discover tips

Where to you go hiking in Canaan Valley if you only have half a day? That was the question facing Phyllis and me last Thursday (Aug. 18, 2016). The answer was easy: the Blackwater River Trail of Canaan Valley State Park. As I wrote in an earlier post (Aug. 4 th ), in my opinion this is the most scenic trail in Canaan Valley. Instead of parking at the trailhead, we drove beyond it on a gravel road leading out of the golf course parking lot. The gravel road took us to a filtration plant and the location of our first photo op (GPS: Lat. 39.038629, Long. -79.456564). Here the Blackwater makes a lazy meander through the valley. Some teasel grows along the bank of the river making some lovely foreground for a landscape photo. Blackwater Teasel Blackwater Teasel Next, we hiked west to join the trail. After hiking on the trail about 30 yards, we took a side trail down to the river�s edge. Here the Blackwater makes a sweeping �S� turn just about where a lone tree stands in stark contrast to fla...

Almost everyone knows about Blackwater Falls. But did you know there are at least a dozen other waterfalls at Blackwater Falls State Park? Tributaries to the Blackwater River such as Pendleton Run, Shay Run, and Falls Run tumble down the steep slopes of the Blackwater Canyon creating waterfall after waterfall. To be sure, they don�t match the 63 foot drop of the river wide Blackwater Falls. And they don�t have boardwalks built to them either. Nonetheless, they are charming and picturesque in their own right and are well worth a trek off the beaten path. Elakala Falls One of those waterfalls is Elakala Falls, which is probably the second most visited waterfall in the Park. To see Elakala Falls start at the Blackwater Lodge. The trailhead to the falls is at the western end of the Lodge parking lot (GPS: Lat. 39.107630, Long. -79.497965). The trail to the falls isn�t more than 500 feet and leads to a bridge that spans Shay Run right at the falls. From the bridge, you get a great overhead ...