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.
Almost Heaven Swings
Planning things to do in Buckhannon, WV
The outdoor things to do in Buckhannon, WV, are mostly not in town — they are in the parks, forests and reservoirs of the Mountain Lakes region, which is the geographic center of the state and its least-visited region. Buckhannon is one of six towns the region names, alongside Sutton, Summersville, Weston, Webster Springs and Clay, spread across eight counties: Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Clay, Calhoun, Gilmer, Lewis and Upshur. The practical consequence for a visitor is that you drive to the thing you came for, and that the thing is unlikely to be crowded when you get there.
Three Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs, at Sutton, Burnsville and Stonewall Jackson, supply the flatwater the region is named for. Away from the lakes, the draws are a compact swimming-hole park on the Middle Fork River, the highest state forest in West Virginia, a large waterfall park in a hemlock valley, and a corridor of developing rail-trail along the Elk. Big Ditch and Bulltown are the names to know for quiet-water paddling, and the Cranberry Wilderness backcountry opens off the southern end of the region for anyone who wants something harder. What follows is one place at a time, with the figures the managing agencies publish and the cautions they attach to them.
Audra State Park and the Middle Fork swimming area
Audra is a compact park of 355 acres on the Middle Fork River, built around a boulder-strewn swimming area and the Alum Cave boardwalk. It is one of the better swimming holes in the state with an actual campground attached, which is an unusual combination — most good swimming water in West Virginia is a pull-off, not a place you can stay. The park's own caution is worth taking literally: the water is cold and the river bottom is all rounded boulders. Footing is the hazard, not depth, and river shoes matter more here than they do on a lake.
The Alum Cave boardwalk runs beneath an overhanging rock shelter above the river. The park describes the boardwalk trail as short, scenic and family-friendly, which makes Audra the easiest of these places to visit with small children or with someone who does not want a climb. The park is also listed for camping, hiking, fishing and photography. Of the options around Buckhannon, this is the one that works as a half-day outing rather than a full expedition, and the one where the walking and the water are in the same few hundred yards.
Kumbrabow State Forest, the highest in the state
Kumbrabow is 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. It is cool even in August, which is the reason to put it on a summer itinerary rather than an autumn one. Red spruce at elevation makes for a genuinely different forest than the oak and hickory of the lower country, and the quiet is not a figure of speech here — this is one of the emptiest public units in the state.
The published cautions are practical. Access roads are gravel and can be rough, so check your clearance and your spare before you commit to a car full of gear. The cabins are rustic, and cold-season use requires wood heat, which means you are managing a stove rather than a thermostat. Mill Creek is native brook trout water, and the forest's own advice is light tackle and small flies. The forest is also listed for hiking, camping, hunting, primitive camping and horseback riding, and hunting here is a real use rather than an afterthought, which is worth knowing if you plan to walk the roads in autumn.
Nature observation, and the structured way to learn it
Nature observation in West Virginia runs year-round and asks nothing of your fitness, which makes it the most portable thing to do from a base like Buckhannon. The region's forests are hemlock, hardwood and, at elevation, red spruce, and the same walk reads differently in April and October without your having to drive further. The West Virginia Native Plant Society and the Master Naturalist program are the two structured ways into it, and the Master Naturalist program in particular is how people here learn the state's ecology properly rather than by guesswork with a field guide.
The showcase communities are worth a longer drive. Cranberry Glades, reached from the southern end of the region, preserves sphagnum bog communities that have been isolated since the last glaciation, including carnivorous sundew and pitcher plants, and its boardwalk gives access to them without damaging the bog. Shale barrens in the eastern counties and heath balds at high elevation support further endemic and disjunct species. Closer in, Chipmunk Point on Stonewall Jackson Lake adds a mile of level lakeside walking and is prime hawk-watching, and Burnsville Lake is listed for birding on quiet, underused water.
Easy walking and level ground
Not every day out needs a climb, and the region is unusually good at level walking. Rail-trails are the most accessible outdoor recreation in the state, with grades that rarely exceed 2 percent, and the Elk River Trail is the one being built here — 73 miles of corridor from Clendenin to Gassaway, developing, with sections opening progressively. Check the Elk River Trail Foundation for what is currently open before you drive to a trailhead, because the mileage available changes as the build-out proceeds and no completion date is published.
For a short walk with a view at the end, the Stonewall Resort Overlook is a wide, near-level path circling a small hill to a stone overlook above the lake, and it is almost entirely unpublicised for how easy it is. Go for the light early or late. Holly River State Park keeps a paved, ADA-accessible loop with Braille interpretive signs and rest stations, which is the most genuinely accessible trail in this part of the state. Audra's boardwalk belongs on the same list, short and scenic and level enough for a stroller.
Water, boats and where to camp
Flatwater paddling on the Corps reservoirs runs April through October and is beginner-level water. The reservoirs are the reliable option when the rivers are too low or too high, and their levels are published by the Army Corps district office, so you can check before you tow. If you are bringing a motorboat, registration and education requirements are set by WVDNR, and horsepower limits vary by lake — confirm the limit for the lake you have chosen before you trailer. Ramps, navigation rules and public water access all run through the WVDNR boating program, and the reservoirs carry most of the recreational traffic in this part of the state.
For beds, the range is wide for a quiet region. Audra has a campground beside the swimming area. Kumbrabow has rustic cabins and primitive camping, with the wood-heat caveat in cold weather. Holly River has cabins in its hemlock valley. Bulltown Campground on Burnsville Lake is one of the better Corps sites in the state, on a shore that also holds Civil War earthworks and a preserved farmstead. Briar Point at Stonewall Jackson has 46 full-hookup sites and stays open year-round, which matters in winter when most of the region's camping has closed for the season.
When to go, and what the agencies warn about
Most of the things to do in Buckhannon, WV, have no closed season: hiking and nature observation both run year-round here. Boating and flatwater paddling run April through October, so a trip built around a lake needs to fall inside that window. Summer is when Kumbrabow's elevation earns its keep, since it stays cool in August while the valleys do not. Audra's swimming water is cold whenever you visit it, which is pleasant in July and less so in June. October brings the hardwood turn, and it is the busiest the region gets, which in the Mountain Lakes counties still means uncrowded by most standards.
Two cautions apply across the region. Hunting seasons overlap prime autumn hiking, so wear blaze orange on wildlife management areas. And Monongahela National Forest trails are often lightly blazed — carry a map and a GPS rather than trusting signage, and expect rhododendron and mountain laurel to make any off-trail shortcut harder than it looks on the contour lines. On the water, USGS river levels will tell you whether a freestone stream is worth the drive before you make it, and the Corps district office publishes reservoir levels for the same purpose. Both take a minute and save an afternoon.
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