Simon, West Virginia

The Beauty Mountain Trail Head is located less than 10 miles form Fayetteville, WV.  To reach the trail head, you will have to travel down some very narrow roads, and I recommend going old school and printing out the directions because cell service in the area is not the best.  Once at the trail ...

From Lansing-Edmond road, turn right onto Beauty Mountain Road. Go for 0.1 miles and the road will appear to split into three roads. The main road goes left, but take the middle road here. After another 0.1 miles you will arrive at a gate with a few parking spaces on the left side. Do not block t...

To reach the trailhead, park at the main parking area near Glade Creek Grist Mill. Cross the bridge toward the grist mill, and the trailhead is directly behind the mill. Even though the Island in the Sky trail is only a mile long out and back, it is lined almost the whole way with rhododendron bu...

Hidden deep in the Appalachian Mountains near the New River Gorge sits an extremely photogenic grist mill. A recreation of the original mills that dotted West Virginia, Glade Creek Grist Mill was completed in 1976 at Babcock SP. Built fully operational from the parts of 3 other WV mills, it was p...

You can start walking on this well-graded rail trail either from Ansted or down by the New River at the Hawk's Nest Nature Center. If you start from the top you will lose a couple hundred feet in elevation and have to walk back up to your car (it is an easy walk though). Bikes are also allowed on...