In 2023 I was able to car camp once. And I enjoyed it. But I never got a chance to backpack anywhere. So I will use this page to plan 3 backpacking trips. They will all be in West Virginia and and will take place during the summer months. These three may be the last backpacking trips that I do before hanging up my backpack. Everything on these pages will be considered tenative until you see the word FINAL in capital letters:
Greenbrier River Trail, WV– FINAL Tuesday, June 11 to Wednesday, 12, 2024. Charlie Johnson led a backpacking trip along this trail in 2002. We hiked from Reneck at mile 25 to Burnsides at mile 41. What I would like to do is backpack from Reneck at mile 25 to the southern terminus at Caldwell at mile 0. There are a few new shelters on this trail and, according to This Article, they plan to add shelters approximently every 10 miles at some point.
What is confusing is that on the
the trail starts at mile 3.1 while on my
Greenbrier River Trail Distance Calculator,
I started the mileage at 0 at the southern terminus. So we may really only have 22 miles to do. Since the river flows southbound and is very flat we should be able to do this in two days with no issues.
So I plan to stay at a motel to be determined (Super 8 is the cheapest) on the evening of Monday, June 10, then drive to the Caldwell mile 0 parking lot on Tuesday, June 11 and stage a vehicle there, next, I (or someone else) will drive to the Reneck mile 25 parking lot, stage a vehicle there and then start the hike. Now, if someone only wants to day hike this one, we can also stage a vehicle at the Anthony parking area at mile 15. That way, anyone that wanted to day hike could just get off at Anthony after hiking about 10 miles while those backpacking could go another 5 miles to a shelter and primitive campsite.
We’ll stay at the shelter/campsite at around mile 9.5. According to the map, there is a shelter, restrooms, water and tent sites at this location. The next morning, Wednesday, May 15 or Wednesday, June 12, we would do the 9.5 miles back to Caldwell. I remember on the 2002 hike that we were able to do close to 3 miles an hour going upstream so I would think that going downstream this time, that we could do the same or better. Please let me know what you think of this itinerary and if you are interested in this hike. The map for the Greenbrier River Trail is Here.
Allegheny Trail, WV– a Tuesday in June, 2025. I’m going to propose two different backpacking trips along the Allegheny Trail. Both will give people an opportunity to day hike some of it if they wish:
Trip 1 from Douglas, WV to Canaan Valley Resort, WV: 15 miles total. June, 2025. About 6.5 miles each day. I would rent a cabin or campsite for a Monday night and Tuesday night. I would arrive at the cabin Monday afternoon and spend the night. Tuesday morning, drive a vehicle to Canaan Valley State Park, park in the lodge parking lot, then take the Middle Ridge Trail to the Railroad Grade/Allegheny Trail and then hike back to BFSP. Stay at the cabin Tuesday night. On Wednesday, stage a vehicle in the BFSP lodge parking lot, drive to either Douglas (an 8 mile hike), Thomas (a 5.5 mile hike) or Davis (a 3 mile hike), WV, hike back to BRSP, then drive home. If someone wanted to spend one or two nights in the cabin, then do one, the other or both hikes, that would be OK. If someone wanted to join us for one of the day hikes, that would be OK also. Contributions for the cabin would be appreciated as they cost $160 a night as of 12/23. I’ve always wanted to explore within and between these two state parks. Please let me know if you are interested in any part of this hike.
The map for Black Water Falls State Park is Here.
The map for Canaan Valley Resort and State Park is Here.
As for the Allegheny Trail descriptions between Douglas and Canaan Valley Resort, there are 5 pages. Send me email and I will send them to you in a zipped file.
Trip 2 from Cass, WV to Siefert, WV via the Greenbrier River Trail, Allegheny Trail and various trails within Watoga SP. This one is about 50 miles with substantial elevation changes. You are on the north end of the Greenbrier River Trail for about 4 miles. Then the Allegheny Trail crosses the Greenbrier River at Sitlington and starts a southeastern route toward the back of Watoga State Park for about 40 miles. There are a few shelters along the way. It’s about 40 miles to Beaver Creek Campground at the Watoga SP/Cal Price State Forest boundry. I was hoping that we could stage a vehicle here. But when I called Watoga SP to inquire about this, they said that it would be best to stage a vehicle at the west or front end or the park at the Siefert entrance near the Greenbrier River Trail. However, the Alegheny Trail Map descriptions list a parking areas for a few vehicles at miles 38 and 41. If we did hike to the front of the park and Siefert and either walked the park road or took a series of trails to Siefert, it would add an extra 10 miles to make it 50 miles. Watoga SP is about 12,000 acres. It takes about a half hour to drive from the back (eastern side) of this state park to the west side (front). If one wanted to day hike the Greenbrier River portion of this hike, they could do an up and back on it from Cass, WV.
The Allegheny Trail desriptions between Cass and Beaver Creek Campground is 12 pages long. I don’t want to post all 12 pages but I can send you a zipped file with them enclosed if you wish.
I’ll throw out one more possibility: A lollipop loop consisting of the Greenbrier River Trail for about 4 miles, the Allegheny Trail for about 40 miles, either the main park road or a series of trails for about 10 miles and then 30 miles on the Greenbrier River trail for the return trip for a total of about 80 miles. This may be doable in a week. But it would require carrying a lot of food.
Use the maps for trip 1 for details.
New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, WV- a Tuesday in 2026. I’ve done a bit of research on this one. I couldn’t find any detailed trail maps of this park. One reason is probably because it is new. The AllTrails app had 94 trails listed within this park. But most of them were very short. And I had no way of knowing if they connected at any point. So I will keep researching this one. They have an annual bridge day in this park the third Saturday in October. They close the bridge to vehicles and let people walk across it or bungee jump from it. I don’t want to bungee jump it but it might be cool to walk it. I’ll keep researching this one.
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I am up for the lollipop loop. The others are too short for my driving distance. Also, I do not do well in the heat.
We could do the 80 mile lollipop loop in May, 2025.
I think trip 2 would also work for me.
OK, I’ll do some more research on the Allegheny Trail trips as well as do a recon out there early next year. I think we can get a number of people to do the Black Water Falls/Canaan Valley trip.
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