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.
Little Beaver State Park
A park just off I-64 near Beckley with an 18-acre lake, a seasonal campground, an extensive trail network used for running and mountain biking, and easy access from the interstate. Functions as the closest trail system to Beckley.
Know before you go
- Camping is seasonal — the campground runs April 1 to November 1, weather permitting
- Trails are used year-round by local runners and riders
- The 18-acre lake is electric motors only, with paddleboard, kayak, canoe, paddleboat and rowboat rental in season
- The 562-acre park sits directly off I-64, which makes it the easiest trail system to reach from Beckley
What you can do here
An extensive trail network on 562 acres just off I-64 near Beckley, walked year-round by locals — which is the strongest recommendation a trail system gets. The 18-acre lake gives most loops a destination. This is a day-use park, so plan a walk rather than an overnight, and check hours with the park.
Local organizations
Local runners use these trails through every season, on ground close enough to the interstate to make a weekday run practical from Beckley. The network is extensive for a park of 562 acres, so you can string laps together rather than repeating one loop. No measured distances are published, so map your own route the first time out.
Local organizations
Riders share the same network the runners use, and it sees year-round local traffic. At 562 acres this is a compact system ridden in laps, not a point-to-point day. There is no camping, so treat it as a stop off I-64 or an evening ride out of Beckley rather than a destination weekend.
Local organizations
Mountain Biking across West Virginia →Eighteen acres of lake in a day-use park, restricted to electric motors, so the water stays quiet all day. Bank access follows the trail network around the shoreline. WVDNR licensing and regulations apply; no stocked species are published for this lake, so check current stocking before you plan a trip around one fish.
Local organizations
The lake is 18 acres and electric motors only — small, flat and calm, which is why it works for a first time in a boat. Paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, paddleboats and rowboats rent in season, so you can arrive with nothing. Rentals are seasonal, so call ahead if you are counting on a boat in the shoulder months.
Local organizations
Disc golf is listed here, but the park publishes no hole count, layout or par. What it does have is 562 acres of rolling ground and a trail network, which is the sort of terrain courses get built into. Confirm the layout, and whether discs can be rented or bought on site, with the park before you drive out.
The campground runs April 1 to November 1, weather permitting, so this is a seasonal base rather than a year-round one. Being straight off I-64 near Beckley makes it an easy first or last night on a longer trip rather than a destination in itself. Check with the park for site availability before you count on it.
Local organizations
Camping across West Virginia →Guides, gear and lodging near Little Beaver State Park
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.