Burnwood Trail

The Burnwood Trail offers a peaceful immersion in the mixed hardwood forest that defines the upland plateau above New River Gorge. The route follows an old wagon road grade through second-growth forest of tulip poplar, white oak, and black locust, passing the remains of a 19th-century homestead where stone foundation walls and a hand-dug well still survive beneath encroaching vegetation. This part of West Virginia was intensively logged and farmed through the 1920s coal era, and the even-aged trees on this trail reflect roughly a century of regrowth. Wildflowers carpet the forest floor in April and May — trout lily, trillium, and bloodroot emerge in sequence as the canopy leafs out. The trail is lightly traveled even by Grandview Area standards, making it an ideal choice for visitors seeking solitude without committing to a strenuous rim walk. Pileated woodpeckers are regularly heard drumming in the snags along the route, and white-tailed deer are abundant in the early morning hours. The turnaround point reaches a small seasonal creek before the trail fades into undeveloped forest.