West Virginia OutsideOutdoor recreation guide
Plan a trip

Where to hike, paddle, climb and ride in West Virginia

West Virginia contains about 1.5 million acres of public land: a 919,000-acre national forest, five National Park Service units, more than 35 state parks and forests, and over 80 wildlife management areas. This site organizes that by activity and by region, with access notes, seasons, and links to the agencies and volunteer organizations that manage each site.

Start with an activity Or start with a region

Where to start

Every activity page opens with three places we would send you and one honest note about what to skip. Here are six of them.

See all outdoor activities

Activities

Every activity page covers where in the state it is practised, its season, and who manages access.

See all outdoor activities →

Regions

The Potomac Highlands behave like eastern Canada. The Eastern Panhandle behaves like Virginia. The southern coalfields have a thousand miles of off-road trail. Pick a region to see what it does best.

New River Gorge Southern Coalfields Greenbrier Valley Potomac Highlands Mountain Lakes Eastern Panhandle Mountaineer Country Mid-Ohio Valley Metro ValleyNEW RIVERGORGECOALFIELDSGREENBRIERPOTOMACHIGHLANDSMOUNTAINLAKESEASTERNPANHANDLEMOUNTAINEERMID-OHIOMETRO

Stylized regional map — select a region for its trails, rivers and organizations.

Sandstone climbing, big whitewater, a national park

New River Gorge

The New River has cut a gorge roughly 1,000 feet deep through Nuttall sandstone, protected since 2020 as New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The cliff bands hold more than 1,600 established climbing routes, the largest concentration of sandstone climbing in the eastern United States.

1,600+
Climbing routes
53 mi
Protected river
1,000 ft
Gorge depth
Sport ClimbingTraditional ClimbingBoulderingWhitewater RaftingWhitewater KayakingHikingMountain Biking
Open New guide →

List your business here

These positions are open to West Virginia outfitters, guide services, shops, shuttles and lodging operators. Paid placements are always labelled and kept separate from editorial content, which is not for sale.

See listing options →
AdvertiseThis space is available

Your outfitter listed here

Guided whitewater, climbing and fishing operators. Featured placement on the New River Gorge region page and on every whitewater activity page.

List your business here
AdvertiseThis space is available

Your shop listed here

Gear, rentals and repairs. A persistent slot in the climbing, paddling and camping categories with a direct booking link.

List your business here
AdvertiseThis space is available

Your lodging listed here

Cabins, campgrounds, lodges and shuttles. Regional placement matched to the nearest trailheads and put-ins.

List your business here

Match activities to regions

Choose what you want to do, roughly where and when. The planner returns the regions that fit, the places to go, matching itineraries and the organisations to contact.

Choose an activity, a region or a season to build a shortlist.

Community

Recent photography and condition reports from West Virginia's parks, rivers and tourism accounts.

See community →

No posts connected yet.

Deploy the endpoint in /endpoint and set WVO_INSTAGRAM_ENDPOINT, or paste permalinks into IG_POSTS.

Tags #almostheaven#wearewv#wvtourism#westvirginia
Follow @wvtourism@wvstateparks@wvdnr

State Parks

West Virginia charges no admission at any state park or forest. The system carries most of the state's cabin lodging and family camping, and includes the Almost Heaven Swings installed at scenic overlooks across the state.

See all State Parks →

Destinations

More than a hundred specific wildernesses, crags, rivers, rail-trails, caves and overlooks — with what makes each one worth going to and what will catch you out.

See all destinations →
Wilderness · 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.

17,371 ac wilderness4,000+ ft plateau
Overlook · 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.

876 ft above the river3,030 ft arch span
Trail · 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.

78 mi length35 bridges
Climbing Area · Potomac Highlands

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.

900 ft above the riverTuscarora quartzite
State Forest · Mountaineer Country

Coopers Rock State Forest

A 12,747-acre state forest above the Cheat River Canyon.

12,747 ac forest1,200 ft above the cheat
Lake · New River Gorge

Summersville Lake

West Virginia's largest lake and by a wide margin its clearest — 2,700 acres of blue-green water in a sandstone basin, popular for scuba diving, paddleboarding and boating.

2,700 ac surface327 ft max depth

Itineraries

Ten routes with day-by-day plans, the places you'll stop, and the season each one needs to work.

See all itineraries →

Planning guides

Permit and licence requirements, common hazards, drive times and road access, and the terminology you'll hear at the put-in.

See all planning guides →

Basecamp towns

Ten towns that work as outdoor bases — what each is good at and what sits within reach.

See all basecamp towns →

Common questions

What is West Virginia best known for outdoors?
Whitewater on the New and Gauley rivers, sandstone climbing in the New River Gorge and at Seneca Rocks, the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail and the wider rail-trail network, the Hatfield-McCoy motorized trail system, and karst cave systems in the southeastern counties with hundreds of mapped miles.
Do I need a permit to hike or camp in West Virginia?
No permit is needed for day hiking, and dispersed backcountry camping is allowed across most of the Monongahela National Forest. Developed campgrounds are reserved through West Virginia State Parks or Recreation.gov. Hunting and fishing require WVDNR licenses.
When should I visit West Virginia?
Late September and October for fall color, whitewater releases and the best hiking weather. April and May for peak river flows and wildflowers. December through March for the Canaan Valley snow belt. Summer is humid at low elevation but excellent above 3,500 feet.
Is cell service reliable in West Virginia backcountry?
No. Coverage is poor to nonexistent across the Monongahela National Forest, the Highlands and much of the southern coalfields, and the National Radio Quiet Zone around Green Bank restricts transmissions entirely. Download offline maps before you leave pavement.
Who maintains West Virginia's trails and river access?
Largely volunteers. The West Virginia Scenic Trails Association maintains the Allegheny Trail, the New River Alliance of Climbers maintains climbing access, and dozens of watershed groups maintain river access — the WVDEP watershed group directory is the master list.

Almost Heaven Swings