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.
Bluestone State Park
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. Campgrounds, cabins and boat access, with the Bluestone National Scenic River reachable by trail upstream.
Know before you go
- Lake levels fluctuate substantially for flood control
- Connects on foot to the Bluestone National Scenic River
- Good warm-water fishing for bass, muskie and catfish
- 2,040 acres, the third largest body of water in the state
- 82 campsites with electric available, open spring through fall
- The pool is open to cabin guests only, Wednesday to Sunday, Memorial Day to Labor Day
- Public boat launches sit on both the Bluestone River and the lake
What you can do here
The lake covers 2,040 acres of warm water and fishes well for bass, muskie and catfish, with the Bluestone River adding current where it meets the New. Levels swing substantially because the lake is run for flood control, so structure that held fish last month may be dry or deep now. Check the pool level before you pick a spot.
Local organizations
A 2,040-acre lake gives beginners plenty of protected water, and public launches sit on both the lake and the Bluestone River. Flood-control drawdowns change the shoreline through the season, which can expose stumps and mud flats and move the put-in you used last time. Paddle the coves on windy days and check the current level first.
Local organizations
There are 82 campsites with electric available, open spring through fall, within a 2,155-acre park on the lakeshore. One thing to plan around: the pool is open to cabin guests only, Wednesday to Sunday, Memorial Day to Labor Day, so campers should count on the lake for swimming. Book through the state park system.
Local organizations
Camping across West Virginia →Public boat launches sit on both the Bluestone River and the lake itself, giving you 2,040 acres of open water plus the river arm. Because the lake is managed for flood control, levels fluctuate substantially and ramps can be long walks or short ones depending on the week. WVDNR handles registration and boating rules statewide.
Local organizations
The park covers 2,155 acres and connects on foot to the Bluestone National Scenic River upstream, which is the walk worth planning a day around. Individual trail mileages are not published here, so ask at the office for a current map and the condition of the river connection. Lakeshore stretches change character as the pool rises and falls.
Local organizations
Two things make this worth a May morning: the confluence where the Bluestone River meets the New, and 2,155 acres of park around a large lake. Shoreline exposed by flood-control drawdown can concentrate waders and shorebirds. No park checklist is published, so bring your own list and ask the office where recent sightings have come from.
Launches on both the lake and the Bluestone River suit a boat you can carry, and the target species are the warm-water set — bass, muskie and catfish. A small craft handles the shallow river arm and the back coves better than a trailered boat does. Watch the flood-control level, which can change the run out and back substantially.
Guides, gear and lodging near Bluestone State Park
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the New River Gorge
New River Gorge Bridge
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.
Endless Wall Trail
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.
Long Point Trail
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.
Grandview
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.
Sandstone Falls
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.
Kaymoor Miners Trail
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.
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.