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.
Summit Lake
A 43-acre cold-water lake ten miles from Richwood in the Monongahela National Forest, with a 33-unit campground on the shore and the Cranberry backcountry immediately behind it. Quiet, stocked, and the practical base for fishing the Cranberry and Williams rivers without driving the Highland Scenic Highway twice a day.
Know before you go
- Cold-water lake — the Forest Service stocks it and WVDNR lists the district's trout waters nearby
- Ten miles from Richwood, on the Gauley Ranger District
- Handy for the Cranberry Wilderness trailheads on Forest Road 86
What you can do here
Guides, gear and lodging near Summit Lake
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 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.