Waterfall trail unveiled at Piney Creek Preserve

Oct. 12—A section of Beckley, which many pass through without giving it a second thought, attracted the attention of local, state and federal officials Thursday for a special unveiling.

Located at the end of Stanaford Mine Road in Beckley, members from the city of Beckley and the West Virginia Land Trust unveiled the first completed section of trail in the Piney Creek Preserve in Beckley.

The new trail, which snakes along a coal seam for about a quarter of a mile before splitting off into two directions that both end at waterfalls, has been named the Waterfall Hollow Trail.

Branching off the right side of the trail and following the flow of Cranberry Creek is Cranberry Creek Cascades. To the left of the trail split is Little White Stick Falls, which also gets its name from the creek that flows through it.

The Waterfall Hollow Trail is just a tiny piece of the nearly 20 miles of trail planned for the Piney Creek Preserve, which is owned and managed by the West Virginia Land Trust (WVLT) and is cared for in partnership with the city of Beckley.

"This is just a taste," said Jesse Cecil, operations manager for the WVLT. "This is just to get people to realize that we have 613 acres, which has now been officially annexed within the city limits of Beckley. So 613 acres within the preserve, this is 50 acres — there's a lot more to come."

Both of the waterfalls along the Waterfall Hollow Trail have been added to the West Virginia Waterfall Trail, which includes 40 waterfalls from across the state.

It was because of these waterfalls that Parag Kulkarni and Marta Orus decided to attend the unveiling of the Waterfall Hollow Trail.

The couple moved to West Virginia five years ago after living in Spain and Chile and said visiting all the West Virginia Waterfall Trail stops is how they acquainted themselves with their new home.

"It's a really awesome thing for people who live in Beckley and around to get a trail of this nature where you feel secure to come so close by and being so much into the nature and to enjoy," Kulkarni said.

Before the actual trail was carved out, Kulkarni said they had made the short trek to see Little White Stick Falls, but this trip was the first time they'd seen Cranberry Creek Cascades.

"We love it; it's very pretty," he said

Kulkarni said they have visited nearly all the waterfalls on the state's list and others that are not.

To develop the Waterfall Hollow Trail, which is about half a mile, Cecil said they relied on local donations and support from local groups, including a Boy Scout troop, West Virginia University Institute of Technology and others who volunteered their time to make the trail traversable.

He added that those same partners, as well as others on the local, state and federal level, will play a crucial role in the future development of the Piney Creek Preserve.

"For years and years, the value placed on our mountains was largely based on what can be extracted from them, and now we're moving to a more diversified economy that places more value on the intrinsic benefits of our forests and streams and mountains like recreation, carbon sequestration, clean water for the entire eastern seaboard," Cecil said. "There's a great future for West Virginia in outdoor recreation."

Recently named New River Gorge National Park and Preserve superintendent, Charles Sellars said he believes working with local and state leaders on outdoor recreation helps turn the area into a destination instead of just a place to drive by.

"As corny as it sounds — I talk about the village — and it takes all of us, it takes that village to make this work," Sellars said. "If we can get people that want to come here and do that waterfall tour, then that spills over into some of the other places that they might want to come. And again, what else is there to do? There's so much to do, and we've got to market that and make sure that we're communicating."

Plans for the more than 600 acres of the Piney Creek Preserve, unveiled Thursday, include additional trails and trailheads, scenic overlooks, biking trails, rock climbing locations, fishing access locations and more.

"There've been people recreating here for years before even the Land Trust owned the property, but to officially give people a taste of what's to come and what kind of recreational amenities that the city of Beckley really deserves to have and we'll be working to deliver in the next several years is exciting," Cecil said.

For the development of the remainder of the Piney Creek Preserve, which stretches northeast toward the New River National Park, Cecil said they'll likely need to raise millions.

He added that they're still working to map out and design future trails and apply for grant funding for additional development phases.

The Piney Creek Preserve has also been hailed as the cornerstone of the larger Beckley Outdoors Economic Action Plan, which is still in the works.

For more information about the Piney Creek Preserve, go to wvlandtrust.org/rec-access/pineycreek.