Across 10 counties. The forest home page rounds the same land to nearly a million, and the CRS puts all Forest Service land in the state at 1,047,859 acres
The largest Forest Service wilderness in the eastern United States. Eight wilderness areas on the Monongahela cover 115,000 acres, all of them closed to vehicles
34 Forest Service, 11 Corps of Engineers and two Park Service, of which 33 take bookings. New River Gorge counts eight free primitive campgrounds of its own
NOAA calls it some of the highest east of the Mississippi. The Charleston weather office gives a range of 30 to 150 inches for the high country
What West Virginia asks of a build
Tell a builder the vehicle has to stay street legal. On the Monongahela National Forest a forest order bars every ATV, UTV, go-cart, dirt bike and street-legal special purpose vehicle from all forest roads, so anything you drive there must be licensed for general operation on public highways. That rules out the build many people choose in the southern coalfields.
After that it is grip, width and cooling on short steep climbs. Roads here are narrow and winding rather than long and remote, the state takes 40 to 50 inches of rain a year, and the mountains average 100 inches of snow. Build for wet clay and gravel at 4,000 feet.
A builder plans and installs the whole system rather than one part of it: suspension matched to the finished weight, protection where the vehicle actually touches the ground, electrical power sized to what you run, and storage, water, sleeping and recovery points that work together. The good ones start with how you travel and work backward to parts.
The work that matters most is the work you cannot see. Wiring that is fused, labeled and documented. Fasteners that stay tight on washboard. A finished weight that stays inside what the vehicle is rated to carry.
Most full builds cover
01Suspension and tires chosen for the loaded weight
02Bumpers, sliders, skid plates and rated recovery points
03House battery, charging, solar and lighting
04Storage, drawers, fridge and water
05Sleeping: a roof tent, a camper or an interior platform
06Mounts for communications and navigation
How to choose a builder
Any shop can show you a finished truck in good light. These questions tell you how it was built.
01Ask to see finished builds on your platform, and talk to an owner who has put miles on one if you can.
02Ask what the vehicle will weigh when it is done and how that compares to its gross vehicle weight rating. A builder who cannot answer has not done the math.
03Ask who does the electrical work and whether you get a wiring diagram at handover.
04Ask what is done in house and what is sent out.
05Get the scope, the parts list, the price and the payment schedule in writing before work starts, and ask how changes are handled.
06Ask what warranty covers their labor, separate from the manufacturers' warranties on parts.
What to have ready before you ask for a quote
A builder can only quote what you can describe. The form on this page asks for exactly these things, which is why a quote that comes back from it is worth something.
01Year, model, engine and drivetrain, and for vans the wheelbase and roof height
02What has already been done to it
03How you travel: weekends or months, how many people, which climates, how far from pavement
04What you need to carry: water, fuel, bikes, boats, tools
05A budget range and a date you would like it back
Questions people ask
How much does an overland build cost?
It depends on scope more than on the vehicle. Suspension, tires and a roof tent is a different project from a full electrical system with cabinetry and armor, and labor is usually the largest part of a full build. The only number worth planning around is a written quote against a defined scope, which is what the form on this page is for.
How long does a build take?
Bolt-on work can be days. Full builds take longer, and at busy shops the wait for a start date can be longer than the work itself. Ask every shop for both numbers: when they can start and how long they need the vehicle.
Should I build in stages or all at once?
Stages work if the order is right. Decide the finished load first, because springs chosen for an empty truck will be wrong for a full one. Run electrical before interiors go in, because pulling cabinets to add a wire is paying for the same work twice.
Will modifications affect my warranty or insurance?
They can. Ask the builder which work they have seen raise warranty questions on your platform, read your warranty terms, and tell your insurer what has been added so the build is covered for its real value.
How high is West Virginia?
From Harpers Ferry at 490 feet to Spruce Knob at 4,863.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
02,0004,0006,000
Feet above sea level
Towns
DavisOn WV 32 in Tucker County. Forest Road 13, the Canaan Loop Road, leaves WV 32 a few miles south and works around Canaan Mountain.3,097 ft
BeckleyWhere I-64, I-77 and US 19 meet. The Coal Heritage Trail runs south from here through the coalfields.2,420 ft
RichwoodWestern end of the Highland Scenic Highway at 2,325 feet, and the road town for the Cranberry River and the Cranberry Wilderness.2,203 ft
MarlintonOn US 219 in Pocahontas County, near the eastern end of the Highland Scenic Highway and the Gaudineer road off US 250.2,125 ft
LewisburgOn I-64 and US 219 in the Greenbrier Valley, at the southern end of the Monongahela and the eastern end of the Midland Trail.2,077 ft
ElkinsWhere US 219, US 33 and US 250 meet on the western side of the Monongahela National Forest. Bickle Knob and the Otter Creek Wilderness sit east of town.1,928 ft
SummersvilleOn US 19 beside the Corps of Engineers lake, between the Gauley River canyon and the Cranberry country.1,878 ft
FayettevilleOn US 19 at the New River Gorge Bridge. Fayette Station Road drops into the gorge and climbs the far side from here.1,815 ft
ParsonsOn US 219 at the Cheat River, the northern approach to the Otter Creek Wilderness and to Dolly Sods by way of Laneville.1,647 ft
Seneca RocksAt the junction of US 33 and WV 28/55 under the rocks themselves, inside the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area.1,567 ft
PetersburgOn WV 28/55 in Grant County. Smoke Hole Road and the eastern approach to Dolly Sods by Jordan Run both leave from here.934 ft
MorgantownOn I-79 and I-68 in the north. Coopers Rock State Forest is less than 15 miles east, with more than 50 miles of trail.888 ft
GilbertMingo County town among the southern Hatfield-McCoy systems, where a trail permit matters more than a map of pavement.837 ft
LoganCounty seat in the southern coalfields, in the part of the state the Hatfield-McCoy trail systems were built across.675 ft
CharlestonState capital where I-64, I-77 and I-79 meet, at the western end of the Midland Trail. Kanawha State Forest is seven miles out.596 ft
Harpers FerryEastern Panhandle, where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac near the 240-foot state low point, on the Washington Heritage Trail.490 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Spruce KnobThe highest point in West Virginia, with a gravel forest road to a parking area below a stone and steel observation tower4,863 ft
Forest Roads 112 and 104 to Spruce KnobForest Road 112 to the Forest Road 104 junction, then up to the summit parking area4,863 ft
Mount Porte CrayonA Randolph County summit above the Roaring Plains country. No agency publishes an elevation for it, so this is our own reading of the 3DEP surface at the USGS point4,770 ft
Gaudineer KnobThe high ground of Shavers Mountain above the Gaudineer Scenic Area, reached by Forest Road 27. Our own 3DEP reading, because the forest page states no elevation4,447 ft
Forest Road 27 to the Gaudineer Scenic AreaDurbin west on US 250 for four miles, then north on Forest Service Road 274,447 ft
Bickle KnobThe knob east of Elkins on the forest road network above the Cheat River. Our own 3DEP reading4,002 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
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