Located about 20 minutes East of Parkersburg, West Virginia and about an hour West of Clarksburg, there are 24 hiking/mountain biking trails in Mountwood Park.  This photo-journal describes a 9 mile hike in the Eastern section but I'll also point out some shorter loops which include a 2 miler, a 3.5 miler and a 6 miler.

After entering the park I took the first right turn before reaching the lake.  You'll actually see a bomb here which is part of a war monument.  Drive all the way back as the road winds toward the lake houses and you'll park in a large lot.  Notice the one lane gravel road that leads past the dwellings.  This is actually the northern end of the Lake Loop Trail.  Walk on it a very short distance and you'll see a sign for the Tecumseh Trail on your right. 

Tecumseh begins by heading up at an angle into the woods.  This is a 1.6 mile path that leads you up through a series of ridge lines before it comes back down to this same road (Lake Trail) a little further down.  This makes for a nice 2 mile loop option.  Tecumseh is an outstanding path for quiet contemplation as is the next one, Medicine Man.  Both will lead you on very pleasant ridgeline/ridge top strolls and both are fairly moderate, 1.6 mile long trails.  As I walk them my mind always drifts back into history.  Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was a famous Native American who accomplished the monumental task of uniting many tribes against the invasion of white settlers.  His brother, Tenskwatawa, was a medicine man known as "The Prophet" and I'm wondering if the Medicine Man Trail is named for him.  I was "introduced" to these men in my teens when I read "The Frontiersmen", a phenomenal book by Allan Eckert.

At any rate, below is a scene of what the Tecumseh Trail looked like when I travelled it.  Some ask me why I make my pictures so large.  I do this so as to enable the viewer to see exactly what I saw from my perspective.  You are there in my place so that you might have an idea of what it might be like.  In fact, I hope that people who are physically unable to hike might find my pictures helpful. 

Below is an example of one of the little plants you'll see here in the park.  Sometimes appearing in great quantity, these appear to be a kind of groundcover-like plant.  I'd not seen them anywhere else until I started coming here.  If anyone could tell me what variety of plant this is I'd be grateful.

After about a mile you'll begin a descent back to the dirt road and once you reach it you can take a right to go back to your car or you can take a sharp left to continue.  If you opt for the latter you'll find that the road shortly makes a curve and you might notice a foot bridge down on your left that I'll lead you over on the way back.  This represents a kind of short cut in the Lake Trail that will be more beneficial on your return when you're a little more tired than you will be now.  Anyway, a little further down you'll see a sign for the Medicine Man Trail on your right.  Here again, you'll be led up through the woods on a 1.6 mile trail. 

A particularly cool section of this path takes you directly along the top of a ridge line...

After maybe a mile you'll reach what can be a somewhat confusing intersection.  You'll want to curve up and to the left here to complete Medicine Man, but you'll see some other signs too.  These are for the Tomahawk Trail which will lead you to the Warrior Ridge Trail.  Don't worry.  I'll have you coming back this way, but as you continue along Medicine Man you'll be travelling up into a tributary stream for the lake that you'll soon cross over on the little bridge in the photo below.  Notice the downed tree on the right that's covered with moss.  You'll see these trees all over the park, and if you look closely at the moss on them you'll find that it fairly well resembles a series of tiny ferns.  It's really quite beautiful!

After this you'll soon catch glimpses of the levee at the back of the lake, and Medicine Man will end at the same dirt road you'll now be familiar with as the Lake Trail.  Here you can take a left and go back to your car which would amount to about a 4 mile hike, or you can take a sharp right and walk all the way across the top of the levee.  This is a grassy area as pictured below and in the warmer months you might want to be watchful for snakes sunning themselves in here.   I should also note that if, at any point going forward on this hike, you should want to head back to your car just retrace your steps back to this levee and then follow the road (Lake Trail) back.  Anyway, notice that the levee curves to the right where it seems to end.  Don't follow the curve.  Look straight ahead and you'll see a wooden structure across the way.  That's where the Lake Trail continues, believe it or not.  You'll want to make your way over there.

From here you'll be travelling beside the lake for a while, sometimes along a cleared out path through the brush and sometimes through the forest.

Next up comes the Four Corners Trail, a 1/2 mile path that will first take you through some more grassy fields and away from the lake before placing you amid the forest again.  Today this was a veritable sea of green and yellow!  Note that at one point you can go left on Lake Trail, but I'll have you coming back that way.  I continued to the right on Four Corners.

