Cranberry/Tri-Rivers Rail-Trail Article

RICHWOOD -- For more than 100 years, Richwood residents watched their area's coal and timber wealth disappear down the rail spur that bisected the town.

Now they're hoping that wealth will return on that very same spur -- not loaded on flatcars, but lining the pockets of hikers and cyclists eager to experience the state's newest rail-trail.

It's called the Cranberry Tri-Rivers Rail-Trail, and Richwood city officials believe the 16.5-mile path will cement their town's growing reputation as a recreation destination.

"For generations, this area has been a playground for people from all over the state," says Bruce Donaldson, chairman of the committee that established the trail. "The Monongahela National Forest, the Cranberry Backcountry and the Highland Scenic Highway do a good job of drawing tourists from within the state, but we think the trail, combined with all that, will help us to draw from outside the state."

Donaldson and his colleagues began setting up the trail seven years ago, when CSX Transportation -- the modern railroad conglomerate that controlled the old Baltimore and Ohio spur -- announced plans to abandon the tracks.

"I was a Chamber of Commerce member at the time, and we tried to stop the abandonment," Donaldson says. "But eventually we realized that most of the goods being shipped out of town were being shipped by truck. At that point, we began looking for another way to use the rail line."

"Rich was a trails official with the state Division of Parks and Recreation, and Lu was chairman of the West Virginia Rails-to-Trails Foundation," Donaldson recalls. "They came up here and gave a presentation that showed the economic success of the Greenbrier River Trail and the North Bend Rail-Trail. We figured that with the scenery we have here, we couldn't miss with a rail-trail project."

Early negotiations with CSX, however, turned out to be less than promising. The railroad originally asked $220,000 for the property. Local committee members put forth a counteroffer of $189,000.

After four years of negotiation, the railroad took the committee's offer. Most of the money came from a $120,000 federal grant through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA. West Virginia's Division of Transportation receives a percentage of ISTEA funds every year, and a portion of that money is automatically earmarked for trail development.

The Tri-Rivers committee still would have come up short on funds, though, had it not been for a special deal with the Georgia-Pacific Co. The giant timber company, which operates a large mill in Richwood, agreed to put up $69,000 to purchase 5.3 miles of the right-of-way. The company, in turn, would be allowed to use the trail during offseason months to move timber cut from adjoining properties.

Out of the mountain: Cranberry Tri-Rivers Rail-Trail chairman Bruce Donaldson pauses at trailside as a group of cyclists emerges from Sarah's Tunnel, one of the recently opened trail's principal landmarks. Joining Donaldson, from left, are guide Glenn Stirling of Richwood and newlyweds Chris and Frank Hutchins of Madison, Wis.

"I can't say enough good about Georgia-Pacific," Donaldson says. "They allowed us to get the trail property essentially without any local fund-raising. They've already cut the timber they wanted to cut, they've done their reclamation, and you can hardly tell that any timber has been cut."

After railroad crews reclaimed the abandoned section's rails and crossties, Tri-Rivers crews went to work smoothing the roadbed. They raised money for the construction by selling off tons of limestone gravel that once served as rail ballast.

"Our trail engineer, John Shoulders, has been working on it for more than three years," Donaldson says. "Most of the work is done now, and the trail essentially is ready for people to use."

The path begins in downtown Richwood at the railroad's old passenger and freight depot. It then follows the Cherry River downstream to its confluence with the Gauley, then turns upstream and follows the Gauley across a high trestle at the Cranberry's mouth. After a journey through a curving 640-foot tunnel, the trail dead-ends about a mile southwest of Allingdale.

Donaldson says the trail's chief drawing points are its gentle gradient and its scenery, which grows ever more spectacular the farther one travels from Richwood. "We've developed primitive campsites along the trail, and those will be available to trail users on a first-come basis," he says. "And we're looking at improving a jeep trail that intersects the trail at the mouth of the Cranberry, so that eventually people can pedal a 25-mile loop that brings them up over the mountain and back into Richwood."

The trail officially opened to the public in April, but only recently have enough improvements been made to allow hikers and cyclists to enjoy it from end to end. Frank Hutchins of Madison, Wis., author of a book on West Virginia's public mountain-biking trails, pedaled the Tri-Rivers Trail recently and likes what he sees.

"I think this has a lot of promise," Hutchins says. "I'll be including it in the new edition of my book."

Traffic on the trail so far has been light, hindered for the most part by a lack of publicity.

"Local traffic is starting to pick up," Donaldson says. "That's encouraging, because it means the folks around here are accepting the trail's presence."

One local resident who has become a trail regular is 83-year-old Alvy Hinkle of Fenwick, who cruises the trail twice a week in a motorized wheelchair.

"I like it," says Hinkle, who even uses the trail to commute to church. "It gives me a place to get out and ride around."

Donaldson expects tourists to start using the trail after his committee erects a series of signs to point would-be trail users toward the fledgling resource.

"Once we get the proper signs up, we can start promoting this in magazines and ads that reach outside the state," he says. "And we're working on an World Wide Web page to promote the trail on the Internet. I think that within a couple of years, this trail will start getting the kind of use the Greenbrier River Trail and the North Bend Trail are getting."

And when that happens, Donaldson believes Richwood will profit handsomely -- primarily because the Tri-Rivers trail begins smack in the heart of town.

"Most of the recreational attractions that bring people here actually lie outside the town," he says. "This one begins downtown. That's going to make a difference. People will come here to hike or ride, and they'll spend their money in Richwood, not outside it."

Cranberry Tri-Rivers Rail-Trail Article

Another old rail, another new trail