I used to ride this trail on my "dual sport" back when you could go all the way through. I once met the original property owner of the now closed off section. He told me all about the community that lived there in his grandparent's day. He told me where the foundations of the general store and the schoolhouse are. He said his grandfather had a 2-wheel drive truck and a Ford Fairlane and could easily get around the whole community. It is too bad that you can't go through their anymore because it was so interesting. A few 'bad seed' 4WD people ruined it for everyone by driving into closed areas.
Wow thats really cool history thanks for sharing and yes it is frustrating for sure that a few carless folks ruin it for the vast majority of responsible people just put enjoying the trails.
Glad it helped with the decision, always best to avoid damaging something if you can help it, there are still Some good camp spots along the road to the left before you get to the rocks on the first part of the actual trail
There is nothing from the main road to the meadows parking lot, once you make the right to start the trail there were 8 or 10 dispersed camp sites along the ridge, all first come first serve and before the rock ledge you have to climb over to really start the trail, once you get through that and start heading down hill the only other camp spots are at the bottom near the gate to the private land, there is probably another three or four places to camp down their, I had heard a rumor the FS had made camping illegal along shoe creek trail both the upper and lower sections but have not been back there since covid so cant confirm that
When you say you started at the top of Shoecreek Trail... do you mean that you started at the Crabtree Meadows Trailhead off of hwy 56? If this is where you started.... did you end up driving all the way to the Shoecreek Trailhead near Alhambra? Thanks so much for posting this! Looking forward to checking out the area.
Lyle, yes on the upper end we started off the meadows trailhead. There is a section of private property that sits basically in the middle of the trail that has locked gates so you can only go down to the locked gate on the upper side and there is a nice camping spot before you get to the gate. On the lower side you can only go up shoe creek to the other locked gate also campsites along the creek near the gate. So unfortunately you can not complete the whole trail because the roughly mile and a half on private property is gated off. Enjoy and try both ends they are very different and cool in their own way, i have a video of the lower shoe creek as well. Have fun
Thanks for the quick reply and for the info. I thought you could drive the whole trail. In reference to where the camping area is... I'm looking at google maps. Bummer we can't attach pics here. But would you say that the camping area is located just south of "Meadows Lane Crabtree Falls Parking"? If so, how much farther south?
Lyle, i just pulled up my track. The campsite by the gate is 1.35 miles south of the meadows. Its basically all down hill. The site i marked at 38.81585, -79.08541, should get you really close
@@FischerJeepAdventures sweet. I look forward to the vids. If you have not checked out Wolf Den State Park in Kitzmiller, MD, about half an hour from Deep Creek Lake, you should. 3 non-contiguous sections that are each a bit different. I have some older vids up on my channel. Go to MD DNR website to get the required permit- they check. Also, area outside of Thomas WV and Davis WV is fun to explore.
@@FischerJeepAdventures 10-4. The last time I ran that trail was about 15 years ago in a stock Liberty. I used 4Lo, but wasn't sure if that would hold true for my current Wrangler.
@James Smith , you shouldnt need 4low at all on either end, if you do the lower section right after or during rain it might get slippery but nothing you can do in 4 hi the upper is that way to, i have heard the mile and a half or so of the trail in between the gates on the private property is the best part, figures!
@@FischerJeepAdventures When I ran it back in the day, the whole trail was open. I recall the cabin on the trail and thought it was interesting because it had a mailbox at the edge of the trail. I don't remember if there was a section that was more challenging, I just remember it being a bitterly cold winter day. The first part of the trail near the Montebello campground was iced over and the trail leader started sliding back down. 😬
Absolutely, (37.8303770, -79.0836685) those are the coordinates just put then in your gps it takes you to the trail head which is to the right of the crabtree meadows parking area. Have fun
