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.
Know before you go
- Large, well-serviced campground — good family base
- 10 hp limit keeps the lake quiet
- 275 campsites across four areas, 99 of them lakefront; Old Orchard and Lakeview stay open year-round
- The lake is capped at 10 horsepower, which keeps it a paddling and small-boat lake despite 31 miles of shoreline
- The boat launch is open April to November with no launch or usage fee
- Rentals run Memorial Day to Labor Day, noon to 8
What you can do here
The campground is one of the largest in the state park system: 275 sites across four areas, 99 of them on the lake. Old Orchard and Lakeview stay open year-round, so the season runs longer than the April-to-October window suggests. Sites book through the state park system, and the lake is quiet enough that a tent near the water stays that way.
Overlooks here
Four separate camping areas and 275 sites give a big rig some choice, and the park is serviced well enough to work as a family base near Huntington. The record does not list which sites carry hookups or what lengths they take. Call the park office with your rig dimensions before you tow in.
Overlooks here
Bass is the draw on 720 acres of Corps reservoir with 31 miles of shoreline, and the 10-horsepower cap means you fish it without wake traffic pushing you off a bank. Fishing is listed year-round, though the boat launch itself runs April to November. Licensing and regulations come from WVDNR.
Overlooks here
A 10-horsepower limit makes this paddling water by rule rather than by luck: 720 acres and 31 miles of shoreline with nothing moving fast across it. Rentals run Memorial Day to Labor Day, noon to eight. Bring your own boat and the launch is open April through November with no launch or usage fee.
Overlooks here
Trails here are the easy kind, which makes them the right walk out of a campground rather than a day's objective. The park wraps 3,981 acres around the reservoir, and hiking is listed year-round. No trail mileage is published, so check the park map for lengths before you plan a loop.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Thirty-one miles of shoreline on a lake capped at 10 horsepower suits a boat you can carry — you work the bank without dodging wakes. Bass is what the park is known for. Launch access runs April to November and costs nothing, which makes a day here about as cheap as fishing gets.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Kayak Fishing across West Virginia →The 10-horsepower cap rules out skiing and fast runabouts and leaves 720 acres to small craft. The ramp is open April through November with no launch or usage fee, and rentals operate Memorial Day to Labor Day from noon to eight. Registration and navigation rules go through the WVDNR boating program.
Overlooks here
Disc golf is listed here, but the park publishes no hole count, no layout and no fee. Several state parks added courses over the past decade and this is one of the parks carrying the listing. Check UDisc for the current layout and conditions, or ask at the campground office when you arrive.
Overlooks here
Guides, gear and lodging near Beech Fork State Park
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Metro Valley
Kanawha State Forest
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.
Coal River Water Trail
An organized water trail on the Big Coal, Little Coal and main-stem Coal rivers south of Charleston, with maintained access points, mapped mileages and signage — the product of sustained work by the Coal River Group to turn a working-class industrial river back into a recreation asset.
Chief Logan State Park
A 4,000-acre park in Logan County with a wildlife exhibit, trails through reclaimed coal country and an outdoor amphitheatre.
East Lynn Lake
A 1,005-acre Corps reservoir in Wayne County with a strong bass and crappie fishery, a large wildlife management area around it and very little traffic.
Kanawha Falls
A wide ledge falls at Glen Ferris where the Gauley and New join to form the Kanawha — a well-known bank fishing spot for hybrid striped bass, walleye and catfish, with roadside access and a historic inn across the highway.
Tu-Endie-Wei State Park
The smallest park in the system, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers in Point Pleasant, marking the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant.
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.