West Virginia

Trip Overview - 4 Days at Watoga State Park in West Virginia

A couple of years ago we visited Watoga State Park for the first time. Coming of off no travel for 18 months due to the start of Covid, this was also our first foray into staying at a state park. We had a great trip and have since visited a multitude of state parks across the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. What we didn’t do much of during that first trip to Watoga is spend time exploring the hiking within the park itself. Instead, we mostly explored the broader Pocahontas County region, which has a lot on offer!

Adventures in Travel, West Virginia, Series: WatogaLindseyOctober 20, 2024Watoga State ParkComment

Watoga State Park, WV - Day 4

On our fourth (and final) full day at Watoga State Park, we were confronted with spotty rain and the threat of thunderstorms. So, we ruled out a morning hike and an afternoon bike ride on the Greenbrier River Trail and instead came up with a new itinerary. We hung out in our cabin in the morning reading, headed north 30 minutes to the town of Marlinton for lunch, visited the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center, crammed in a 1.5 mile roundtrip hike to a beautiful series of waterfalls, before returning to Marlinton for dinner right on the Greenbrier River. Not a bad day at all for one that was entirely different than our original plans!

Adventures in Travel, West Virginia, Series: WatogaLindseySeptember 29, 2024Watoga State ParkComment

Watoga State Park, WV - Day 3

On our third full day at Watoga State Park, we hiked Ann Bailey Trail (6 miles roundtrip) out to a fire tower and a loop trail that combined Busch Settlement Trail, North Boundary Trail, Buck & Doe Trail, and Bear Pen Trail (3 miles total). We ended the day by grabbing soft serve ice cream cones from nearby Jack Horner’s Corner.

Adventures in Travel, West Virginia, Series: WatogaLindseyAugust 4, 2024Watoga State ParkComment

Watoga State Park, WV - Day 2

On our second full day at Watoga State Park, we hiked Monongaseneka Trail (5.5 miles after we added some neighboring trails to create a loop plus 2 miles on bike to return to our car), and biked 15 miles on the Greenbrier River Trail, which we accessed about 30 minutes away so that we could catch the segment of the trail through the 400-foot long Droop Mountain Tunnel.

Adventures in Travel, West Virginia, Series: WatogaLindseyJuly 21, 2024Watoga State ParkComment

Watoga State Park, WV - Day 1

Watoga State Park is located in eastern West Virginia in Pocahontas County, the county directly north of the more well-known Greenbrier County (home to Greenbrier Resort). The park is the largest state park in West Virginia at over 10,000 acres.

Adventures in Travel, West Virginia, Series: WatogaLindseyJuly 14, 2024Watoga State ParkComment

Canaan Valley 2-Day Itinerary

Canaan Valley (pronounced kuh-NANE) is a beautiful valley in the northeastern portion of the state. It is known for being the location of Blackwater River and its eponymous state park, an area with a number of ski/four-season resorts (while it’s known for the Canaan Valley Resort, there are others), home to Dolly Sods Wilderness, and neighbors the towering peaks of Seneca Rocks. If you like the outdoors, this is a spot to add to your list!

Adventures in Travel, Series: New River Gorge, United States, West VirginiaLindseySeptember 9, 2023Comment

New River Gorge National Park 2-Day Itinerary

New River Gorge National Park is one of the newest spots to earn the national park designation, which it received in 2020. While there are endless options for how to spend time in the area, and you’d need a lengthy trip to take it all in, a well-planned two day visit can still render visitors in awe of the area’s grandeur. See a quick overview immediately below with any more details and driving route maps when you read on!

A Week in West Virginia: New River Gorge National Park and Canaan Valley

I feel like we’re not alone when we say sometimes it is easier to plan a trip halfway around the world than to take the time to visit somewhere within driving distance of home. For years, we have talked about visiting the New River Gorge area as well as other spots in the Canaan Valley vicinity: Seneca Rocks and Dolly Sods. At half a day’s drive, this shouldn’t have taken about a decade in the making, but it did. In fact, it took us so long that by the time we visited, New River Gorge had joined the national park system, the 63rd park designated as such in 2020.

Pocahontas County, WV: Greenbrier River Trail (Day 4)

On our final day staying in Watoga State Park in West Virginia, we checked out the Greenbrier River Trail and rode a chunk of the route on our bikes. The day started out a tad overcast so we headed from our rustic cabin to the trail head, a short distance away, cognizant that time was likely not on our side.

Pocahontas County, WV: Cranberry Glades and Bog (Day 3)

After weighing the weather report for the day and the following day, the Cranberry Glades area won out. Everything we had read about the area sold us on this decision. The Cranberry Glades are a unique bog environment, not typically found so far south. A more common location of a bog is Canada or far northern areas in the United States, not a spot a 7+ hour drive south of there. A bog is a freshwater wetland area with an soft, spongy ground because it is filled with peat, partially decayed plant matter.

Pocahontas County, WV: Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, Beartown State Park & Highland Scenic Drive (Day 2)

After swinging by the main park building to access wifi from the parking lot to get driving directions on the phone, we drove the 25 minutes or so to Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. The route took us through the small area of Hillsboro, past the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace – a gorgeous, white house sitting along a rural thoroughfare. There were some steep altitude climbs and very windy roads, but it was overall an easy drive.

Pocahontas County, WV: Watoga State Park (Day 1)

From the moment we entered Monongahela National Forest and then Watoga State Park proper, it was clear that we had lucked upon a gorgeous spot.

What made us pick Watoga you might ask? Random chance and a few filters applied to the West Virginia Parks site. After over two and a half years of a travel hiatus due to covid, we decided we were ready to head out in the world . . . in a very low-key safe way. Our in-laws have visited a number of Virginia state parks in the last few years and stayed at cabins, and this option wasn’t really on our radar at all. We took a look at the parks in West Virginia, just over the border from our home, and searched for one with availability that also took dogs (many do not). And voila! Watoga State Park became our destination.

Pocahontas County, West Virginia Trip Overview - 4 Days in the Mountains

West Virginia is known as the Mountain State for a reason. While many states dip into the Appalachian region, West Virginia is the only state entirely within the Appalachian region. And because the Appalachian system of mountains is so vast - spanning from Georgia to Maine - it has sub-sections of mountains. West Virginia is home to the Valley and Ridge and Appalachian Plateau areas, the former of which is nestled against the Blue Ridge Mountains of our local area in Virginia.