Our little West Virginia weekend trip continues! Yesterday we were at Seneca Rocks and today we are checking out Blackwater Falls State Park! This is one place we’ve had on our list for a while now so we were excited to explore all that it had to offer. The park is of course named after Blackwater Falls, but we found so much more here which made this trip really special!
Getting to Blackwater Falls State Park
Blackwater Falls State Park is located in Tucker County, West Virginia. The address is 1584 Blackwater Lodge Rd, Davis, WV 26260. The two closest towns to the park are Davis or Thomas, which are great places to stay.
– The GPS coordinates for the Blackwater Falls viewpoint: 39.112912, -79.480013
– The GPS coordinates for the Blackwater Falls Trading Post parking lot (where to view the falls close-up): 39.112499, -79.484026
– The GPS coordinates for the parking lot for Elakala Falls: 39.107653, -79.497579
– The GPS coordinates Lindy Point parking lot: 39.100013, -79.525169
Exploring Black Water Falls State Park
We started our day at the Blackwater Falls view point, which is a little observation platform that gives you a view of the falls. This view point is pretty far off so the view of the falls is not the best. I would say if you are short on time you can completely skip this if you wanted.
The next place that we went to was the Blackwater Falls Trading Post (GPS coordinates above). This is where you’ll park to get the best view of Black Water falls. It is about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot down to the falls. Keep in mind that most of this walk is down stairs so be prepared to walk back up them. Blackwater Falls is quite impressive at 62 feet. We spent some time enjoying the falls, then walked back up the steps to the next adventure in the park!
We heard there was another waterfall in the park called Elakala Falls so we went searching for it. Parking at the Blackwater Lodge there is a trail that will lead you right to the falls. Elakala Falls has a bridge built right above it so it is easy to miss! Because of the lower water levels we were able to walk down to the base of the falls. This first waterfall is absolutely beautiful, according to Wikipedia it is 35 feet tall.
What we didn’t realize is that Elakala Falls is actually a cascading waterfall that drops around 200 feet down into the Blackwater Gorge. We figured since the creek kept on going down hill we would find more waterfalls and we did! The second waterfall is around 15 feet and the third is around 40 feet. Again, water levels were low so it made it easy to navigate down the creek. Please only venture down if you are an experience hiker. We did not go past the third waterfall, but Wikipedia says there is another 20 foot waterfall below it. All of the falls that make up Elakala Falls are definitely worth checking out if you are visiting Blackwater Falls State Park.
Our last stop of the day was Lindy Point (parking GPS coordinates above). Turning right out of the Blackwater Falls Lodge parking lot you head down Canaan Loop Road about 2 miles. About a mile in the road is not all the well maintained and is almost a single-lane road so be cautious. You’ll eventually come to a small parking lot for the Lindy Point trailhead. From the trailhead it is only about half a mile walk to the overlook, which has a wooden platform. The view for Lindy Point is absolutely amazing! We spent a good hour there enjoying the view and taking pictures.
Blackwater Falls State Park really has a little bit of everything. There are waterfalls, trails, overlooks, and you can even eat at the Blackwater Lodge. We loved being together and adventuring down Elakala Falls, enjoying the views from Lindy Point, and just being out in nature. We can definitely recommend Blackwater Falls State Park to anyone, even if you have to drive hours to get there. We drove all the way from Pittsburgh and our trip to Blackwater and Seneca Rocks was definitely worth it. There is also so much in the area! We absolutely fell in love with the little town of Davis and stayed at the cutest little Airbnb. We also had dinner at Sirianni’s Café which we can totally recommend!
Things to know About Blackwater Falls State Park
– To get the best view of Blackwater Falls go to the Blackwater Falls Trading Post
– Elakala Falls is just not one waterfall, if you are comfortable climbing down there are more waterfalls!
– There is a campground at the park with 65 sites and you can rent cabins in the park too!
– There are a ton of different trails in the park besides what we did.
– There are some amazing Airbnb’s in both Davis and Thomas West Virginia
– Sign-up for Airbnb (if you haven’t already!) with our link and get $40 off your first adventure! http://bit.ly/321ZxSs
– The airbnb we stayed at is listed here.
Blackwater Falls State Park Photo Gallery
