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.
Lost World Caverns
A commercial show cave outside Lewisburg, entered by a long stairway into a single enormous chamber holding the 28-foot Snowy Chandelier stalactite. The accessible face of the Greenbrier Valley's karst, with wild-cave tours available for those who want mud and crawling.
Know before you go
- Self-guided walking tour needs no experience
- Four-hour wild cave tours require booking and a change of clothes
- Cave temperature holds around 52°F year-round
What you can do here
There are two ways in. The self-guided walk drops a long stairway into the single main chamber and needs no experience; the four-hour wild cave tour requires booking and a change of clothes, and it is the one with mud and crawling. The cave holds around 52 degrees year-round at 120 feet below the surface, so dress for that whatever Lewisburg is doing.
Local organizations
The main chamber is a single enormous room, and the 28-foot Snowy Chandelier stalactite is the subject most people come for. You are 120 feet down with no daylight, so plan on long exposures and ask what gear the tours allow before you arrive with it. The wild cave tour reaches ground the walking tour does not, but it means carrying everything through mud.
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →Guides, gear and lodging near Lost World Caverns
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.
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.
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.