cycling along Pocahontas County’s river trails is one of the most immersive ways to experience the quiet splendor of the Alleghenies. Get a taste along the iconic Greenbrier River Trail, which meanders alongside its namesake waterway for 78 miles through lush forests and thriving wildlife habitats. Go the full distance or take it in sections. With a grade of less than 1% throughout, the trail is accessible to most riders—gravel and mountain bikes or e-bikes are recommended—while unique features like its 37 bridge crossings and two 400-plus-foot tunnels make it more than just a simple river ride. The same can be said of the 22-mile West Fork Trail, a remote route that offers plenty of opportunities for hiking and fishing side quests. E-bikes are not permitted on this trail since it’s within the Monongahela National Forest.

Pocahontas County Trails

Sample the Singletrack

Beginner, expert, or somewhere in between? No matter where you are on the mountain biking spectrum, Pocahontas County has trails for you. Novice riders can experience a truly unique outing at the Green Bank Observatory, home to the world’s largest steerable radio telescope, along with 15-plus miles of beginner and intermediate trails. If you’re looking to progress your skills, head to the Mower Basin Trail System, a haven of beginner and intermediate riding where shady singletrack opens to rolling meadows and panoramic views along 12-plus miles of stacked loop trails. Mower Basin is also a conservation success story—once cleared for strip mining, the area is now a budding home for both red spruce trees and outdoor recreation.

Mower Basin Trails

Meanwhile, the downhill mecca of Snowshoe Mountain Resort plays host to nearly 40 trails and 1,500 vertical feet of lift-serviced riding, offering everything from easy freeride trails to technical descents and park-focused features. Known as one of the East’s best mountain bike parks, Snowshoe also offers access to its own backcountry trail system.

Snowshoe Mountain Resort Trails

Country Roads

When it comes to road riding, the jewel of Pocahontas County is the Highland Scenic Highway. This 43-mile National Scenic Byway is the kind of road that cyclists dream of. This low-traffic route climbs from 2,325 feet to more than 4,500, delivering challenging terrain and expansive views of some of the most remote reaches of the Allegheny Range along the way.

And while all cycling is great in Nature’s Mountain Playground, gravel riders are especially spoiled. That’s because the Mon Forest Towns Partnership has put together an extensive collection of gravel routes throughout the Monongahela National Forest, with 60-plus rides ranging from casual day adventures to serious multiday bikepacking trips. An overnight or all-day ride in Pocahontas County is an ideal way to experience one of the country’s most rugged and remote landscapes, fittingly curated by those who call it home.

Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCCVB), located in West Virginia, promotes Nature’s Mountain Playground, where unspoiled landscapes, rich heritage, and year-round outdoor recreation create meaningful visitor experiences. Through strategic marketing and partnerships, PCCVB supports sustainable tourism that strengthens local communities while preserving the region’s natural beauty and cultural legacy.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – West Virginia Virtual Academy celebrated its second graduating class Tuesday at the Clay Center.

The ceremony featured a keynote speech and performance from West Virginia native and season six winner of America’s Got Talent’ Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., where he set out to inspire the class.

The class graduated 140 students, with eight earning a Promise Scholarship and 26 intending to attend college in the fall.

The academy’s director Doug Cipoletti said the virtual learning is about more than sitting behind a screen.

“Then we provide this [ceremony] where kids can actually come together and meet one another and build those relationships,” Cipoletti said. “So yes, we’re a virtual school, but there’s a lot more to it than just being behind a computer and I think that really shows today.”

West Virginia Virtual Academy is a K-12 school.

West Virginia Democrats have a competition for leader of the state party.

Teresa Toriseva, who currently serves as first vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, says she is running for the top spot currently held by Mike Pushkin, who also serves as a state delegate from Charleston.

“This is not a civil war within the Democratic Party. On the contrary, the party is quite unified in message and in mission. And that’s what I found as I’ve been campaigning to run for chair, and I’ve never believed it to be more true,” Toriseva said on MetroNews Midday. “It’s an exciting time for what is a growing, robust opposition party.”

But, “There has been a call for us to prepare for the future better and differently than the past and one of those things that I’m going to be focusing on is building relationships with coalition members from groups that think like us, groups that want to work together with us, from labor to women’s groups to organizing groups that are on the ground doing the work, bringing messages to voters.”

Toriseva is a Wheeling attorney who ran in 2024 for state attorney general, losing in the general election.

Democrats, which used to be the dominant political party in West Virginia, now have almost 327,000 registered voters in the state, about 27% of the overall number of registered voters.

The Republican Party has more than 521,000 registered voters, about 43% of the total number.

Toriseva says Democrats have had a successful period of candidate recruitment that can serve as a base for revitalization.

“Democrats are back, and does that mean we’re going to look like we did a decade ago? No, it’s a new party, and we’re moving forward in a new way, but the future is going to look very different than the past,” she said.

Democrats, under the direction of their own bylaws and state code, are having an organizational meeting at 3 p.m. Saturday in Charleston. The meeting’s focus will be on the election of officers. The meeting will be broadcast to the public via wvdemocrats.com/live

Toriseva has worked alongside Pushkin as one of the top officers of the party for the past several years.

“It’s either have an election now or anoint the incumbent for four more years, and so I do think that elections are healthy, that competitive elections are a sign of a growing and robust party and I don’t think that it’s any indication of a civil war,” Toriseva said.

Pushkin, in response, agreed that anyone is entitled to run for chair and make their case to the members of the executive committee.

And he said the resurgence of the West Virginia Democratic Party has been the result of the hard work of county committees, labor organizations, women’s clubs, Young Democrats, grassroots activists, candidates and countless volunteers across the state.

“What leadership does deserve credit for is creating a plan, bringing people together around that plan, and providing the tools and support necessary to execute it. Our record-breaking candidate recruitment effort did not happen by accident,” Pushkin said.

He said party leaders developed an organizing strategy, held weekly recruitment calls, engaged county leaders and allied organizations, launched the first large-scale candidate recruitment texting program in party history and raised funds to cover filing fees for candidates willing to step forward and put their names on the ballot.

“The question before us now is not who gets credit. The question is whether we continue building on that momentum or allow ourselves to become distracted by internal disagreements while Republicans remain deeply divided,” Pushkin said.

“My focus remains exactly where it has always been: bringing Democrats together, supporting our candidates and taking the fight to Republicans every single day.”