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.
Cathedral State Park
133 acres of virgin eastern hemlock, the last substantial stand of old-growth mixed forest remaining in West Virginia. Individual trees exceed 90 feet in height and several centuries in age. Trails are level and the canopy is dense enough that ground-level light stays low through the day. The main loop takes about an hour.
Know before you go
- Hemlock woolly adelgid is a live threat here — do not move firewood
- Trails are short, flat and family-friendly
- Best light for photography is midday, when it reaches the forest floor
What you can do here
The whole park is 133 acres and the main loop takes about an hour, which makes this a stop rather than a day. Trails are level and short, so the walking is easy for any age. What you are walking through is the last substantial stand of old-growth mixed forest in West Virginia, with hemlocks over 90 feet tall and centuries old.
Local organizations
Virgin eastern hemlock is the point here — individual trees exceed 90 feet and several centuries, in the last substantial old-growth mixed stand left in the state. The canopy is dense enough that ground-level light stays low all day, which shapes everything growing beneath it. Hemlock woolly adelgid is a live threat to this stand, so do not move firewood in.
Midday is the park's recommendation, against the usual rule, because that is when light reaches the forest floor at all under a canopy this dense. Trees over 90 feet force you either to wide angles or to details — bark, roots, the low green layer. Bring a tripod: even at noon the ground here is dim.
Old-growth eastern hemlock is a distinct habitat and this is the last substantial stand of its kind in West Virginia, which makes 133 acres worth more than its size suggests. The park publishes no checklist. Level trails and an hour-long loop let you work slowly by ear, which matters under a canopy where you will hear far more than you see.
Trails are short, flat and family-friendly, and the main loop takes about an hour, so the grade problem that rules out most West Virginia forest walking does not apply here. The park does not publish trail surface or width details. Call ahead about surfacing and parking if you use a wheelchair or a walker, and note the loop is the full offering.
Guides, gear and lodging near Cathedral State Park
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Mountaineer Country
Coopers Rock State Forest
A 12,747-acre state forest above the Cheat River Canyon.
Cheat Canyon
One of the classic big-water runs of the East: roughly 11 miles of Class IV–V through a remote gorge below Albright, with named rapids including Big Nasty, Coliseum and Pete Morgan.
Mon River Rail-Trail System
About 48 miles of connected crushed-limestone rail-trail through Morgantown: the Caperton Trail along the riverfront downtown, the Mon River Trail running north to the Pennsylvania line and south toward Prickett's Fort, and the Deckers Creek Trail climbing 19 miles east to Reedsville.
Mountaineer Trail Network Recreation Area
Purpose-built modern singletrack in Preston County, the anchor project of a regional effort to link northern West Virginia into a single mountain bike destination.
Big Bear Lake Trail Center
A long-established private trail center in Preston County with dozens of miles of cross-country singletrack and doubletrack around a lake, plus camping.
Valley Falls State Park
A series of ledge drops on the Tygart Valley River near Fairmont, popular with photographers, picnickers and — at the right levels — playboaters.
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.