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.
Highland Scenic Highway
A 43-mile National Scenic Byway climbing over 4,500 feet across the Allegheny plateau between Richwood and US 219, with four major overlooks and access to Cranberry Glades, the Falls of Hills Creek and the Cranberry Wilderness. No services on the highest section, which closes to maintenance in deep winter.
Know before you go
- The Highlands section (WV 150) is unmaintained in winter
- One of the best road cycling climbs in the East, with essentially no traffic
- Fall color peaks here in early October, before the valleys
What you can do here
Four major overlooks along 43 miles of byway, climbing over 4,500 feet across the Allegheny plateau, give you elevation to shoot valley fog and long ridgelines from. Fall color peaks here in early October, ahead of the valleys, so the high road and the low country are two different trips. The Highlands section is unmaintained in winter.
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →The byway is an access road as much as a drive: it reaches Cranberry Glades, the Falls of Hills Creek and the Cranberry Wilderness from a paved corridor above 4,500 feet. That means you can walk bog boardwalk, waterfall stairs and wilderness trail in one day. There are no services on the highest section, so bring what you need.
Trails here
Local organizations
The Highlands section, WV 150, is unmaintained in winter and closes to maintenance in deep winter, which is exactly what turns a paved byway into a ski corridor above 4,500 feet. Nothing here is groomed and there are no services on that stretch. Ask the Forest Service district about current road status and where you can safely leave a vehicle.
Trails here
Local organizations
Worth knowing before you load the gravel bike: the record for this byway describes a paved climb, called one of the best road cycling climbs in the East with essentially no traffic, and names no unpaved routes off it. That climb is genuinely long — over 4,500 feet across 43 miles. Ask the Forest Service district about forest road connections.
Trails here
Local organizations
Elevation above 4,500 feet puts you in the plateau forest where the state's northern breeders concentrate, and the byway reaches Cranberry Glades and the Cranberry Wilderness from the pavement. May is the peak. No site checklist is published, so use the overlooks and trailheads as stops and start early — the highest section has no services at all.
Guides, gear and lodging near Highland Scenic Highway
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Greenbrier Valley
Greenbrier River Trail
Seventy-eight miles from Cass to Caldwell on a former Chesapeake & Ohio logging grade, crossing 35 bridges by the state park's count and passing through 2 tunnels, following the Greenbrier River the entire way.
Watoga State Park
West Virginia's largest state park at over 10,100 acres, built largely by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Beartown State Park
A half-mile boardwalk through a formation of large Droop Sandstone blocks separated by deep crevasses, some of which hold ice into early summer.
Cranberry Glades Botanical Area
The largest area of bogs in West Virginia — sphagnum and cranberry peat bogs holding plant communities left behind after the last glaciation, more typical of Canada than the mid-Atlantic, including carnivorous sundews and pitcher plants.
Falls of Hills Creek
Three waterfalls in three-quarters of a mile, dropping 25, 45 and 63 feet — the last is the second-highest waterfall in West Virginia.
Cranberry Wilderness
47,815 acres of second-growth northern hardwood and red spruce on the high plateau — the largest wilderness in West Virginia.
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.