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The Deckers Creek Trail climbs out of Morgantown along Deckers Creek for about twenty miles to Morgan Mine Road east of Reedsville in Preston County. It starts at Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park where the creek meets the Monongahela River, runs paved through Sabraton, and turns to crushed limestone past Interstate 68. From there the old Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad grade holds a steady two percent climb through a hemlock and rhododendron gorge, with the creek sometimes beside the trail and sometimes far below in a run of rapids and falls. The woods open to fields and wetlands near Masontown and Reedsville. Ride it uphill first and coast home.
Deckers Creek Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Deckers Creek Trail has about 108 to 158 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, biking, birding, running, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Deckers Creek Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Deckers Creek Trail peaks October 21 to 30, typically around October 25. The trail has 50% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, yellow-poplar, northern red oak, and white oak.
The Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad finished its line up Deckers Creek in 1905 to haul coal and coke, glass, sand, and limestone to distant markets. The valley had been worked long before that. The Decker family settled at the mouth of the creek in 1758, and the water soon powered a forge and iron furnace, grist and saw mills, a pottery, and a paper mill. Timber, coal, and limestone followed. From Reedsville down to Rock Forge, mines, quarries, and coke ovens dominated the landscape. Two years after the rails arrived, Stephen B. Elkins lit some 400 beehive ovens at Bretz near Masontown, and a spur in front of them loaded the finished coke straight into railcars. The Baltimore and Ohio later bought the Morgantown and Kingwood and ran it as a branch. The ovens ran nearly full time until 1981 and were named a National Historic Landmark in 1983. The line passed to CSX, and after it fell silent the Mon River Trails Conservancy bought the corridor from CSX. Trail construction began in 1998, paved through Morgantown and surfaced with crushed limestone beyond. In 2006 the Deckers Creek, Caperton, and Mon River trails were certified together as a National Recreation Trail. Work continues on the old grade: in 2021 a quarter mile in Sabraton closed for a new foundation and retaining wall.
Caperton TrailMon River Trail
