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.
Trout Pond Recreation Area
Local knowledge
Home to the only natural lake in West Virginia — a small sinkhole pond in the George Washington National Forest section of Hardy County, alongside the larger man-made Rockcliff Lake, a campground and trails into the Lost River State Forest country.
The only natural lake in West Virginia, a sinkhole pond that rises and falls with the groundwater beside a man-made one most visitors assume is the attraction.
More places like thisKnow before you go
- The natural pond fluctuates dramatically with groundwater
- Campground is well-run and quiet
- Trails connect toward Long Mountain
- Trout Pond itself is a one-acre sinkhole lake with no vessels allowed, and holds native brook trout
- Rock Cliff Lake, 12 acres, has the sandy beach and takes electric motors only
- Day use is $8 per vehicle; campsites are $25, doubles $40, electric $7 extra
- Day use runs April to December; the campground only from early May to October
- It is managed by the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, not the Monongahela
What you can do here
The campground is open only from early May to October, a shorter season than day use, which runs April into December. Sites are $25, doubles $40, and electric adds $7 on top. It is quiet and well-run, and it falls under the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests rather than the Monongahela.
Trout Pond itself is a one-acre sinkhole lake holding native brook trout, with no vessels allowed, so it is fished from the bank. Its level rises and falls dramatically with groundwater, and what you find depends on when you come. Rock Cliff Lake beside it covers 12 acres and permits electric motors only.
Local organizations
Trails leave the recreation area toward Long Mountain and out into the Lost River State Forest country beyond it. No mileage is published for them. Day use runs April through December at $8 per vehicle, which means the walking stays available for two months after the campground closes in October.
Local organizations
Rock Cliff Lake, the 12-acre man-made water, carries the sandy beach; the natural pond does not, being one acre, full of brook trout and closed to vessels of any kind. Summer swimming therefore happens on the larger lake. Day use is $8 per vehicle, and the campground next door is open early May through October.
No bike-specific trail is listed here, only the paths running toward Long Mountain and into the surrounding national forest. Whether those are open to bikes is a question for the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, which manages this ground. Day use is $8 per vehicle if you drive in to look.
Guides, gear and lodging near Trout Pond Recreation Area
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Eastern Panhandle
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
Where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac and three states meet at once, with the Appalachian Trail running straight through town and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquartered a block off Washington Street.
Cacapon Resort State Park
6,000 acres on Cacapon Mountain near Berkeley Springs, with a lodge, a Robert Trent Jones golf course, a lake beach and a trail system climbing to the 2,300-foot ridge.
Cacapon River
One of the finest gentle canoe rivers in the East — clear, shallow, warm and slow, winding through farmland and forest with reliable smallmouth fishing and easy multi-day trips.
Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area
Nearly 23,000 acres on Sleepy Creek Mountain — the largest WMA in the Eastern Panhandle, with a 205-acre lake, primitive camping, hunting, and a long ridge trail system.
Berkeley Springs State Park
The oldest spa in the country — warm mineral springs flowing at a constant 74°F that George Washington visited as a young surveyor.
Shenandoah & Potomac Rivers
The Shenandoah's Staircase rapids above Harpers Ferry give Class I–III whitewater in a resort-town setting, while the Potomac below the confluence spreads wide and slow for tubing and flatwater.
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.