Monongahela Forest
If you’re not into scenery and the outdoors then you probably won’t have much to do in West Virginia! This state is probably the best in the mid Atlantic region in terms of hiking and camping out in the open wilderness. Monongahela Forest is actually a vast area of the eastern part of the state, and encompasses several state parks within its borders. I’ve been to nearly all of them since they are close enough to visit on a weekend. This first started with a random trip to Watoga state park and most recently a planned trip to Blackwater Falls.
I’ll start with photos from my most recent trip to West Virginia. These of course will be my best since I have a SLR camera, versus the older point and shot that I used a decade ago for the photos below. So with that said these photos from Blackwater Falls will be better quality but that doesn’t necessarily the park is more beautiful than Spruce Knob or Seneca Rocks. I took advantage of the changing fall colors one weekend in Blackwater Start Park. The colors were nearly peaked so it was the most beautiful time of year to visit. Above is a photo of Blackwater Canyon.
The photo above shows Liddy Point, which is one of the best views in the entire park, maybe even all of Monongahela Forest. I think in terms of natural beauty Blackwater Falls state park might have the most to offer in the Monongahela Forest. However, I didn’t find it a good spot for camping or even hiking. Most of the trails are extremely short, follow the roads and aren’t organized very well. For example, it’s not possible to take a hiking trail from Liddy Point to any of the waterfalls without having to hike directly on the street. Camping was terrible because the park does not take in reservations; only first come first serve. Therefore if you’re like me, and driving from out of state, there is absolutely no way you can plan your trip. More than likely you’ll arrive and find out that the campsites are full, and have to sleep in the car like I did!
Like it’s name, the park is famous for its waterfalls. The one above is Blackwater falls which drops a total of 57 feet (17 meters). I think when I visited the falls were at their normal levels, but I’ve seen photos where the falls are raging.
My favorite falls in Blackwater was this one above; Elakala Falls. This one is not as dramatic but I thought it was more beautiful. It cascades down 35 feet (11 meters), in four separate waterfalls. They are numbered one through four. This one above is the first and best of the four. I wish I had photographed all of them since I was already there, but maybe next time! It seems in the spring time that there are purple flowers and colorful moss that decorate this area making it even more scenic.
The rest of my photos were taken with my older camera years and years before my most recent trip. Above is a shot of Seneca Rocks, one of the best places in the mid Atlantic region to do outdoor rock climbing. As a matter of fact, it is also the only peak in the entire eastern part of the country that is only accessible by rock climbing! All other mountains and high points in the east coast are accessible by hiking.
In other parts of Monongahela forest, you can stumble across some amazing views even from the main highways. My friend and I passed by this cloud filled gorge nearly 10 years ago. It pains me to post this photo from my old camera but it was an impressive sight in person.
Above and below are some more shots of the mountains of West Virginia. You can see where they get their famous saying from; “Wild and Wonderful”. Monongahela forest covers just under 1,500 square miles of woodland.
On one of my early trips my friend and I hiked several miles through some of the mountains. Monongahela Forest is actually bear country, but we weren’t lucky enough to come across any. These two pictures above and below show two snakes we found on the trail. The snake above is a common ribbon snake. Below is a ringneck. Both of these snakes are pretty gentle and non poisonous. Some dangerous snakes like copperheads and rattlesnakes do live in these mountains however.
Here are some creepy crawlers from West Virginia. Above is what I believe is a wolf spider, and below is some type of centipede. I’ve seen wolf spiders my whole life, but never saw this type of centipede before.
West Virginia is densely packed with wildlife, but sadly I got little photos to show it. It’s easy to come across things like this Swallowtail above, but harder animals to capture with your photograph would be a blackbear or a large buck. There was a time I drove through the mountains at night and seriously within an hour my friends and I saw a fox, a bobcat, deer, raccoon, and a possum!
Out of all those animals I mentioned the only one I was able to photograph was this possum. The other animals took off while this guy wasn’t too shy. Possums are actually pretty unique animals. They are originally said to be from South America but migrated north once the two continents connected. Possums are the only true marsupials in North America which means that they carry their young in a pouch. Marsupials are more common in Australia, such as kangaroos or koala bears.
Fishing is great all over the national forest. In Watago state park, Watago lake is stocked with fish like bass, catfish, and bluegill. I had only been once but it’s another place where you can find many other activities such as hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, horseback riding and more. It’s a place that of course has camp grounds, but also some nicer log cabins up for rent.
These two pictures above and below were taken from the top of Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest mountain at 4,863 feet (1,482 meters). The summer photo above was taken nearly ten years before the one below. It was on the same trip as our hike through the mountains and visit to Watoga State Park. In the summer trip, we had driven straight to the summit, enjoyed the view and took some photos before leaving. Below was a winter hike that I did to the top of Spruce Knob for training purposes. The hike I set up was in preparation for my climb in the Himalayas. I intentionally made a fun and scenic but every challenging two day hike. The hike covered 30 miles, lots of elevation gains and some winter challenges. I’ve done that hike four times so far and have several photos from it. Click here to see details of my winter hike up Spruce Knob!
Lastly, Monongahela Forest’s most famous area is the ski resort town known as Snowshoe. Built on a mountain top, Snowshoe has plenty of activities all year around. The resort has several nice hotels, outdoor shops and restaurants to enjoy. I’ve only visited maybe twice in my life, but for many snowboarders and skiers who live in DC, it’s a popular place to visit during the winter.
While the winter is definitely the most popular time to visit Snowshoe, it has plenty to do all year around. Hiking, mountain biking, and dirt bike racing are the most popular off season. When we visited one summer there was a small dirt bike race taking place. I’ve also heard it’s possible to use the ski lifts to take your mountain bike to the top of the resort and fly down the mountain.
As Snowshoe is one of the best ski resorts in the mid-Atlantic, I feel bad for only skiing here once. At an elevation of over 4,000 feet it receives a good bit of snow for the east coast. A trip here had long been on my list of things to do and was happy to finally make it several years ago.
When I went to Snowshoe it was only my second attempt at skiing. Needless to say there were lots of falls and embarrassing mishaps for me. With my focus on some serious mountain climbing at the time, I didn’t want to take the risk of injuring myself so had to put future ski trips on hold. It would be ridiculous to sprain an ankle or worse and have to cancel one of my overseas trips. And yes, something as simple as the photo above was a bit terrifying for me!