The next intersection has a lot going on.  The trail that directly crosses yours is the Walter Taitt Trail.  You'll want to take a left on this gravel road which will take you nearly a mile back to the edge of the lake.  Walter Taitt was a longtime resident of Volcano, WV which was a town that used to be here.  There's a fantastic article, both on Mr. Taitt and on the history of Volcano here. 

As for this trail, it's an interpretive one on which you'll find quite a few markers which describe the various instances of flora and fauna you'll see.  These are gifts to the public courtesy of The Friends of Mountwood Park.  Thank you friends!  These are interesting and always very helpful too!  Below are some scenes along Walter Taitt...  Note: you'll pass 3 trail intersections in here.  The first one is for the Logjam Trail which comes in on your left.  If you're ready to go back you can take this to make the trip shorter by about 3 miles.  Just take it until it dead ends at the lake, take a left on Lake Trail and follow Lake Trail all the way back to your car.  There are also 2 trails that will come in on your right, one for the Minnehaha Connector and one for the Haystack/Collarbone Cutoff.  I would continue following the road unless you want to make this a potential overnight trip.  :)

When your dirt road meets a gravel road you'll have arrived back alongside the lake.  Notice the historical marker for the Thornhill Mansion, the ruins of which can be seen along the park's Southern Trails.  Here's a great webpage on it, as well as the area in general.  Anyway, you'll want to make a left as if you're going to the water treatment plant you'll see and then take another left along the chain link fence into the woods - you're back on Lake Trail!  In this next section you'll find yourself walking alongside the lake as you cross some more tributary streams over nice wooden bridges.  NOTE: If you're familiar with the area you can take a right and follow the contours of the lake all the way back to your car here, but this would involve a lot of roadside walking. 

There's a rock outcrop in here too which today had a dislodged sign indicating "Wilson Overlook".  I'm not sure what the overlook technically was, although there was a nice lake view here along the path itself.  I didn't climb up the rocks.  Your next trail split will have you back at the levee.  I took a left here to begin the 2.2 mile Warrior Ridge Trail.  Warrior Ridge begins by winding beside the grassy area behind the levee for a time before it takes you over a bridge and up a series of switchbacks toward a nice looking rock outcrop.  I think this is one of the most interesting areas in the park.

You'll soon be led beside what looks to be the lake's main tributary stream, Roberts Run, and it's here that you'll meet a convergence of paths.  Both of these were well trodden today, but neither was named.  The only indication was an orange marker that pointed to the left.  What you're actually looking at here is at both ends of a loop in the Warrior Path.  I proceeded to the left as directed, but if you went to the right you'd essentially be on a cutoff path that sheds about 1.5 miles.  If you decide to go this way I'll meet up with you in a couple more paragraphs.  :)

I spotted some interesting fungi in some of the trees at different points on this trail...

As for the Warrior Path itself, it will probably appeal to the warrior in you!  It climbs pretty steeply up and later back down some switchbacks.  If you're looking for a quad workout this is a pretty good one - especially if you happen to be a mountain biker!  One of the trees in here had an old sign that said "Teatable Rock Trail" - ? - no idea.  Perhaps this was a former name for the trail or perhaps there used to be an intersection here, but either way another orange marker will direct you.  Below are some more scenes from the path and once you've crossed the stream in the latter photo you'll have arrived at the Tomahawk Trail intersection.  This is where you'd be if you'd gone the opposite direction mentioned before.  You'll want to take a left here to begin Tomahawk, a Warrior Path to Medicine Man Trail connector.

This connector is a fairly short .5 mile trail and once you've reached the end you'll be at a familiar spot.  It will have been a while ago, but you've been here before.  Follow Medicine Man up and to the right and you'll be retracing your steps back to the road you began on - Lake Trail.  Take a left once you reach it and you'll be back at your car in a little less than a mile.  I recommend going over the wooden foot bridge you'll see down and to your right at one point.  There's also a nice lake overlook on your way back too.  It's always a great day to visit Mountwood Park!

DIRECTIONS:

The park is located off of West Virginia Route 50 just East of the community of Deerwalk.  If you simply type "Mountwood Park" into Google maps it'll come up - must be the only park with such a name in the U.S.

DIRECTIONS:

The park is located off of West Virginia Route 50 just East of the community of Deerwalk.  If you simply type "Mountwood Park" into Google maps it'll come up - must be the only park with such a name in the U.S.