Valley Falls State Park — Attraction in Grafton

The falls were pretty, and the old mill sites are cool. The park is overall underwhelming, though.

Pros: It would probably be nice for a family picnic or something. The restroom was clean, and there's a nice playground and plenty of picnic tables. The grounds are well-maintained in the main area. There is a snack machine area and a gift shop, so that's neat, too.

Cons: You can't swim! I went to Tygart River specifically to spend a day by the water, wading around when I got too hot. Apparently you cannot even stick your feet in the water at this water-based state park. I guess it's my fault for not looking into the swimming (or lack thereof) more closely before driving almost an hour to get to this park, but it's a river. I never would have imagined not being able to swim in a river-based state park. That seems like it would be half the point of a river-based park to me? I understand not swimming near the falls due to currents, but they really couldn't make a single trail to a different part of the river away from the falls? Both of the trails I walked on were also disappointing. Within half a mile, one ended abruptly, and the other became so overgrown I had to turn around.

In summary: Great if you just want to sit kinda near the water and have a picnic. Not a good place to go if you want to actually do anything...

As quoted from a text message to a friend: Valley Falls is clutch. I feel powerful there, like my inner caveman is at home.

There are pavilions and tables with grills for picnics, beautiful views, and decent bathrooms. Their vending machines also have Monster Energy; this is rare and significant to caffeine junkies. There is a small playground area, but really that's just for show because who needs a man made playground when you have trees and giant rocks everywhere?

So here's how you do this thing: bring a bag of charcoal, Kingsford if you have any common decency. Grab a Monster from the vending machine and fire that stuff up. Toss some burgers and dogs on the grill. Chow down. Now, go roam around while you're nice and satiated, and get your feet wet in the water. Climb rocks, and trees if you can. Check out the wildlife. Use the restrooms, they should be fairly clean and presentable. Now go eat more. You have now succeeded....

We usually enjoy going and seeing the falls and hiking the rhododendron trail. However, the upkeep of all of the fallen trees makes it almost impossible to hike the trail. Usually we can hike to the river and see the Rhododendrons, but the last few times there are so many trees down that we have to navigate off the trail, over and under fallen tree's, or turn around! There's a second trail to the left that splits off and goes underneath the rhododendrons and you can't even go through there. Zig zagging back and forth off of the trails is unsafe. This is very sad. Is there nobody to upkeep the trails? If there is no way to continue the upkeep, why not close the trail?

This is a beautiful state park! Why isn't there anyone trying harder to make trails...