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.
Among the least-visited units in the system: CCC cabins, a fire tower and a large quiet forest named for the four counties it borders.
More places like thisKnow before you go
- Rustic CCC cabins are the main lodging
- Trout stocked in Twelvepole Creek tributaries
What you can do here
Trails run through 8,123 acres of Wayne County forest that sees less traffic than almost any other unit in the system, so expect quiet and expect to be self-reliant. The 1930s CCC work shaped the roads, cabins and grades you will be walking on. No trail mileage is published here — ask the forest office what is currently cleared and marked.
Local organizations
A campground sits alongside the rustic CCC cabins that are the main lodging on this forest. Because it is among the least-visited units in the system, a summer weekend here is a different proposition than one at a busy state park. Site counts, hookups and season dates are not published in this record, so confirm them with the forest before you drive out.
Wayne County's large, lightly used forest is the draw: 8,123 acres with few other visitors once the September seasons open. Which portions are open, and under what rules, is not published here — check WVDNR regulations and the forest's own posting before opening day. Rustic CCC cabins give you a base within the forest if you would rather not commute to it.
Trout are stocked in the Twelvepole Creek tributaries that drain this forest, and that stocking is the reason most anglers come. Which streams get fish and when changes year to year; WVDNR publishes the current schedule and handles licensing. Staying in the cabins or the campground puts you close enough to fish early without a long drive in.
State forest ground does not carry the open dispersed-camping allowance that most of the Monongahela National Forest does, and this record publishes no primitive-camping rules for Cabwaylingo. The forest is large and quiet enough that the appeal is obvious. Before you plan around it, ask the forest office where backcountry camping is permitted and whether you need to register.
Wayne County sits well away from the high spruce where the state's marquee breeding species concentrate, so what this place offers instead is a large, quiet forest with almost nobody in it. May is the peak. No checklist is published for the forest, so bring your own and log what you hear. The Twelvepole Creek drainages are a sensible place to start.
Guides, gear and lodging near Cabwaylingo State Forest
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.
Beech Fork State Park
A 3,981-acre park around a 720-acre Corps reservoir near Huntington, with one of the largest campgrounds in the state park system, good bass fishing and easy trails.
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.
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.