You’re about to read the ultimate dog friendly Summersville, West Virginia itinerary!
Summersville is a small city located in the mountains of West Virginia near the largest lake in the state, Summersville Lake. Situated just 20 minutes from the New River Gorge National Park, this city offers a little bit of everything from historical sites to rock climbing. It makes for an easy trip you can bring your four-legged friend along for.
We needed a Spring getaway and didn’t want to leave our 4 month old puppy at home. A long weekend trip to Summersville, WV was PERFECT!
If you hate leaving your fur baby at home and want a dog friendly hiking trip this post is for you!!!
Getting to the Summersville Area + General info
Summersville makes for a really fun road-trip destination for almost anyone on the East Coast. It’s just a couple hour drive for people commuting from Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, New York and other surrounding states.
Summersville is located in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States – right of HWY 19. For us in Ohio, it was about a 4 hour road trip south. We figured this would be a great opportunity to sneak in Sadies first road trip and we weren’t disappointed!!
DOG ROAD-TRIPPING TIP – Fill a Kong Ball with peanut butter and freeze it before your road trip. Pack it in the cooler with your other snacks and drinks. When your fur baby gets restless, bust out the Kong ball for highway entertainment. We did this at the breweries we visited too.
Adventure with jen lee
Historical tidbit about the area — Summersville Lake formed as a result of building a rock-fill Summersville Dam back in 1968 on the Gauley River. With 2,700 acres of water, it’s the largest lake in West Virginia. 60 miles of shoreline and clean, clear water reaching 327 foot in depth make the lake a very popular fishing and boating location.
We have a wakeboarding boat and took a quick boating trip to the lake in 2020. We had an absolute blast surfing around the channels, cliff jumping in Pirates Cove and catching some sunshine. For our boat trip we stayed at a La Quinta in Summersville and mainly ate at Applebees (LOL) because it was the only thing open each night when we got off the lake. It was the year of COVID so that had a major impact on our dining options. I never wrote a blog post about our boating trip but if you have questions send me an email using my contact form and I’d be happy to answer any questions about boating in Summersville!
What to pack?
Hiking Gear for you and your pup – all linked here in separate post.
Dog friendly accommodations.
Dog friendly accommodating people are my favorite kind of people. My fellow dog lovers will understand this, if you found this article you’re likely a dog person too.
Our little doggie friendly cabin was nestled in the forest, right outside of Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State park. We stayed in Oak Tree Lodge, cabin #8 hosted by Jonathan at Carnifex Ferry Cabins.
This modified A-frame cabin came equipped with a wood burning fireplace, hot tub, picnic table, grill, large back deck (BTW is was perfect to contain our puppy as it was fully enclosed with railing), air conditioning, 2 full bedrooms, a full bathroom and a fully stocked kitchen.
Our cabin was quaint and in a fabulous location. We’ve stayed closer to Fayetteville in the past but for this trip we wanted to do some hiking around Summersville Lake and had several breweries nearby we wanted to scope out so staying in Carnifex Ferry Cabins was perfect for us.
Sadie was in heaven watching squirrels off the back porch and soaking up the sunshine in the mornings.
TRIP TIP: book this cabin for solitude – as the reviews on AirBnb will confirm, there is NO SERVICE (*Verizon*). This wasn’t an issue for us – I believe we should all disconnect here and there. I would post up to social media when we had cell service and enjoyed just spending uninterupped time with my husband & Sadie without any distractions when we were at out little cabin in the woods.
adventure with jen
Dog friendly places to eat in Summersville, West Virginia.
When I say that I planned this entire weekend around my dog, I mean… I planned this ENTIRE weekend around my dog. Before we left town I reasearched and reached out to all of these places to confirm if dogs were allowed in or around the establishments. We were striving for low key, chill, dog friendly places with good food/beer & wine. Summersville nailed it…
Dog Friendly eats near Summersville West Virginia
- Fat Eddie’s – Helloooo delicious local ice cream shop with a large made-to-order menu. It has all of your traditional favorites like burgers, chicken tenders, onion rings and the BEST ice cream selection in the area. BONUS: patio is dog friendly & everyone is SUPER sweet. We had Fat Eddies’s ice cream BOTH nights we were in town and I have no shame admitting that. Vacation Jen is positive calories don’t count out of state, highly suggest adopting the same mentality.
- The Free Folk Brewery – Come here for great local brews, lots of tasty apps (we opted for a pepperoni roll and fried pickles) and a GIGANTIC + dog friendly back patio area. There’s also a huge stage for live music out back and a cool mural for instagrammable photo opps. I was in Heaven here – there were dogs everywhere. Beer + sunshine + puppies = pure Saturday post hike happiness.
- Kirkwood Winery & Isaiah Morgan Distillery – A local winery and distillery with dog friendly patio and laid back atmosphere. They don’t offer food yet, per the owner when I messaged them about bringing Sadie but you are allowed to bring in carry-out and they do offer a small selection of cheese, meat, crackers etc. Good enough for us!
- Gad Dam Brewing – This place offers coffee, craft beer, live music and fun for everyone – including your pup! You cant have Fido inside, however, you can have him on the front porch or the back patio/yard area. The service here was phenomenal. We hung on the porch and they never let our beers run low, they loved Sadie and were so sweet and welcoming to us.
- Arrowhead Bike Farm – Mountain bike rentals, trails, pet friendly campsites, huge patio area and delicious food. I didn’t research this place ahead of time, we stumbled upon it. All I kept thinking was, “why doesn’t EVERYONE know about this place?” So good, super laid back & kind of felt like you were at a family BBQ. A very cool little WV biking community. We don’t bike, but we felt like we fit right in.
