The obvious answer
Summersville Lake
Summersville Lake in June, before the algae and before the September drawdown. Blue-green water against sandstone cliffs, with coves you can paddle into and swim from.
Full guide to Summersville Lake →Stand-Up Paddleboarding
Summersville Lake, Cheat Lake, Stonewall Jackson, Sutton and the calm pools of the New and Greenbrier are the state's SUP water. Summersville is the standout — the clearest lake in West Virginia, ringed by sandstone cliffs.
Go to Summersville and skip everywhere else. The water clarity there is not comparable to anything else in the state.
Mountain reservoirs provide reliable flatwater when rivers run too high, too low or too cold. One of them is spectacular.
Our recommendations
Where we'd send you
More room
Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park
Stonewall Jackson Lake. Bigger, more open, 82 miles of shoreline, and a marina that rents boards if you flew in.
Full guide to Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park →Close to town
Cheat Lake
Cheat Lake outside Morgantown. Thirteen miles of narrow water with a rail-trail along one shore and an evening paddle twenty minutes from downtown.
Full guide to Cheat Lake →Practical note
Summersville draws down hard after Labor Day to feed Gauley releases. What was a cliff-lined cove in July can be a mudflat in October.
What to know before you go
- Summersville Lake draws down after Labor Day for Gauley releases
- Morning is calmest on all the reservoirs
- Life jacket requirements apply to paddleboards on West Virginia waters
Regions that do it best
Sandstone climbing, big whitewater, a national park
New River Gorge
The 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.
Reservoirs, trout water, developing rail-trailMountain Lakes
The geographic center of the state and its least-visited region.
Cheat River whitewater and rail-trail networkMountaineer Country
The northern counties around Morgantown.
Every place we cover for stand-up paddleboarding
Lake · New River Gorge
Summersville Lake
West Virginia's largest lake and by a wide margin its clearest — 2,700 acres of blue-green water in a sandstone basin, popular for scuba diving, paddleboarding and boating.
2,700 ac surface327 ft max depth
State Park · Mountaineer Country
Tygart Lake State Park
A 1,750-acre reservoir behind a 1930s Corps of Engineers dam near Grafton, with a lodge, marina, scuba diving and steep wooded shoreline.
1,750 ac lake1938 dam completed
Lake · Mountaineer Country
Cheat Lake
A long, narrow 1,730-acre impoundment of the Cheat River just east of Morgantown, with a shoreline rail-trail, boat access and the closest flatwater paddling and lakeside recreation to the city.
1,730 ac lake13 mi length
State Park · Mountain Lakes
Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park
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.
2,650 ac lake82 mi shoreline
River · Eastern Panhandle
Shenandoah & Potomac Rivers
The Shenandoah's Staircase rapids above Harpers Ferry give Class I–III whitewater in a resort-town setting, while the Potomac below the confluence spreads wide and slow for tubing and flatwater.
Class I–III staircaseWarm summer water
Golf Course · Mountaineer Country
Lakeview Golf Resort
A resort on Cheat Lake outside Morgantown with two courses, the Lakeview and the Mountainview, plus lodging and conference facilities.
2 coursesCheat Lake setting
AdvertiseThis space is available
Guides and rentals for stand-up paddleboarding
Reserved for a West Virginia operator serving this activity. The listings above and below it are unpaid.
List your business hereQuestions people ask
Where is the best paddleboarding in West Virginia?
Summersville Lake, for water clarity and cliff scenery, followed by Cheat Lake and Stonewall Jackson Lake.
Organizations, agencies and resources · 4
Groups that handle access, maintenance, licensing and conditions data for this activity. Starred entries publish updates worth following.
Cheat Lake Environment & Recreation Association (CLEAR)
Cheat Lake water quality, shoreline recreation and lake access advocacy.
American Canoe Association
Paddling
National paddlesports instruction, certification and safety standards, with regional West Virginia instruction.
Visit USACE — Summersville Lake
Federal lands
The clearest lake in West Virginia and the source of Gauley Season releases — SUP, diving, cliff climbing and camping.
Visit Summersville CVB
Tourism
Summersville Lake, Gauley access and Nicholas County recreation.
Visit Related activities
Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
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.