Cathedral State Park: Hike through 500 year old trees

Cathedral State Park is located near the Maryland border in rural Preston County, West Virginia. This little-known gem is just over an hour’s drive from Morgantown and well worth a visit. 

The 132-acre park protects a tract of virgin old-growth hemlock forest. Many of the trees are up to 90 feet tall and 21 feet around. The average age of trees in the forest is 350 years old, but some are more than 500 years old. In this relatively small protected tract of land, there are more than 170 different species of plants, including over 30 different types of trees and more than 50 kinds of wildflowers. 

National Natural Landmark

The park was formally home to the Brookside Resort. Eventually, the land ended up in the hands of the resort’s caretaker, who would sell it to the state of West Virginia. The sale had a catch: the ancient forest was never to be cut down. In 1966, the park became a National Natural Landmark.

My wife and I visited on a cool spring morning. I did not know much about the park; I just knew that there were supposed to be big trees, which always caught my attention when traveling.  We pulled into the parking lot just as a thunderstorm was finally starting to let up. We were the only car there and, frankly, one of the few on the roads.  

Hiking Cathedral State Park

We hopped out of the car onto the waterlogged ground. The air was cool and very humid, and it felt wonderful on my face after an hour’s drive there. I grabbed a water bottle, and we hit the trail. It was not raining, but there was so much moisture in the air that we immediately started to get wet. Plus, marble-sized water droplets started pelting us as the wind blew them off the trees. 

The trails were well-marked through the dense forest.  That morning, we decided to hike the red-blazed Cathedral Trail, which, at 1.1 miles, is the longest in the park. The hike was pleasant but very wet. There are several small bridges crossing the Rhine Creek along the way. As we got back close to the car, we decided to check out the Giant Hemlock Trail. This trail is only about a quarter mile long but is the most spectacular in the park. The trail weaves through some of Cathedral’s largest hemlock trees.  

After the hike, we headed back to the truck, a little wet but certainly satisfied with the stop. I would highly recommend making time for a short hike through Cathedral State Park if you are in the area.