Monongahela National Forest

To get a good look at the forest visitors can drive the Highland Scenic Highway running from Richwood to the Allegheny Highlands & Plateau, stopping at one or all of it’s four breath-taking scenic overlooks. For a closer look the Stuart Memorial Drive takes you closer to the wild flora and fauna as well as providing picnicking shelters at Bickle Knob and the Alpine Gap CCC Memorial. As an added bonus Stuart drive is closed during the winter, making it available for cross-country skiing.

The Dolly Sods Scenic Area once gave a certain Mr. Lewis a very hard time of it in the mid-eighteenth century. Today visitors can hunt bear or berries amidst the area’s many great views of the valley 3,000 feet below. The Northland Loop Trail is a half-mile trek to the Sods’ infamous barrens and bogs. The Red Creek Campgrounds is also nearby.

The less rugged yet equally splendid Falls of Hill Creek Scenic Area feature 3 impressive and enchanting waterfalls and the delicate natural wildflower gardens that grown beside them. The Lower falls are the 2nd tallest in the state at a towering 53 feet. There is a trail that follows the falls, but visitors who wish to complete it had better be fit. Photography is encouraged, but picking the flowers is verboten.

Smokey Hole Canyon, where the misty Potomac cuts its way through the mountains, is an excellent spot for boating and fishing. Hunting season in the fall yields grouse and black bear. The North Fork Mountain Trail follows the rim of Smokey Hole, with some excellent views of along the way.

The Seneca Rock National Recreation Area offers serious climbers serious challenges on the Seneca Rocks, jagged slopes of white/gray Tuscarora Quartzite that loom 900 feet above the North Fork River. There are 375 major mapped climbing routes to choose from. Non-climbers can still reach the summit thanks to the 1.3-mile trail that starts at the Seneca Rocks Visitor’s center and leads to the a lovely view of the valley.

The true meaning of the words that “Monongahela” is the bastard child of are lost to time, but the consensus is that the name is Delaware Indian in origin and means something like “the river of the falling banks”. Monongahela’s Spruce Knob is the highest peak in West Virginia at 4,863 feet above sea level.

In addition to the 250 species of birds, Black Bear, Snowshoe Hare, Wild Turkey, Bobcats, Beavers and Whitetail Deer that Monongahela National Forest is home to there are 9 species of endangered animals and over 50 species of threatened flora and fauna.