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.
Know before you go
- Upper Falls and Tenskwatawa Falls are the trail highlights
- Trails are steep and rough for a state park — this is real hiking
- Trout stocked in Left Fork
- Potato Knob Trail is 7.5 miles one way to a 2,480-foot summit by way of the section the park calls The Chute
- Railroad Grade Trail, 10 miles, is the longest in the park
- Tramontane Trail reaches Mystic Falls at 2.3 miles; Reverie passes under Tecumseh Falls
- Laurel Fork Trail is a paved, ADA-accessible quarter-mile loop with Braille interpretive signs
What you can do here
The second-largest state park at 8,101 acres has trails that are steep and rough by state park standards. Potato Knob runs 7.5 miles one way to a 2,480-foot summit by way of the section the park calls The Chute, and Railroad Grade, at 10 miles, is the longest. Tramontane reaches Mystic Falls at 2.3 miles; Laurel Fork is a paved, ADA-accessible quarter-mile loop with Braille signs.
Trails here
Camping sits in a narrow valley of hemlock and hardwood inside 8,101 acres, with the waterfall trails starting nearby. The park also has cabins if the ground is too wet. Book through the state park system and confirm the campground is open in the season you want, since the listed window runs April through October.
Trout are stocked in Left Fork, the water running through the valley the park occupies. Hemlock and hardwood keep it shaded and the casting lanes tight, so this is small freestone stream work rather than open river. Stocked water changes through the spring, so check WVDNR schedules for the weeks you are coming.
Waterfalls are the subject: Upper Falls and Tenskwatawa are the trail highlights, Tramontane reaches Mystic Falls at 2.3 miles, and Reverie passes under Tecumseh Falls. A narrow hemlock valley holds even light, which suits long exposures on moving water. Reaching most of them means steep, rough trail, so budget more time than the mileage suggests.
Steep, rough trail for a state park puts this closer to the technical ground the state's ultra runners train on. Railroad Grade is the longest at 10 miles; Potato Knob climbs 7.5 miles one way to a 2,480-foot summit through the section called The Chute. Choose according to whether you want distance or vertical, and expect slow miles either way.
Trails here
Waterfalls define this valley — Upper Falls, Tenskwatawa, Mystic and Tecumseh all sit on park trails — and falls generally mean pools below them. The park publishes no designated swimming area, so ask staff what is allowed and where before anyone gets in. Water in a shaded, narrow hemlock valley stays cold well past the start of summer.
Guides, gear and lodging near Holly River State Park
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Mountain Lakes
Elk River
One of the finest and least-known trout fisheries in the Appalachians.
Elk River Rail Trail
A developing rail-trail on the former Buffalo Creek & Gauley and Elk River Railroad grades, opening a long, remote corridor along the Elk between Gassaway and Clendenin.
Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park
A 2,650-acre lake with the most developed resort facilities of any West Virginia lake park — a lodge, marina, Arnold Palmer golf course and the state's largest open-water fetch for small-boat sailing.
Sutton Lake
A 1,440-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Elk River in Braxton County, with several campgrounds, quiet coves and the dam that creates the Elk tailwater fishery below.
Burnsville Lake
A 968-acre Corps reservoir on the Little Kanawha with the Bulltown Historic Area on its shore — Civil War earthworks, a preserved farmstead and a well-regarded campground.
Cedar Creek State Park
A 2,483-acre park in Gilmer County with three small fishing lakes, a campground and a network of easy trails.
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.