DESCRIPTION

The Fernow Experimental Forest - Parson Loop is a 19 mile bike loop that takes you through a beautiful and uniquely managed woodland where you'll bike up one mountain and coast down another and pass along the edge of the Otter Creek Wilderness. You'll also bike on part of the Allegheny Highlands Trail, pass within sight of four different rivers and try your luck on a suspension footbridge. Ride surface is pavement, rail-trail, Forest Road and dual track.

The bike loop begins at Mill Race Park in Parsons, WV. From the park go east on Route 219. After crossing the Black Fork River get on the Allegheny Highlands Trail. Leave the trail in Hendricks and take a suspension footbridge to cross back over the Black Fork. Watch your step! From the bridge you can see the convergence of the Blackwater River and the Dry Fork. Next take Brooklyn Heights Road to Forest Road 701 and the entrance of Fernow Experimental Forest. In succession you will take Forest Roads 701, 709 and 828. These will take you up McGowan Mountain, through the Forest and down Fork Mountain. At the base of Fork Mountain you leave the Forest and get on County Road 41. This road runs along side Shavers Fork as it heads to Parsons where you return to the park and the beginning of the loop.