More than a million acres of public land, a national forest, five National Park Service units and 35-plus state parks and forests. Terrain runs from flat rail-trail to open heath barrens above 4,000 feet. The signature day hikes — Dolly Sods, Blackwater Falls, Endless Wall, Seneca Rocks, Coopers Rock — are all short, but much of the best hiking is in unmarked, lightly travelled backcountry.
Most of West Virginia's best-known hikes are under five miles. Longer and less-travelled routes exist throughout the Monongahela National Forest, but they are unblazed and require map and compass work.
Over a million acres of public land, though signage is far lighter than hikers from other states typically expect, particularly in designated wilderness.
The Endless Wall Trail. Two and a half miles along the gorge rim through hemlock and rhododendron to Diamond Point, with the full length of the gorge and the bridge in front of you.
Full guide to Endless Wall Trail →Beartown State Park. A half-mile boardwalk through a maze of house-sized sandstone blocks split by deep crevasses that hold ice into June. Forty minutes, and unlike anywhere else in Appalachia.
Full guide to Beartown State Park →Bear Rocks and the northern edge of Dolly Sods. Wind-flagged spruce, bare sandstone and a 3,000-foot drop east off the Allegheny Front. Go at sunrise.
Full guide to Bear Rocks Preserve →Monongahela National Forest wilderness trails are unblazed on purpose and junctions are frequently unsigned. Dolly Sods in particular sends more people off-route than anywhere else in the state. Carry a paper map and compass.
All terrain in West Virginia above 4,000 feet lies in this region, including Spruce Knob at 4,863 feet.
Sandstone climbing, big whitewater, a national parkThe New River has cut a gorge roughly 1,000 feet deep through Nuttall sandstone, protected since 2020 as New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Rail-trails, limestone caves, gentle river paddlingThe Greenbrier Valley sits on Greenbrier limestone, producing karst topography: sinkholes, springs, sinking streams and extensive cave systems, several with more than forty miles of surveyed passage.
Cheat River whitewater and rail-trail networkThe northern counties around Morgantown.
A 3,030-foot steel arch carrying US 19 some 876 feet above the New River — for decades the longest single-span arch bridge in the world, and still the image most people carry of West Virginia.
A 2.4-mile point-to-point trail along the gorge rim through hemlock and rhododendron, crossing Fern Creek on a footbridge and reaching Diamond Point, an exposed rock outcrop with a view up the gorge to the bridge.
About 3.2 miles round trip on mostly level old roadbed to a rock promontory below the rim, which provides the most-photographed view of the New River Gorge Bridge.
1,400 feet above a horseshoe bend in the New, with a seven-mile view up the gorge — the widest perspective anywhere in the park.
The largest waterfall on the New River — not tall, but 1,500 feet wide, spilling across the full breadth of the river between islands at the point where the gorge begins to open.
A steep descent from the gorge rim to the ruins of the Kaymoor One coal mine and processing plant, including 821 wooden steps down the former haulage incline.
An abandoned coal town at the bottom of the gorge with the most complete surviving coal conveyor and tipple complex in the country — a 1,385-foot inclined conveyor running straight up the hillside, once operated by Henry Ford.
The Meadow is two things at once: an exceptional and demanding whitewater run, and one of the most significant new climbing developments in the eastern United States over the past decade, with hundreds of routes established on clean sandstone in a deep, quiet gorge.
Purpose-built flow and cross-country mountain bike singletrack inside the national park near Fayetteville, built by the Boy Scouts and open to the public — a deliberate contrast to West Virginia's traditionally rugged riding, with bermed corners, rollers and progressive difficulty.
Home of the Glade Creek Grist Mill, the most photographed building in West Virginia — a working reconstruction assembled from parts of three historic mills, sitting on a boulder-strewn creek.
A full resort park perched above the Bluestone Canyon, with an aerial tram descending 1,100 feet to a lodge on the river — the only state park tram in West Virginia.
