Highlands Scenic Drive
West Virginia Road Trip | Driving the Highlands Scenic Drive | August 2023
After leaving Shenandoah, we ran a few errands in town before driving about 2.5 hours West on US-250 into West Virginia. Despite it being a weekend, there weren’t too many cars on the road, but there must have been some bike race/event going on because there were so many bikes heading in the opposite direction. We were just thankful they weren’t also heading West so we didn’t have to pass any on the constantly winding mountain roads!
Shortly after crossing into WV, we made our way to Buffalo Lake Recreation Area and found a dispersed campsite there for the night. While we had enjoyed our nights on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in Shenandoah, we were glad to find a free spot all to ourselves, not in a campground. We spread out, relaxed, and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon, surrounded by wildflowers and butterflies. That evening we went on a walk to Buffalo Lake for sunset, but were unable to complete the trail thanks to a beaver den that had taken over and flooded the path.
The next morning, we planned a route across West Virginia that would be new to us and looked like it would have plenty to do along the way. We drove Southwest on WV-92, through Green Bank and the Radio Silence Zone where we saw the Green Bank Observatory from the road. We then went West on WV-66, passed the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, then went South on US-219. These attractions were cool to see as we passed by, but not practical stops for us since we had Charlotte. Instead, we made our way to the Highlands Scenic Highway, WV-150, where we had a few easy hikes in mind to go along with the scenic drive.
Unfortunately, as we neared our first trailhead, the sky started to turn overcast. Determined to still do the things we set out to do, we put on our rain jackets and grabbed our umbrellas to be ready for rain. Our first hike for today was on the Honeycomb Rocks Trail. This very short trail features several large specimens of fun and interesting rocks. The rocks were formed when a softer stone fractured and then was back filled by a harder substrate. Later as the lattice was exposed and eroded the softer stone eroded away leaving only the lattice making it look like honeycomb.
We managed to dodge the worst of the rain and drove further down the road where we stopped for a slightly longer loop hike on the Cranberry Bog Boardwalk Trail. This trail advertised having plants that were “only found in the Arctic.” I’m not sure if we saw exactly what they were referring to, but the cooler, dreary weather and low-hanging clouds did help paint the illusion that we were much further North than we really were — but more Maine than Nunavut (not that we’ve been). By this point, there was a steady flow of other people out hiking here, and we were likely the slowest ones on the boardwalk with our pokey little puppy, but that just helped us to appreciate the flora along the boardwalk even more.
Our third and final hike for the day was the one we were most excited about, the trail to the Falls of Hills Creek. We knew this trail had three different waterfalls along it, and since it was our third walk of the day and it was still raining, we decided to set our expectations low and be content with only walking to the first waterfall if that’s all Charlotte wanted to do. And so we began, once again with our umbrellas and rain jackets. The trail began as a wide, accessible path — which, even though blindness isn’t considered a handicap for dogs, we still appreciate these paved and easy trails because we don’t have to worry about her tripping over rocks or roots.
However, we came to the first waterfall “observation deck” and were disappointed that we couldn’t even see the waterfall from that point, or really in general. It became clear that if we wanted to see a waterfall, we’d have to continue on to the next one. And unfortunately, the accessible part of the trail ended here. Since Charlotte was still doing well and acting interested in the hike, we decided to keep going anyway.
The trail turned into more of a boardwalk, going down many different short sections of steps, which we took very slow. At least the boardwalk kept us from being muddy or slipping on wet ground. Charlotte was very determined and did a great job. But the final two waterfalls turned out to be down a grated staircase, so Curtis and I took turns and let Charlotte believe that the viewing deck at the top was the end of the trail. It’s important that we keep up her self esteem. Curtis went down first, then began leading Charlotte back up the trail while I went down to view the falls. I’d say they were worth the hike, much more than the first one.
We made our way back to the van, then finished our drive on the Highlands Scenic Byway. We could’ve found a place to camp along it, but since we had done all the hikes we wanted to on the drive we decided to push a little further and camp at the base of Summerville Lake Dam, which is part of New River Gorge National Park. The campsites are always free here and it easily set us up for some more activities in the morning.
