In another half mile, after crossing a trestle over Long Run, you can hear Douglas Falls cascading 35 feet into a pool below. One of the first is Albert Falls, about a mile past the coke ovens. The roaring river at the base of the canyon provides a steady soundtrack to the journey, as do the waterfalls that are occasionally visible along the way. Interpretive signs posted by Friends of Blackwater mark the sites of old train depots, locomotive roundhouses, and machine shops along the route. More than 600 coke ovens operated in this area, known as Coketon. Remains of beehive coke ovens that purified coal are visible along the trail just south of Thomas. The trail is marred by potholes and ruts from the Douglas Road lot to Douglas Falls, about 1.2 miles downstream. Visitors can park in the lot at East Avenue/WV 32, located about 0.3 mile south, and take a short walkway to the trail, or they can use a small lot about a mile south on Douglas Road. Technically, the trail begins in Thomas, 0.3 mile north of the dam on the North Fork of the Blackwater River, which is near the intersection of US 48 and US 219. Today, many brick buildings from that era house boutiques and antiques stores. Located near the top of the grade in the north, Thomas was a bustling center for the coal mines that sprang up nearby and shipped their product via the railroad. The trail surface is rough, so hiking shoes are recommended for hikers, and wide tires are recommended for cyclists. Today’s visitors can arrange for a shuttle to Thomas to take a one-way downhill ride or choose to steadily climb from Hendricks and coast downhill on the return. The uphill grade between Hendricks and Thomas, which climbs 1,200 feet, required trains hauling coal to put on extra locomotives. The trail has a steeper than normal grade in the 1880s, the railroad builders who laid track across the route through the Allegheny Mountains couldn’t avoid the forested canyon up the Blackwater River and its North Fork. On its 10.7-mile run deep through the Monongahela National Forest in eastern West Virginia, the rough dirt trail passes waterfalls and relics of the railroad and coal industries.

The Blackwater Canyon Trail follows one of the most challenging and picturesque segments of the former West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railway.

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