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.
Tea Creek Trail System
Forty-four miles of interlocking trail off the Highland Scenic Highway, and the best-known mixed hiking and mountain-biking network on the Marlinton district of the Monongahela National Forest. Loops run from an hour to a full day, along Tea Creek and up onto the ridges either side, with a Forest Service campground at the bottom.
Know before you go
- Route 150, the Highland Scenic Highway, is not plowed in winter
- Trails are rooty and rocky rather than groomed singletrack
- Tea Creek Campground sits at the trailhead
What you can do here
Forty-four miles of interlocking trail off the Highland Scenic Highway, and the best-known mixed hiking and riding network on the Marlinton district of the Monongahela. Trails are rooty and rocky rather than groomed singletrack, which is what the intermediate-to-advanced rating reflects. Loops run from an hour to a full day. Route 150 is not plowed in winter.
Local organizations
The system runs along Tea Creek and up onto the ridges either side, 44 miles of it, so loop length is yours to set between an hour and a full day. Bikes use the same trails — expect to share and to hear them before you see them. Access is Route 150, the Highland Scenic Highway, which is unplowed in winter.
Local organizations
Rooty and rocky rather than groomed, across 44 interlocking miles, this is the terrain West Virginia's outsized ultra scene is built on. Loops from an hour to a full day let you set distance without an out-and-back. Watch for bikes at junctions. In winter, Route 150 is unplowed and the approach becomes part of the run.
Tea Creek Campground sits at the trailhead, which is the entire argument for it — sleep at the bottom of a 44-mile trail system and start from the tent. It is a Forest Service campground, so it goes through Recreation rather than the state park system. Route 150 is not plowed in winter, which ends the season at the road.
Tea Creek is a Monongahela National Forest mountain stream, which in these highlands means freestone water, though the record does not say what is stocked here or when. The trail system follows the creek, so walking access and wading access line up well. Check WVDNR regulations for this water, and note the March-to-November window.
Local organizations
Dispersed camping is permitted across most of the Monongahela National Forest, which is unusual for an eastern national forest, and this system sits on the Marlinton district. That gives you ground beyond the campground at the trailhead if you would rather walk in. Confirm current district rules before choosing a site, and remember Route 150 goes unplowed in winter.
Local organizations
Primitive & Dispersed Camping across West Virginia →Guides, gear and lodging near Tea Creek Trail System
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.