A rim-top lodge above the Mill Creek arm of the New River Gorge with an aerial tram to a marina on the water.
A quiet resort park in Wyoming County with a lodge, golf course and two waterfalls on Black Fork and Marsh Fork.
Designated a national park and preserve in 2020, protecting roughly 53 miles of the New River where it has cut about 1,000 feet through Nuttall sandstone.
Ten miles of protected river in a deep, wooded gorge between Bluestone Lake and Pipestem — the least-visited National Park Service unit in West Virginia and the quietest.
A Civil War battlefield on a bluff above the Gauley River with overlooks into the canyon and trails dropping toward the water.
West Virginia's largest state park at over 10,100 acres, built largely by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
A half-mile boardwalk through a formation of large Droop Sandstone blocks separated by deep crevasses, some of which hold ice into early summer.
The largest area of bogs in West Virginia — sphagnum and cranberry peat bogs holding plant communities left behind after the last glaciation, more typical of Canada than the mid-Atlantic, including carnivorous sundews and pitcher plants.
Three waterfalls in three-quarters of a mile, dropping 25, 45 and 63 feet — the last is the second-highest waterfall in West Virginia.
A 43-mile National Scenic Byway climbing over 4,500 feet across the Allegheny plateau between Richwood and US 219, with four major overlooks and access to Cranberry Glades, the Falls of Hills Creek and the Cranberry Wilderness.
47,815 acres of second-growth northern hardwood and red spruce on the high plateau — the largest wilderness in West Virginia.
A preserved company logging town and a working fleet of Shay geared steam locomotives that climb the original grades to Whittaker Station and on to Bald Knob — at 4,842 feet the second-highest point in West Virginia, reachable by train.
A CCC-built swimming area on Anthony Creek in the Monongahela National Forest, with a deep green pool below a stone-walled beach, a campground and a loop trail up onto the ridge.
West Virginia's oldest state forest, 11,684 acres along the Greenbrier River with rustic CCC cabins that have no electricity, a fire tower rentable as lodging, and a quiet trail network.
A small park in Monroe County built around a 144-acre lake with warm-water fishing for largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish, plus a swimming pool.
The site of the largest Civil War battle fought in West Virginia and the state's oldest state park, with a lookout tower over the Greenbrier Valley, short trails and a museum.
A 17,371-acre federally designated wilderness on a plateau largely above 4,000 feet, containing wind-flagged red spruce, heath barrens, sphagnum bog and exposed rock.
The northern edge of the Dolly Sods plateau, owned by The Nature Conservancy: bare Pottsville sandstone slabs, one-sided spruce sculpted by prevailing wind, and blueberry heath dropping east into the Allegheny Front with a 3,000-foot view over the Potomac Highlands.
At 4,863 feet, the highest point in West Virginia and the high point of the entire Allegheny range.
A 900-foot fin of near-vertical Tuscarora quartzite standing above the North Fork of the South Branch — the most recognizable rock formation in the eastern United States and the only true summit in the East that can only be reached by technical climbing.
A network of trails below Spruce Knob following Seneca Creek through spruce and northern hardwood to a series of waterfalls, the largest around 20 feet.
A 57-foot falls where the Blackwater River drops into an eight-mile canyon, its water stained amber by hemlock and spruce tannins.
The highest large valley east of the Mississippi, at about 3,200 feet — a 14-mile-long bowl of wetland, bog, beaver meadow and northern hardwood that behaves climatically like central Canada.
The largest ski resort in the mid-Atlantic, built upside-down: the village sits at 4,848 feet on the summit ridge of Cheat Mountain and you ski down from it.
About 20,000 acres of dense second-growth forest in a bowl between Shavers Mountain and McGowan Mountain, drained by Otter Creek.
A 24-mile ridge trail along one of the driest mountains in the eastern United States, running through pine and oak with repeated Tuscarora quartzite outcrops looking down into Germany Valley and across at Seneca Rocks.
