The Mountain State, Almost Heaven, Wild and Wonderful, West Virginia has a few different reputations, all of which hint at the goods sandwiched inside this small state’s borders. And the state of adventure in West Virginia just seems to keep getting better with the addition of new public lands and fresh trail systems.
I recently spent three days driving through the mountains of West Virginia, combining the state’s newest adventures with some of its classics for the perfect summer road trip full of cold lakes, fast bike descents, waterfalls, and towering peaks that rise above the heat. The best part? This itinerary is short on miles, so you can spend less time in your car and more time on the trail and in the water. That’s the beauty of West Virginia; it packs a big punch in a limited footprint, with a lifetime of rugged terrain to explore in one of the smallest states in the country.
Follow my route for a weekend trip designed for summer fun—especially for those who want to be on their bike more than in the car.
Road Trip Odometer
Total Miles: 100
Duration: Three days
Highlights: Brand new singletrack, multiple lakes, lift-served bike park
Day One: Lake Day in Summerville State Park
New River Gorge National Park is the obvious draw to West Virginia these days (and I love it) but the first leg of this trip is focused just north of that impressive chasm on Summerville Lake, a 2,700-acre reservoir that has Caribbean-blue water and gray sandstone cliffs rising from its shores. It also sports a brand new state park, Summerville Lake State Park, that makes for the perfect basecamp for exploring the water and the surrounding trail systems.
The park opened this May and was created in part to protect a massive climbing crag with more than 200 established routes, most of which are bolted for sport climbing. There are also plenty of single pitch top rope options and boulders as well. The short Climbers Trail is worth exploring, even if you don’t wanna send any rock. It passes through a thick rhododendron forest before dropping into a boulder field with a small waterfall and delivers you to the base of a tall sandstone cliff on the edge of the lake. It’s a quiet cove, surrounded by cliffs that makes for a good place to swim.
Climbers should definitely bring their gear, though. Fall is prime climbing season in this area, but I found some cool shaded routes at this crag that you could climb during the summer, and spent some time working my way through a few easy boulder problems near the edge of the water. If you get too hot, you can always jump in the lake.
But the water is the real pull here, so grab your paddle board or kayak and head to Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area’s Salmon Run Put In ($5 day use fee), just a mile up the road from the state park. Lakeside Outfitters has rentals if you don’t have your own boat (from $50). From Salmon Run, you can launch your boat and paddle a half-mile long protected cove with a no wake zone that has several small inlets with rock outcroppings that offer great places to swim. I found a bunch of different places to park and lounge without losing sight of the boat launch. If you’re looking for a bigger adventure, paddle a mile up the lake, hugging the line of cliffs on your left, until you reach Pirate’s Cove, a large sandstone alcove where a waterfall drops directly into the edge of the lake.
If you’d like to burn more calories, the Lakeview Trail makes for a fun, rolling run through a hardwood forest that delivers you to a quiet portion of the lake after two miles. On my run I saw wild blackberries and a handful of deer.
Where to Stay: Eventually, Summersville Lake State Park will have cabins and tree houses, but right now the park offers a mix of open RV sites and more secluded tent sites. The Overlook RV campground has plenty of amenities, even a coin-operated laundry room, and full hookups (from $82 a night), but I recommend grabbing a tent site, which are tucked into a shaded grove and will give you immediate access to the Climber’s Trail (from $42 a night).
Where to Eat: The town of Summersville is sleepy, but I like Maloney’s Pub downtown, which is a local hotspot with good wings and burgers. Appalachian Coffee House has really creative lattes and solid organic coffee. If you’re looking for more options, the lake is just 20 minutes north of Fayetteville, a bustling adventure town on the edge of New River Gorge.
Day Two: Backcountry Biking on Monday Lick Trails
Leave the lake and drive across the Gauley River through a quiet section of Monongahela National Forest. You’re heading to Marlinton and the brand new Monday Lick Trail System, but you should make time for a couple of detours. The 42-acre Summit Lake is tucked into the mountains and makes for a secluded paddle or spot to fish for bass. Or if you’re looking to stretch your legs, hike this short trail through the Cranberry Glades, where a boardwalk traverses a high elevation wetland that supports wild cranberries. The surrounding forest has a Jurassic vibe to it with lush ferns, mosses and huge elephant ears sprouting from the wet earth below.
Just make sure you have enough energy for the 30 miles of purpose-built trails at Monday Lick, a trail system designed for mountain bikers on the edge of downtown Marlinton. It’s backcountry flow at its finest, with half a dozen trails beginning on a ridge and dropping in sinuous fashion down to the edge of Greenbrier River. A gated gravel road climbs to the top of the system, making it relatively painless to knock out laps here. As for what to ride, I really like Lens Ridge, which is a big descent with big, sweeping berms that lead into beautiful sections of rock armoring, dropping more than 1,200 feet in five miles of pure joy. Messier is more of a cross country effort, playing out like a 2-mile long pump track full of rollers and optional jumps. Monday Lick is the signature trail, and it’s more technical than the others, dropping 1,000 feet of elevation in just three miles of tight bench cut singletrack with plenty of root gardens and off-camber rocks.
You could spend an entire day wearing yourself out on this system like I did. If you’re more interested in a pleasure cruise, you can pick up the paved Greenbrier River Trail at the same trailhead, which runs for 77 miles along the river between the small towns of Cass and North Caldwell.
Where to Stay: Head 28 miles up the mountain to the Corduroy Inn, on the edge of Snowshoe Resort’s mountain-top village, which has well-appointed one-bedroom suites with plenty of room to stretch out and easy access to the bike lift (from $168 a night).
Where to Eat: Don’t leave Marlinton without getting a meal at Dari Land, an old-school drive-thru that has awesome smash burgers and milkshakes. When you make it up to Snowshoe’s village, head to the Junction Ale House for a good selection of local beers and hearty entrees.
Day Three: Downhill Day at Snowshoe Mountain
Snowshoe Mountain Resort is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It’s crazy to think I’ve been skiing this mountain for almost half of that existence. In the last several years, Snowshoe has become as much of a destination during the summer as it is in winter thanks to its ever-expanding downhill bike park (day lift passes from $45). This mountain now boasts one of the best lift-served bike experiences in the east, hosting two UCI World Cup events in recent years. There are 40 trails to choose from, traversing a mountain that drops 1,500 feet in vertical from top to bottom. I’m not a huge downhill biker, but there’s something for every level of rider. On my most recent day on the hill, I saw groups of armor-clad dudes sending big jumps, and families cruising down mellow green trails. I found a happy medium in the middle, focusing on the bevy of intermediate trails that drop from the mountaintop village down to the edge of Shaver’s Lake.
If you want the most open terrain, show up on a weekend when lifts on both sides of the mountain (the Basin and Western Territory) are running. Western Territory has the hardest trails, but the Basin has more variety. I really like Dream Weaver, a double track blue trail with pumpy rollers and optional B lines if you want to get rad. On the Western Territory side, which has its own lift, check out Skyline that takes you deep into the evergreen forest away from the ski slopes.
The thing about lift-served mountain biking is it’s easy to convince yourself to do one more lap, but this is just a weekend trip. If uou’re like me, you have work tomorrow, so you save some energy for the drive home. Make sure you have enough time to take a swim in Shaver’s Lake and maybe grab a cold beverage and burger at the Boat House, at the bottom of the lift, before heading back into the real world.
Graham Averill is Outside magazine’s national parks columnist, but he loves a good road trip most of all. He recently wrote about the art of survival and the best swimming holes in our national parks.
