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.
Morgantown
A university city of about 30,000 with roughly 48 miles of connected rail-trail running through it. Coopers Rock State Forest is about fifteen minutes east on I-68 and the Cheat Canyon put-in at Albright about forty minutes south. Morgantown has the widest range of lodging, food and gear retail of any town near immediate trail access in West Virginia.
What's here
- Mon River, Caperton and Deckers Creek trails downtown
- Coopers Rock bouldering and hiking 15 minutes away
- Cheat Canyon and Cheat Lake access
- Full city services, airport and I-68/I-79
Lodging, food and gear in Morgantown
Town-level listings for operators based here. Capped at four per basecamp page.
List your business hereWithin reach
Coopers Rock State Forest
A 12,747-acre state forest above the Cheat River Canyon.
Cheat Canyon
One of the classic big-water runs of the East: roughly 11 miles of Class IV–V through a remote gorge below Albright, with named rapids including Big Nasty, Coliseum and Pete Morgan.
Mon River Rail-Trail System
About 48 miles of connected crushed-limestone rail-trail through Morgantown: the Caperton Trail along the riverfront downtown, the Mon River Trail running north to the Pennsylvania line and south toward Prickett's Fort, and the Deckers Creek Trail climbing 19 miles east to Reedsville.
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.
Mountaineer Trail Network Recreation Area
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.
Best for
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.