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.
Pipestem Resort State Park
A full resort park perched above the Bluestone Canyon, with an aerial tram descending 1,100 feet to a lodge on the river — the only state park tram in West Virginia. Golf, an observation tower, extensive trails and one of the state's designated dark-sky observation sites.
Know before you go
- The tram runs seasonally — check before planning a river-level stay
- McKeever Lodge sits on the rim; Mountain Creek Lodge is tram-access only
- Bluestone Turnpike Trail links to the national scenic river
- Every trail worth walking here descends: River Trail is 5.25 miles of switchbacks to the Bluestone
- Canyon Rim Trail drops 500 feet in 0.7 miles to Heritage Point, a sandstone outcrop over the gorge
- The Bluestone Turnpike Trail runs 8.5 miles along the river to Bluestone State Park
What you can do here
Every trail worth walking here descends, which means the return leg is the climb. River Trail is 5.25 miles of switchbacks down to the Bluestone; Canyon Rim Trail drops 500 feet in 0.7 miles to Heritage Point, a sandstone outcrop over the gorge. Bluestone Turnpike Trail runs 8.5 miles along the river to Bluestone State Park.
Trails here
Overlooks here
Local organizations
The water is the Bluestone, 1,100 feet below the rim, reached by tram when it is running or on foot down River Trail's 5.25 miles of switchbacks. The tram operates seasonally, so check before planning a river-level day with rods. Bluestone Turnpike Trail gives 8.5 miles of bank along the river. Licensing and regulations come from WVDNR.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
The park lists mountain biking but publishes no bike-specific mileage. What the terrain gives is one-directional riding: a 4,050-acre rim property whose trails all descend, including 500 feet of drop in 0.7 miles on Canyon Rim Trail. Ask the park office which trails are open to bikes before committing to a descent you have to climb back out of.
Trails here
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Mountain Biking across West Virginia →Camping is listed, but the record here describes lodging rather than campsites — McKeever Lodge on the rim, Mountain Creek Lodge at river level and reachable only by tram. Site counts, loops and season are not published. Ask the park where the campground sits relative to the rim, because every trail on this property descends and the climb back is the day's work.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Camping across West Virginia →The tram drops 1,100 feet into the Bluestone Canyon and is a moving vantage as much as a ride, though it runs only seasonally. Heritage Point, a sandstone outcrop 500 feet below the rim at the end of a 0.7-mile trail, is the fixed one. The park is a designated dark-sky observation site, so bring a tripod and stay past dark.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →The park spans 4,050 acres from rim to river, and its trails cross that whole elevation band — River Trail's 5.25 miles of switchbacks pass through more habitat than any rim walk does. Bluestone Turnpike Trail follows the river 8.5 miles to Bluestone State Park. No species list is published; the vertical range is the reason to come.
Overlooks here
Guides, gear and lodging near Pipestem Resort 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.