Extra dining/restaurant optionS
These places aren’t dog-friendly but still popular area choices to check out!
- Long Point Grille and Bar – This place was busy every time we drove by, right in the center of everything and the online reviews are great. I would like to try this place if we’re ever in the area again, sans Sadie.
- Mabel’s Diner – Located right off Highway 19 in Mt. Nebo, WV. We ate breakfast here Saturday morning. My husband thought I was crazy. Mabels is located in a truck stop right off the highway, but it was SO TASTY. Our server, who told us they were short staffed and she’s usually in the kitchen, was extremely attentive and friendly. My omelette was the size of Texas and delicious (see pics for reference). We parked right outside the diner, had a clear view of our rig and our pup and all the windows down. Temps were mild 50’s in the morning (Sadie was perfectly content chilling in the car while we grabbed food). Looks can be deceiving. Grab breakfast here, I promise you won’t regret it.
- Craft Kings – Brewery in Mt Nebo, WV. It was really close to our Airbnb but never made it.
- The Burrito Bar at Breeze Hill – Located in Lansing, WV – this place looked so good and the atmosphere looked right up our alley per the online pics. The outdoor vibes that this little gem gives off seem to be a white water rafters favorite. They weren’t open for the year yet so we didn’t get to try the place out. Another one on our list for our next trip to WV.
- The lost Paddle – You can find this restaurant in Oak Hill, right outside of Fayetteville. This is the second trip that we’ve wanted to eat here but couldn’t. This place is located at Ace Adventure Resort and open during rafting season. They were still closed when we were in town and they were last time as well. We tend to visit in the Spring and they don’t open until Memorial Day from what we can tell.
- Pies and Pints Pizzeria – we’ve been here before and we highly recommend. Grab some made-to-order wood fired pizza and a big ol craft beer. Pies & Pints is one of the most highly rated places to eat in the area. They aren’t dog friendly so we skipped this place on this trip, but I’d go back in a heartbeat. I’m a big pizza-n-beer after a long hike kinda gal.
- Smokey’s Cast Iron Grill (Smokeys on the Gorge) – only open for bruch and located in Lansing, WV.
Extra Things to do in Summersville West Virginia.
- Fishing
- New River Gorge National Park
- boating
- hiking & mountain biking
- festivals and events
- kayaking, SUP & canoeing
- White water rafting
- Winery & brewery trips
- snorkeling/scuba diving (yes, that’s correct – Summersville Lake is known to be deep and clear, there is actually a small boat inentionally sunk in the lake to give divers an opportunity for wreck diving)
- Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park (packed with history from the American Civil War era) hikes and picnic areas located here as well.
- Rock Climbing & repelling (very popular in this area)
- Babcock State Park
Summersville is a recreational dream town — there’s so stinking much to do!!
Scenic, dog friendly hiking trails in Summersville.
Trail Map of Summersville Lake
Trail Map of New River Gorge National Park
Our Dog Friendly Summersville, West Virginia itinerary
Here’s exactly how we spent our Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Summersville area. AKA the Ultimate Dog friendly Summersville, West Virginia Itinerary.
Friday
- Up early at 5 and drove 4.5 hours to Summersville
- Hiked Long Point Trail at Summersville Lake
- Drove to Summersville Lake Marina/Boat docks where we ate our packed lunch and walked the shoreline.
- Took a scenic drive around the area – stopping at Lovers Leap Overlook for scenic view of the river.
- Drove to New River Gorge National Park Canyon Rim Visitor Center
- Hiked to the Bridge/Gorge overlook + snapped some pics with the National Park sign
- Headed towards our cabin, making a pitstop at the Gauley River National Recreation Area to let Sadie play in the water and check out the Summersville Dam.
- Checked into our Airbnb and relaxed on the backporch before dinner
- Fat Eddies for Dinner – took ice cream to go and ate it at the dam overlooking the water and watching sunset.
Saturday
- Stopped for breakfast at Mabel’s Diner in Mt Nebo en route to New River Gorge National Park
- Hiked Endless Wall trail in NRG NP.
- Drove around the area catching views of the New River Gorge bridge from all angles and enjoying the scenic byways
- Stopped under the New River Gorge Bridge and ate some snacks along the river while we watched white water rafters come by.
- Did our Brewery tour of the area.
- We stopped at Free Folk Brewery first – had some apps, stumped upon Arrowhead Bike Farm next and grabbed dinner then ended at Gad Damn Brewery closest to our Airbnb where we grabbed one last brew and checked the place out.
- Headed back to our Airbnb for some relaxing and hot tub time.
Sunday
- We packed up our stuff and hit the road back home.
Summary of the Ultimate Dog Friendly Summersville West Virginia itinerary.
Packing up our hiking gear and our pup and spending a weekend in the wild and wonderful West Virginia was just was our souls needed. Summersville was the perfect location for Sadies first roadtrip and I’m already accumulating a list of hikes and places to eat for out next visit. I’m thinking a fall foliage trip is in our future. I hope this little guide helps you make the decision to just GO!!
As always, enjoy the views and extra time spent in nature with your pup and whoever else might join ya on your weekend getaway. Keep nature wild, pack it up, pack it out and stay on the dang trail. Keep your pooch on a leash if the trail notes that pets should be on leash.
Check out my blog posts for more road trips and long weekend getaway guides close to home for more travel inspiration. I took a girls trip to Hocking Hills if you want to read about an Ohio location here.
Find me on instagram @adventure.with.jen and my pups insta @Sadie.maes.adventures.
If you have any questions, drop me a message in the contact box below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible! Happy adventuring! – Jen