A 3,712-acre CCC-era park in Hardy County with cabins, stables and the Cranny Crow Overlook — a rock outcrop at 3,200 feet with a view said to reach into four states.
Ten miles of former railroad grade from Thomas down the Blackwater Canyon to Hendricks, dropping through hemlock and past waterfalls with the river below.
The highest state forest in West Virginia, 9,474 acres of red spruce and northern hardwood on Rich Mountain, with rustic cabins, native brook trout in Mill Creek and almost no one there.
Two adjacent wilderness units, North and South, totaling around 12,000 acres along Laurel Fork — a beaver-worked stream valley with meadows, spruce and one of the quietest backpacking experiences in the state.
A stream cave where Gandy Creek runs underground for roughly three-quarters of a mile through a walkable passage — one of the few caves in the East traditionally crossed on foot end to end.
A CCC-built recreation area on the Shavers Fork near Elkins with a campground, picnic shelters and river access — the practical basecamp for the central Monongahela National Forest and the Otter Creek and Cheat Mountain country.
A 12,747-acre state forest above the Cheat River Canyon.
Purpose-built modern singletrack in Preston County, the anchor project of a regional effort to link northern West Virginia into a single mountain bike destination.
133 acres of virgin eastern hemlock, the last substantial stand of old-growth mixed forest remaining in West Virginia.
A series of ledge drops on the Tygart Valley River near Fairmont, popular with photographers, picnickers and — at the right levels — playboaters.
A compact park on the Middle Fork River built around a boulder-strewn swimming area and the Alum Cave boardwalk, which runs beneath an overhanging rock shelter above the river.
A 1,750-acre reservoir behind a 1930s Corps of Engineers dam near Grafton, with a lodge, marina, scuba diving and steep wooded shoreline.
A 2,650-acre lake with the most developed resort facilities of any West Virginia lake park — a lodge, marina, Arnold Palmer golf course and the state's largest open-water fetch for small-boat sailing.
A 968-acre Corps reservoir on the Little Kanawha with the Bulltown Historic Area on its shore — Civil War earthworks, a preserved farmstead and a well-regarded campground.
West Virginia's second-largest state park at 8,101 acres, in a narrow valley of hemlock and hardwood with waterfalls, cabins and a rugged trail network.
A 2,483-acre park in Gilmer County with three small fishing lakes, a campground and a network of easy trails.
Where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac and three states meet at once, with the Appalachian Trail running straight through town and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquartered a block off Washington Street.
6,000 acres on Cacapon Mountain near Berkeley Springs, with a lodge, a Robert Trent Jones golf course, a lake beach and a trail system climbing to the 2,300-foot ridge.
Nearly 23,000 acres on Sleepy Creek Mountain — the largest WMA in the Eastern Panhandle, with a 205-acre lake, primitive camping, hunting, and a long ridge trail system.
The oldest spa in the country — warm mineral springs flowing at a constant 74°F that George Washington visited as a young surveyor.
Home to the only natural lake in West Virginia — a small sinkhole pond in the George Washington National Forest section of Hardy County, alongside the larger man-made Rockcliff Lake, a campground and trails into the Lost River State Forest country.
A 1,405-acre park on a horseshoe bend of the North Fork of the Hughes River, with a lodge, cabins, campgrounds, a 305-acre lake nearby and direct access to the North Bend Rail Trail.
An island in the Ohio River reached by sternwheeler from Parkersburg, holding a reconstructed 1800 Palladian mansion, horse-drawn wagon tours and quiet riverbank walking.
A county park outside Parkersburg with a 50-acre lake and one of the better mountain bike trail networks in the western half of the state, plus camping, disc golf and the site of the old Volcano oil town.
9,300 acres of steep, wooded hollow just fifteen minutes from downtown Charleston, with more than 25 miles of trails, a well-known mountain bike network, a swimming pool, campground and some of the best spring warbler birding in the state.
