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.
Camp Creek State Park & Forest
Local knowledge
An unusual pairing of a small developed park inside a much larger state forest in Mercer County, with two waterfalls on Camp Creek, mountain bike and equestrian trails, and camping. The forest acreage gives it more trail mileage than the park size suggests.
A small developed park sitting inside a much larger state forest, so the trail network runs well past what the park's size suggests.
More places like thisKnow before you go
- Campbell Falls and Mash Fork Falls are both short walks from the road
- Trail network extends well beyond the developed park
- Trout stocked in Camp Creek
What you can do here
Campbell Falls and Mash Fork Falls both sit a short walk from the road, which puts the easiest hiking here within minutes of a parked car. Past that, the trail network runs out of the 550-acre developed park into 5,300 acres of state forest, so the available mileage is larger than the park boundary suggests.
Local organizations
The park offers camping but publishes no site count or layout here. What the location gives you is a small developed park wrapped in 5,300 acres of forest, with two waterfalls a short walk from the road. Ask the park office about site types, hookups and reservations before you settle on dates.
Local organizations
Camping across West Virginia →Bike trails run out into the forest side, where 5,300 acres carries far more trail than a 550-acre park would. No route lengths or difficulty ratings are published, so plan on natural surface and learn the network on the ground. Ask at the office which loops are rideable and which are shared with horses.
Local organizations
Mountain Biking across West Virginia →Equestrian trails are part of the network, and most of that network lies outside the developed park in the surrounding state forest. Bridle mileage and trailer parking are not published, so call before you haul in. Riders should also count on sharing ground with mountain bikers on the forest trails.
Camp Creek is stocked with trout, and it is the same water that carries both waterfalls through the park. This is small, bank-fished water rather than anything you float. Check the state stocking schedule and licensing before the drive, since a stocked creek fishes very differently the week after a truck than the day of.
Local organizations
Two waterfalls within a short walk of the road is a lot of subject for very little approach, and Campbell and Mash Fork are different enough to be worth both. Water level does most of the work, so come after rain. The 5,300 acres of forest around the park carry the fall color.
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →Guides, gear and lodging near Camp Creek State Park & Forest
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.