Twisty Road - US250 through the Virginias -

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Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - Click link below to expand

Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - click to expand

West Virginia / Virginia
US-250

A long, varied and scenic diagonal through-route through West Virginia and Virginia. Although it does have a few boring stretches, there is much beautiful scenery and periodic helpings of good twisties.

Section Covered:
Staunton, VA to Elkins, WV

Length:
172 km / 107 mi

Ratings:		Rankings:
Scenic Impact	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Overall Score: 8.6
Twistiness	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Fun-to-Drive: 8.3
Surface Quality	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Traffic	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Rankings and ratings explained

Being one of the 'US'-class highways, US-250 is a cross-country route. It starts on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio, and runs diagonally southeast, passing through West Virginia, then into Virginia, and ending in Richmond, Virginia. The section that I personally have driven is from Staunton in Virginia to Elkins / Harding in West Virginia.

Downtown Staunton

US-250 is a scenic and excellently-paved route. It travels through mountainous Western Virginia and West Virginia, and is low in traffic volume. There are several excellent twisty bits west from Staunton to the West Virginia / Virginia border, including the crossing of Shenandoah Mountain, Maple Knob, in and around Monterey Mountain, Lantz Mountain and Red Oak Knob (all of these are east-west ridge crossings of the long, prominent ridges of the Valley and Ridge province).

US-250 at Shenandoah Mtn

Once in West Virginia, US-250 enters the Monongahela National Forest. It nears, then crosses, the Allegheny front and climbs onto the Appalachian Plateau. Lots of diversity of topography and scenery. And, with each major topographical change, the roads gets nice and twisty! Unfortunately for me, I drove US-250 late in the day in autumn, and the end of my drive ended up being in the dark. As you can see from my night-picture, though, I didn't let that stop me from capturing the essence of the twisties!

Tracing a Twisty

US-250 enters a relatively uninteresting section near Huttonsville, where it joins with route 55 for a while. It travels through a wide, flat valley and connects a series of small towns, all the way up to Elkins. There is more traffic on this section, too. North of Elkins, the route twins with US-33 for a short bit, then continues on to the northwest. Beyond US-33, I have not sampled US-250 -- but based on what I've seen (and what I've heard) the northern part of US-250 in West Virginia is on my list!

Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - Click link below to expand

Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - click to expand

Route Data - US-250 Drive, Staunton to Elkins

Start Time: 5:45p.m.

End Time: 9:07p.m.

Duration: 3h22m

Distance: 172.49 km (107.18 mi)

Average Speed: 51.2 km/hr (31.8 mph)

Start Elevation: 1375ft (419m) *

Max Elevation: 4295ft (1309m) *

Min Elevation: 1362ft (415m) *

End Elevation: 1929ft (588m) *