A 3,981-acre park around a 720-acre Corps reservoir near Huntington, with one of the largest campgrounds in the state park system, good bass fishing and easy trails.
A 4,000-acre park in Logan County with a wildlife exhibit, trails through reclaimed coal country and an outdoor amphitheatre.
The northernmost park in the system, in Hancock County at the tip of the Northern Panhandle.
On the shore of Bluestone Lake, the third-largest body of water in West Virginia, at the point where the Bluestone River meets the New.
An unusual pairing of a small developed park inside a much larger state forest in Mercer County, with two waterfalls on Camp Creek, mountain bike and equestrian trails, and camping.
A small day-use park in Mercer County built around a jagged sandstone fin standing above the highway, with a stairway to the top and a view over the southern coalfields.
Deep in McDowell County, one of the most remote units in the system, with a small campground, a swimming pool and trails through steep hardwood in the heart of the southern coalfields.
A park just off I-64 near Beckley with an 18-acre lake, a seasonal campground, an extensive trail network used for running and mountain biking, and easy access from the interstate.
A preserved nineteenth-century homestead in Harrison County with a museum, farm buildings, a swimming pool and quiet woodland trails.
A large, quiet forest in Wayne County named for the four counties it borders, with CCC-built cabins, a campground and a fire tower.
Just outside White Sulphur Springs, adjoining the Monongahela National Forest, with cabins, a campground, a swimming pool and trails climbing Kate's Mountain.
An undeveloped forest adjoining Watoga State Park to the south, with no facilities and minimal trail marking.
The state's only resort park with lift-served downhill skiing, plus a lodge, cabins, a golf course, snow tubing and cross-country trails, sitting on the floor of Canaan Valley beside the national wildlife refuge.
A quiet 12,854-acre WMA in Mingo County built around a 29-acre lake, with primitive camping, warm-water fishing and public hunting in the southern coalfields.
A municipal resort park in Wheeling with multiple public golf courses, including the Speidel Course designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.
A Robert Trent Jones Sr.
A mountain course near Snowshoe at around 4,000 feet, laid out across steep terrain with substantial elevation change between holes.
An 18-hole course plus a par-3 layout at Pipestem Resort State Park above the Bluestone Canyon, with lodge accommodation on site and a par-3 course that suits beginners and short visits.
The largest lake on the Monongahela National Forest, 156 acres at around 2,600 feet against the Virginia line, with two sand beaches — one on the mainland and one on an island reached by a footbridge.
6,792 acres of high plateau immediately south of Dolly Sods, running from 3,000 feet on the southern edge to over 4,700 feet at the top of Mount Porte Crayon.
The plateau between Davis and Canaan Valley, from 3,100 to 4,145 feet, built around the eight-mile Plantation Trail with a dozen short connectors hanging off it.
Forty-four miles of interlocking trail off the Highland Scenic Highway, and the best-known mixed hiking and mountain-biking network on the Marlinton district of the Monongahela National Forest.
A 43-acre cold-water lake ten miles from Richwood in the Monongahela National Forest, with a 33-unit campground on the shore and the Cranberry backcountry immediately behind it.
West Virginia's long-distance footpath, running the length of the state's mountain backbone from Virginia to Pennsylvania.
Eight and a half miles along the Bluestone River between Pipestem Resort State Park and Bluestone State Park, following the line of an old turnpike through the gorge.
Six weekends a year, Summersville Dam opens and the Gauley carries the most concentrated whitewater in the eastern United States.
2–3 days · Apr–OctThe most approachable region in the state: a rail-trail at under one percent grade, warm river paddling, a preserved eighteenth-century town, and limestone country with commercial show caves.
2 days · May–SepThe closest real outdoors to Washington and Baltimore: warm rivers, the Appalachian Trail, and a spa town to finish in.
3 days · Late Sep–OctColor starts on the ridges in late September and runs downhill through October.
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West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.
