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.
Smoke Hole Canyon
A steep, narrow limestone canyon where the South Branch of the Potomac cuts through Cave Mountain — excellent smallmouth fishing, quiet canoe water at the right levels, dispersed camping, caves in the walls and a nineteenth-century chapel at the upper end. Rugged and lightly developed.
Know before you go
- Big Bend Campground sits inside a dramatic river bend and books early
- Water levels drop hard in late summer
- Bald eagles are regular through the canyon
What you can do here
The South Branch runs quiet through the canyon at the right levels, and that condition is everything, because water drops hard in late summer. April through October is the window, with the early part of it far more reliable. Beginners can handle the river when levels cooperate, so check the gauge before loading boats.
Smallmouth in a limestone canyon is the draw, and the limestone is a good part of why the fishery is what it is. Wading gets easier as the river drops through late summer, which is also when the fish get harder to approach. The canyon is steep and lightly developed, so plan the day around getting in and out.
Local organizations
Smallmouth is the published fishery here, in a river cutting through limestone under Cave Mountain. Levels drop hard in late summer, which concentrates fish into the deeper pools and makes them wary. Bald eagles work the canyon regularly, which matters to the fishing as much as to the birding.
Big Bend Campground sits inside a dramatic bend of the river and books early, so treat it as a reservation made well ahead rather than a place to show up at. The canyon is rugged and lightly developed, and the campground is not a resort. The season runs April through October.
Dispersed camping in the canyon makes it possible to fish or paddle a stretch and stay with it instead of driving out each evening. Nothing about site rules, distance from water or fire restrictions is published in this record, so check with the managing agency first. April through November, with no facilities of any kind.
Local organizations
Primitive & Dispersed Camping across West Virginia →Caves open in the canyon walls, which is what limestone cut by a river produces. Nothing about them is published here, no names, no access rules, no permit information, and canyon caves are not beginner ground. Contact the managing agency and a local grotto before entering anything, in any season.
Bald eagles are regular through the canyon, the most reliable sighting on offer. Steep limestone walls, the river corridor and the rim above stack several kinds of ground into one narrow view, so a slow walk or a slow float covers more than the map suggests. May is the peak for migrants.
Local organizations
Birding across West Virginia →A river cutting a narrow limestone canyon makes pools, and June through August is when people use them. Late summer levels drop hard, which improves the wading and shrinks the deep water. Nothing here is developed for swimming, so read the current and the bottom yourself before committing to a spot.
Guides, gear and lodging near Smoke Hole Canyon
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Potomac Highlands
Dolly Sods Wilderness
A 17,371-acre federally designated wilderness on a plateau largely above 4,000 feet, containing wind-flagged red spruce, heath barrens, sphagnum bog and exposed rock.
Bear Rocks Preserve
The northern edge of the Dolly Sods plateau, owned by The Nature Conservancy: bare Pottsville sandstone slabs, one-sided spruce sculpted by prevailing wind, and blueberry heath dropping east into the Allegheny Front with a 3,000-foot view over the Potomac Highlands.
Spruce Knob
At 4,863 feet, the highest point in West Virginia and the high point of the entire Allegheny range.
Seneca Rocks
A 900-foot fin of near-vertical Tuscarora quartzite standing above the North Fork of the South Branch — the most recognizable rock formation in the eastern United States and the only true summit in the East that can only be reached by technical climbing.
Seneca Creek Backcountry
A network of trails below Spruce Knob following Seneca Creek through spruce and northern hardwood to a series of waterfalls, the largest around 20 feet.
Blackwater Falls State Park
A 57-foot falls where the Blackwater River drops into an eight-mile canyon, its water stained amber by hemlock and spruce tannins.
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.