The Greater Wheeling Trail is also known as the Ohio River Trail. Along with the with the Wheeling Creek Trail, it’s part of the Wheeling Heritage Trail System. The Brooke Pioneer Trail connects at its northern end. Using the combination of trails, my husband Rick and I did a 32 mile round trip between Wellsburg and Wheeling. Although the address shown is the parking lot at the southern end of the trail, we connected from the Brooke Pioneer Trail and made our way south. Picking up from where we connected, we continued our way south along the Ohio River. Like the Brooke Pioneer Trail, this path is sandwiched between WV #2 and the river. We continued to enjoy the great river views as we pedaled along. Approaching the north end of Wheeling, we saw a lock and dam. From this point south, the trail became much more urban-like, however it was very well marked and maintained. At this point, Wheeling is very long an narrow because of the topography. We curved a little to the west, temporarily losing the urban feel of the trail as we were in the narrows between the cliffs and the river. Curving again to the south we regained the city atmosphere and had a great view of Wheeling Island. We noticed the tail wasn’t as well-marked south of I-70/US-250,but it was still easy to follow. We eventually made our way to the southern terminus & parking lot at 48th Street. We retraced our path north to and we picked up the Wheeling Creek Trail. This trail was built on an old Baltimore & Ohio line and whereas the Ohio River Trail had a city feel to it, the Wheeling Creek Trail was in a park-like setting. The trail didn’t parallel the creek in some places – indeed it was adjacent to the interstate in places, but it was still a pleasant, meandering ride towards the eastern edge of the city. The scenic high point was the tunnel near Rock Point Road. After reaching the east end of the trail, we turn around and headed back to Wellsburg. We did every inch of the 32 mile combined trail systems. These trails were an easy ride, paved all the way, and made for a pleaseant day cycling.
