West Virginia
The Perfect Summer Road Trip Is in this Unexpected State
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.
BEVERLY, W.Va (WDTV) – The West Virginia Celtic Festival took place Saturday at Camp Pioneer in Randolph County.
People from around the country came to celebrate their Scottish and Irish heritage at the fourth annual event.
The festival included Irish dancing, Highland games and live Celtic music. Participants set up tents around the park for the public. Artifacts from Celtic heritage and history were on display.
The event was expected to reach up to 5,000 attendants.
“Today we’re hosting the fourth annual West Virginia Wild and Wonderful Celtic Festival and Highland Games. It’s a celebration of Celtic culture and heritage and history,” said David Ferguson, a participant. “We have Highland Games, heavy athletics. We have the athletes throwing the cabers, throwing the heavy stones. A lot of fun athletics to watch. We have Highland dancers. We have musical entertainment. We have something for everybody. We have a lot of fun activities for the kids.”
A Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan service will take place Sunday at the Beverly Presbyterian Church.
Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.
West Virginia
Notebook: MCWS as good as advertised; West Virginia no overnight success story – WV MetroNews
Ahead of a June 10th trip to Omaha, I’d only heard positive reviews of the Men’s College World Series and the city that hosts it.
After an eight-night stay in Nebraska’s biggest city, it’s easy to see why.
The event at Charles Schwab Field was well-run and organized starting with Thursday practice for each of the eight participants.
The ballpark, which opened in 2011, is a state of the art, clean venue with a wide variety of concession offerings and a spacious press box that easily accommodated media members while all eight teams played two games over the first four days.
Crowds were strong and made their presence felt, particularly over the first several days.
There are fan-friendly activities just outside the stadium and no shortage of restaurants and bars within walking distance to partake in pregame or postgame festivities.
Perhaps Troy coach Skylar Meade summed it up best after the Trojans were eliminated Tuesday with a 12-0 loss to West Virginia that marked their second setback to the Mountaineers over a 96-hour stretch.
“Every person who came here now knows what this place is,” Meade said. “It’s the most unique place in the world. It’s the best college sporting event bar none. No offense to the others. Rose Bowl is awesome. It ain’t this.”
— — — — —
This was the third straight year I was present for West Virginia’s last game of the season after being on hand for the 2024 Super Regional series at North Carolina and again last year at LSU on the same stage.
Taking in the atmosphere in 2025 at Alex Box Stadium, when the Mountaineers played in front of consecutive crowds of 12,000-plus, provided a look at college baseball I’d never experienced and a newfound appreciation of the sport.
The MCWS took it a step further and continued the ascension of a Mountaineer program that gained national notoriety while hosting the Morgantown Regional and a Super Regional series against Cal Poly.
Envisioning WVU playing on the premier stage in college baseball was unfathomable a decade ago and even highly unlikely as recently as five years back.
But let’s not forget this is a program with four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and one of only two (North Carolina the other) to reach the Super Regional round each of the last three years.
What transpired this season as the Mountaineers set a new single-season program mark with 47 victories is a culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of people within the program and athletic department alike, but it cannot be considered an overnight success story.
While West Virginia was swept in best-of-three sets in Chapel Hill and Baton Rouge, it’s important to remember those were 36 and 44-win teams that won regionals outside of Morgantown — feats fans should appreciate even more after witnessing the postseason atmosphere at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
WVU hadn’t won in the Super Regional round prior to this season, but two years ago, it had a ninth-inning lead against the Tar Heels in Game 1 and lost Game 2 by one run. Last season, the Mountaineers were eliminated by the eventual national champion.
“There are financial realities of the sport, and people may have assumptions about specific programs or about West Virginia in general that may or may not be correct,” WVU coach Steve Sabins said. “We have a whole lot of people working really hard on a whole lot of different areas, whether that’s Gold & Blue Enterprises, whether that’s BioPrecision with us, whether that’s the School of Sports Science or Biomechanics and Performance Center, whether that’s third-party NIL, specific donors, West Virginia has all of that.
“And it’s competing at the highest levels in all these areas, and I think it would probably surprise a lot of folks of the amount of effort, work, attention to detail and financial resources that have been poured into our program.”
— — — — —
A tip of the cap to West Virginia senior outfielder Brock Wills.
The UNC Wilmington transfer was a mainstay in the Mountaineer lineup throughout the regular season and Big 12 Conference Tournament when he appeared in 50 of 53 games with 45 starts.
When the NCAA Tournament rolled around, Sabins opted to start fellow senior Ben Lumsden in place of Wills.
The decision proved difficult to debate as Lumsden came up with numerous hits in key spots and finished 12-for-37 with three home runs, two doubles, 13 RBI and 11 base-on-balls over 11 games.
Wills, meanwhile, came off the bench to play in three NCAA Tournament games, one of which was Wednesday’s 12-7 season-ending loss to North Carolina when he came on as a right fielder to start the fifth inning.
Wills had three plate appearances against the Tar Heels, the first of which was a well-struck, but tough-luck double play on a liner to second base with the bases loaded in the sixth. He followed it with a walk in the seventh and a single in the ninth.
“So awesome. That kid has been such an instrumental piece of this team,” Sabins said. “In high-level competition, things don’t always go your way. There’s only nine dudes that get to play, and so coaches have to make hard decisions, and that happens every single year. And some years it’s a bigger storyline and some years it’s not, and some guys play good and some guys don’t. And there’s always some mix of that.
“But when things don’t go your way, it’s very easy to cash out. And so when you see a kid that has been so team-oriented and then to get inserted into the biggest game of his career and perform, it just shows you everything that you need to know about character. Because if you cash out, you don’t roll into the highest competition in the world and have success.
“Whether he had success or not, I knew his character. I knew that he was still working, and I knew he was team-oriented, and I knew he was fighting like hell to be great for the Mountaineers, and that’s why he got his opportunity. That’s why it came back around to him.”
For the season, Wills hit .283 (47-for-166) with two home runs, six doubles, three triples and 23 RBI.
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