Novice kayakers take to the waters of North Bend State Park’s lake during an “Intro to Outdoor Adventure” program at the Ritchie County park.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — North Bend State Park may be better known for its 73-mile-long rail trail and the numerous trestles and tunnels it passes over and through as it winds its way across the farmland and forests of Ritchie, Wood, Doddridge and Harrison counties.
But North Bend is also home to more than 20 miles of rugged single-track mountain bike trails, where a stop on the West Virginia Mountain Bike Association’s racing series will be held on Sunday, and a seven-mile-long lake that’s loaded with bass, bluegill and catfish beneath the surface, and hosts one of the region’s largest red-headed woodpecker colonies in the treetops overlooking its waters.
To help people explore the park’s more off-the-beaten-track possibilities, North Bend is hosting a series of “Intro to Outdoor Adventure” weekends, in which the basics of both mountain biking and flatwater kayaking are covered, and participants spend quality time pedaling trails and paddling the lake. The next session in the series will be held Saturday and Sunday, followed by future Intro to Outdoor Adventure weekends on June 13-14, July 4-5, and Aug. 8-9. Cost is $30 per clinic (mountain bike or kayak) or $50 for both activities.
“People come from all over to learn how to mountain bike and kayak…
