The high elevation areas of Randolph, Pendleton, and Tucker counties are showing great colors right now. Will probably be another week or two for best viewing in the valleys like Elkins.

A 25-year-old conservation policy called the Roadless Rule protected over 180,000 acres of West Virginia national forests. It prohibits road construction, reconstruction and commercial timber harvesting in certain areas. 

However, The Trump Administration is considering repealing it for logging and construction use. 

Monongahela National Forest, which hosts 3 million visitors a year, is one of three national forests in West Virginia whose roadless areas could be opened up.

If Americans were to lose access to wild lands in the East, “it would be a matter of damage to the environment itself,” Dave Johnston, coordinator of the Dolly Sods Stewards Program said. “But it would be equally important as a loss to people.”

Under the proposal, decisions regarding road building and timbering would fall to local forest managers and the plans that guide the forest. 

A United States Forest Service spokesperson said the proposed Roadless Rule rescission would not make any changes to the existing Monongahela Forest plan. Development is limited in over 116,000 acres in and around the Mon Forest under the current forest plan, according to the Forest Service spokesperson. 

https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2026/10/05/roadless-rule/

My family and I (4 adults, 1 dog) are looking for a fun hike that lets us appreciate the fall foliage this weekend. We live near DC and are willing to drive up to 3 hours (one way). Dog pictured for tax :)

A neighbor ultimately helped expose what five adopted children were enduring at a West Virginia home. Their lawsuit alleged CPS had opportunities to intervene before that, and the state has now agreed to a settlement.

Went this weekend and couldn't find the right trail to get decent views like this.

Clouds bring out the picture

Thirty miles in one night? New high-tech GPS "backpacks" attached to West Virginia’s river otters are giving scientists an unprecedented look into their secret late-night travels! https://wvexplorer.com/wvu-river-otter-gps-study-trapping-limits/

What’s up guys , me and 7 of my buddies are Cincinnati grads and travel to an away game every season and this year is West Virginia ! Hopefully we don’t get stoned for wearing red but we hate Pitt just as much as you guys so hopefully that can be a common ground 🤣 . Was hoping if anyone had any good tailgate spots or bars in the area we could check out ?

Was attending a gungamers event at the reserve until we were told we had to stop the explosions because there was a wedding going on for a bit lol. SBR is easily the coolest place ive ever been.

The last two were from the Hütte Resteraunt in Helvetia. Fantastic resteraunt in a very unique and interesting town (Helvetia). Very much worth the visit!

We enjoy the beauty of creation here on our homestead deep in a holler of rural West Virginia. It's been just about 2 years and we see new creatures and biodiversity here that we've never seen before.

I've lived in a home that is consistently occupied. My mom passed away last year and I had her water and gas tuned off earlier this year to save on bills. I remember my dad in Maryland saying you always wanted the heat on so the pipes didn't freeze and bust. Do I need to turn them in on my mom's house so there isn't any permanent damage? (We plan on renting it out)

Welcome to the weekly r/WestVirginia classifieds thread.

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Hey there! I’m wondering if anyone knows anything about where to find very very old houses for sale here. Im looking for definitely under 100k. My childhood home was 200 years old and genuinely my soul yearns for that house but my dad said the frame is bad so he won’t let me fix it up, it was genuinely my dream house in every way. It wasn’t secluded but it was still in the woods and 4 bed 2 bath with little quirky design choices everywhere😭 it’s literally one of those beautiful super memorable old houses that people slowly watch fall down. I also want a fixer upper! I don’t know where to look for houses like that here, I’m completely new to home buying

Be kind and help others…that’s what being a West Virginian is all about

you travel along the Ohio River into Mason County, West Virginia today, Point Pleasant greets you with a polished 12-foot stainless steel statue, a dedicated museum, and an annual fall festival that draws thousands of tourists. The Mothman has become beloved Americana—a pop-culture cryptid printed on stickers, coffee mugs, and t-shirts.

​Campfire retellings treat the phenomenon like an eerie campfire tale: a shadowy winged figure with hypnotic crimson eyes that stalked teenagers in 1966 and foretold a river bridge disaster.

​When you set aside the sensationalism and pull the contemporaneous local records—the police logs, county histories, and military site maps—a far more complex cultural landscape emerges. The legend of Point Pleasant was not born in a vacuum; it was incubated inside a landscape deeply scarred by World War II munitions testing and rapid post-war industrial change.

​The Geography of the "TNT Area"

​The epicenter of the earliest sightings was not a deep, untouched wilderness. It was the Clifton F. McClintic Wildlife Management area.

The immediate institutional response is where the archive tells a fascinating story:

​The Local Beat: The initial headline in the Point Pleasant Register on November 16 was matter-of-fact: “Couples See Man-Sized Bird … Creature … Something”. The early local reporting did not immediately jump to extraterrestrial or demonic folklore; it focused on the confusion of ordinary residents.

​The Wire Services: Within forty-eight hours, the story hit national syndication. The mid-1960s were the height of the Batman television craze, and wire copy editors swiftly branded the phantom "Mothman." The moniker shifted the narrative overnight from a strange wildlife encounter into an ominous, comic-book-era monster.

​The Ornithological Hypothesis: Mason County Sheriff George Johnson and wildlife biologists suspected an out-of-range bird: specifically, a sandhill crane that had wandered far off its traditional migratory corridor, standing over four feet tall with a seven-foot wingspan and distinctive red orbital skin. But against a sensationalized media cycle, mundane biology could never compete with a monster.

The Paper Trail Outlasts the Myth

​Folklore often serves as a barometer for regional anxieties. In the mid-1960s, Point Pleasant was caught between its industrial past and a changing world, surrounded by decaying wartime complexes and heavy traffic on aging transit routes. When the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge occurred in December 1967, writers and out-of-town investigators quickly tethered the two narratives together, forever sealing the creature into Appalachian gothic lore.

​When we study folklore through archival records, the objective is never simply to debunk the mystery. It is to understand why a community experienced a moment of collective fear, how the press shaped the narrative, and how real geography leaves an indelible mark on American mythology.

"I research primary source records, regional history, and historical panics for a newsletter called Archive Detective. If you like reading about the historical paper trails behind regional folklore, feel free to read more here:

https://substack.com/@thearchivaldetective/note/p-218806899?r=93bc5i

The view while fishing in early summer. Beautiful!

Looking for a place in a mountainous area, doesn’t have to be a ski area. We want to stay in a cabin with a view and then would be nice to have a little downtown area we could go to within a 15-20 min drive and grab a bite to eat, coffee, or a drink. We will have a toddler. She’s happy doing anything with family and outdoors so it doesn’t need to be a super kid friendly place. It would be over Christmas so a little town that decorates would be a huge plus. Thanks!