Blackwater Canyon Trail

A railway grade cut into the wall of the Blackwater Canyon, running from Hendricks up to Thomas in the West Virginia highlands. The line hauled coal and timber out of the canyon until 1979; the gradient is a locomotive's, so it climbs about 440 m without ever feeling steep. [Route details] Start: Hendricks (about 500 m) · End: Thomas (about 940 m) 15.92 km · climb 842 m [About the climb figure] - 842 m is what the terrain model gives at the board's usual 200 m sampling, and it is still more than the ground does. A grade cut as a bench into a canyon wall is narrower than the model's grid, so sampling it keeps catching the slope above and below. The trail itself gains about 440 m end to end — Hendricks to Thomas, at a gradient a coal train could pull. [Good to know] - Douglas Falls sits near the Thomas end, a short walk off the grade. - Cinder and ballast underfoot, and the canyon holds water long after rain.