6 West Virginia Scenic Roads That Shut Down for the Winter

If a mountain drive is still on your fall list, now is the time to take it.

Some of West Virginia’s prettiest roads close once snow or the calendar says so, and a closure can come with little notice.

Here are the high-country drives to fit in before winter locks the gates.

1. Highland Scenic Highway

Highland Scenic Highway, West Virginia Route 150, climbs across some of the highest terrain in the Monongahela National Forest, past overlooks that top 4,500 feet.

The Forest Service puts it simply: the highway closes when snow-covered.

There’s no gate and no fixed date.

The state stops plowing it once winter weather arrives, and the road stays snowed in until crews reopen it in spring, whenever that turns out to be.

You can still drive it, technically, but you won’t want to.

2. Dolly Sods Access Roads

Forest Roads 19 and 75 carry visitors up to Dolly Sods Wilderness, a high plateau known for its wind-bent trees and rare bog plants.

Both roads close on a fixed date, not just a weather call.

A Forest Service spokeswoman confirmed to West Virginia Explorer that both roads close every year from January through April for safety reasons.

This year’s notice lists a January 4 start date.

Get your Dolly Sods trip on the calendar before the new year. Once that gate goes up, you’re waiting until spring.

3. Spruce Knob Tower Road

The road up to Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest point at 4,863 feet, ends at an observation tower with a view that stretches for miles on a clear day.

The Forest Service lists the road as closed whenever snow covers it, reopening once conditions clear.

There’s no calendar date attached, so a warm December and a snowy December can mean two very different access windows for your trip.

4. Bickle Knob Tower Road

Bickle Knob’s fire tower dates to 1933 and sits along a gravel road reached off Forest Road 91, near Elkins.

Like Spruce Knob’s, this road is closed whenever snow covers it.

Plan your trip here for October, not February.

The summit sits at 4,003 feet, a good notch below Spruce Knob, and it’s the closest fire lookout to Elkins, which makes it a quicker after-work drive for anyone who lives nearby.

5. Olson Tower Road

Olson Observation Tower, built in 1922 as the first steel fire tower in the state, is reachable by road and a short trail near Bemis.

Its season runs mid-April to December, according to the West Virginia tourism office, which puts its access road out of use for roughly four months every winter, longer than most of the other towers on this list.

You can still reach it on foot by trail once the road closes, but driving up isn’t part of the deal again until spring.

6. Red Oak Fire Lookout Road

Red Oak Fire Lookout, near Richwood in the Gauley Ranger District, opened for overnight rentals just last month, giving visitors a reason to book a night 80 feet up before the season ends.

The gravel road up to it closes December 1, on the same fixed schedule the Forest Service uses for several of its Gauley District sites, so a fall visit is the safer bet over a winter one.

Plan Around the Weather, Not the Calendar

Two of these six close on a set date.

The other four close whenever the first snow of the season decides to show up, which can be weeks earlier or later than the year before.

None of these roads reopen until conditions allow, sometimes not until the spring thaw is well underway.