3-Day, Dog Friendly Adventure Itinerary-Davis, West Virginia
- ericamargaret5
- Dec 18, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
If you are in need of dog-friendly adventure, this 3-day itinerary for Davis, West Virginia, (with driving days before and after) might be for you. Just a few hours from Northern Virginia, my husband, our dog, Porter, and I visited in 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed the plethora of outdoor activities. I have been wanting to go back ever since!!
The first time we visited, it was in late June of 2020 and we had been cooped up in the house trying to make sure not to come into contact with too many people. I was starting to get stir crazy when I came across a dog-friendly rental in my budget. "What the heck," I figured. I had heard about Davis from a few friends and wanted to check it out.
We hopped in the car and made the easy, scenic, 2.5 hour drive out there from Northern Virginia. It was mostly highway and nothing to stress about. When pulled off of the highway and into town, though, I was immediately excited to see the old houses, the sidewalks, and a glimpse of the river. I felt transported.
We pulled up to our airbnb, which was an old, crooked house that the owner was fixing up piece-by-piece. I will say that this rental is probably not for everyone. It's old, it's 100% crooked and you feel like you have vertigo when you walk up the stairs, and at night we could hear the mice in the walls. (Porter loved this since he is mostly a Rat Terrier.) Okay now that I write about it, it sounds pretty bad, but it was in my budget (which is SMOL), and it was dog friendly (rare), so I remember feeling fine about it. We stayed in the front bedroom, which overlooked the mountains and made me feel excited to wake up there for a few days.
That evening, we cooked dinner with groceries we had brought from home and walked Porter around town to get the feel of things.
Day 1
Our first stop the next morning was to Blackwater Falls State Park, where the water was actually black and looked like my Lipton Iced Tea. We hiked the very short Blackwater Falls Trail down a bunch of stairs that took us to an overlook of the waterfall. This trail was pretty crowded, so I was happy to take in the view and then get out of there so that Porter didn't get too stressed.
Porter needs a few miles of walking every day, though, so just doing this hike was not nearly enough. We removed ourselves from the busy waterfall area and poked around the rest of the park, pulling into viewing points and walking around when we found an interesting path. We viewed the river canyon and spent some time on the River Road Trail before finishing our drive around the park and heading home.
Once we tired the dog out, we all went home to enjoy a lazy afternoon of rest while I hit up Google to see what else there was to do.
Turns out, too much! That evening, once it cooled down, we all went on an evening walk on the trails next to town, the Camp 70 Trails Gateway. As we walked down Camp 70 Rd and I spied all of the mountain biking trails, I was indignant. This town had a whole state park across the street AND mountain bike trails on the other side?!?!??!?! Yup. I already wanted to move here and we hadn't even scratched the surface yet. We poked around Camp 70 road for a while, where things were mostly quiet except for the occasional car, and headed back when Porter had tired out again.
We fell asleep to the scritchin' of the mice in the walls.
Day 2
As much fun as it was walking around and tiring Porter out on the first day, I NEEDED EXERCISE, TOO, so we planned a bigger, more mom AND dog friendly day for Day 2.
In the morning, we took the 45 minute drive to get to the trailhead for a 3.6 mile hike to Seneca Rocks. In my opinion, the best view is from the parking lot looking up at the rock face, but the hike itself was a good burn for Porter and me.
Now that we had tired Porter out, it was my turn. We drove back to the Crooked House, where we left Porter to take a nap, and Chris and I went to Blackwater Bikes to rent some bikes. Now, yes, you have been reading this article correctly. Chris and I DROVE to Davis and could have easily thrown a bike rack on the car. Did we? Of course not! That would have been too logical! Don't be dumb and forget your bikes!
Chris and I rented bikes so that we could ride a section of the Allegheny Highlands Trail. We did this little part where we started in Hendricks and ended in Parsons. The shade on the trail in the middle of a hot summer day made silly with joy.We peddled past the river and old fishing camps until we got to the next town had to turn around.
We did about 10 miles total. Long enough for me to feel at peace .
I was a little TOO relaxed after that bike ride because we decided to throw caution to the wind and check out the one open brewery: Stumptown Ales. All I say about this brewery is yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. I got a flight, as I always do, and was happy with each beer I took a sip of.
Finally, it was time to go home and grab Porter for his nightly stroll. We walked around town on the sidewalks and then went home and snoozed together in the front upstairs room.
Day 3
Early the next morning, we drove the 20 minutes from town to Canaan Valley Resort State Park in West Virginia to check out the ski hill. The hike we did was up a fire road, so it wasn't the most exciting hiking, but I enjoyed the views from the top over Canaan Valley.
After the morning hike, we dropped Porter at the house and took the mountain bikes back out for a jaunt in Blackwater Falls State Park. Starting at the house, we went through town, went over the bridge, and made a right onto the "Town Trail." The Town Trail was neat because you could see Davis right across the river, and I got a kick out of having yet another trail so accessible from the house. My husband enjoyed rolling over obstacles with his fat tire bike.
Last but not least, we ended the trip with an evening walk in Davis's sister-town, Thomas. Right down the road, and also connected to Davis by a trail (shocker), Thomas is Davis's fancier cousins. We walked through the tiny town and took in the cutesy art galleries and boutiques. Then (since we had Porter), we walked along a gravel path near the river. Thomas is home to the Purple Fiddle, which came highly recommended to us by a lot of people. We were not able to visit this time due to limited COVID hours and the dog, but definitely stop in if you can and report back!
Day 4_Head Home :(
We finally had to head back home, but we needed to tire Porter out first so that he would not be a holy terror on the drive. Opting for the easiest option, we went down to the Riverfront Park in Davis and let Porter go swimming in the river. I thought this was a good idea at first, but we found some fishing lines and lures on the bank and gave up on the swimming idea. Our last walk through town was still a peaceful way to end our trip.
Visiting Davis was one of my favorite trips because it's very rare when we take the dogs and everyone leaves the trip happy. Usually we go on a trip and the dogs are happy because they have gotten to sniff around in a new place and get a lot of exercise, and I am UNHAPPY because I was attached to dogs all weekend and did not get enough exercise. This trip was the perfect alchemy of both that I am still trying to recreate with the 4-dog pack.
If you decide to visit Davis, please let me know how it goes!!
When You Visit
Lodging
"The Crooked House," Davis, WV (Still one of the cheaper places to rent in Davis, but not a steal like is used to be.)
Beer
Outdoor Activities
What We Missed on Our Trip But You Should Check Out
Endless hiking-let us know which trails you hit!
Camping at Blackwater Fall State Park with the Dogs
A few years later, we visited again with the camper and camped at Blackwater Falls State Park. It was not my favorite, as the sites were small and there were A LOT of dogs and quite a few off-leash. It was way better to have the house so that the dog could nap in the midday while Chris and I went off and did something on our own. We did enjoy walking to the lake, though, which we could get to easily from the campground.
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