Mountain bikers explore an upland trail in Mountwood Park in Wood County.
Mountain bikers explore an upland trail in Mountwood Park in Wood County. Photo courtesy Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Mountwood Park

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Mountain bikers explore an upland trail in Mountwood Park in Wood County.
Bikers explore Mountwood Park.

Mountwood Park, a 2,600-acre recreational park in eastern Wood County, is located 12 miles east of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Though known especially as a mountain-biking destination, it includes a 50-acre lake and cabins, campgrounds, picnic areas, and more than 50 miles of woodland hiking, biking, and horseback-riding trails. The park also includes a 600-acre area of ATV (all-terrain vehicle) trails separate from the principal recreational area.

Though principally forested, remnants of the oil-boom town of Volcano, West Virginia, may be explored in and near the park. An estimated 5,000 people lived here among towering oil derricks until 1879 when a fire swept through the community, destroying its saloons, bowling alleys, and opera houses. An endless-cable system for pumping oil was invented at Volcano, which was named for gas flares, which lit the sky like a volcano at night. For more information, visit the park website.

Map showing Mountwood Park

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