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.
Canaan Mountain Backcountry
Local knowledge
The plateau between Davis and Canaan Valley, from 3,100 to 4,145 feet, built around the eight-mile Plantation Trail with a dozen short connectors hanging off it. Rhododendron tunnels, spruce, blueberry heath and old logging grades, and the closest real backcountry walking to the Canaan Valley lodges. It is also the mountain-biking and cross-country ski network that White Grass and the Davis shops send people to.
The closest real backcountry walking to the Canaan Valley lodges, and it holds snow when the valley floor is bare.
More places like thisKnow before you go
- Plantation Trail is the spine; Mountainside, Railroad Grade and Lindy Run are the usual return legs
- Wet underfoot for most of the year — the plateau holds water
- Snow lies here when the valley floor is bare, which is why the ski touring is on this mountain
What you can do here
Plantation Trail runs eight miles as the spine, with a dozen short connectors hanging off it — Mountainside, Railroad Grade and Lindy Run are the usual return legs, and that is how you build a loop. Rhododendron tunnels, spruce and blueberry heath fill the ground between 3,100 and 4,145 feet. The plateau holds water and stays wet most of the year.
Trails here
Local organizations
This is the network the White Grass and Davis shops point riders toward: eight miles of Plantation Trail plus connectors on old logging grades. The plateau holds water, so expect wet, rooty tread through most of the season rather than dry hardpack. Mountainside, Railroad Grade and Lindy Run make the usual way back.
Trails here
Local organizations
Snow lies on this mountain when the valley floor is bare, which is the whole reason the ski touring happens up here. Plantation Trail's eight miles and the dozen connectors off it form the network, on old logging grades between 3,100 and 4,145 feet. Grooming, if there is any, is not published — ask in Davis before you drive up.
Trails here
Local organizations
The wet plateau that makes summer walking a slog is easier once it freezes and fills in, and snow stays here after the valley has gone bare. Plantation Trail gives eight miles of obvious line, with short connectors if you want to cut the day off early. Rhododendron and spruce keep much of the route sheltered.
Trails here
Local organizations
An overnight here is a loop problem: eight miles of Plantation Trail, a dozen short connectors, and Mountainside, Railroad Grade or Lindy Run to come back on. The plateau holds water and the tread stays wet most of the year, so plan on soaked feet and pick tent ground carefully. It is the closest real backcountry to the Canaan Valley lodges.
Trails here
Local organizations
Camping here means finding your own ground off Plantation Trail or one of its connectors — no designated sites, permit rules or water sources are published for this plateau. Wet soil that holds water for most of the year narrows the choice of a decent tent spot considerably. Check current rules with the managing agency before planning a dispersed night.
Local organizations
Primitive & Dispersed Camping across West Virginia →Out along Plantation Trail and back on a connector is the shape of most runs here, with Mountainside, Railroad Grade and Lindy Run as the usual returns. The tread is wet for most of the year on a plateau that holds water, so this is rooty, splashy running rather than fast running. The high point is 4,145 feet.
Trails here
Guides, gear and lodging near Canaan Mountain Backcountry
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Potomac Highlands
Dolly Sods Wilderness
A 17,371-acre federally designated wilderness on a plateau largely above 4,000 feet, containing wind-flagged red spruce, heath barrens, sphagnum bog and exposed rock.
Bear Rocks Preserve
The northern edge of the Dolly Sods plateau, owned by The Nature Conservancy: bare Pottsville sandstone slabs, one-sided spruce sculpted by prevailing wind, and blueberry heath dropping east into the Allegheny Front with a 3,000-foot view over the Potomac Highlands.
Spruce Knob
At 4,863 feet, the highest point in West Virginia and the high point of the entire Allegheny range.
Seneca Rocks
A 900-foot fin of near-vertical Tuscarora quartzite standing above the North Fork of the South Branch — the most recognizable rock formation in the eastern United States and the only true summit in the East that can only be reached by technical climbing.
Seneca Creek Backcountry
A network of trails below Spruce Knob following Seneca Creek through spruce and northern hardwood to a series of waterfalls, the largest around 20 feet.
Blackwater Falls State Park
A 57-foot falls where the Blackwater River drops into an eight-mile canyon, its water stained amber by hemlock and spruce tannins.
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.