A 57-foot cascade the colour of strong tea, stained by hemlock and red spruce needles in the plateau bogs upstream.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
Blackwater River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 03066000
WV State Parks
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Blackwater Falls, and when
The Blackwater drains a high plateau of bogs and spruce, so it responds quickly to rain and snowmelt and runs amber year round. Spring is the heaviest, and late summer can thin it to a ribbon in a dry year.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
Blackwater Falls, a 57-foot cascade tinted by the tannic acid of fallen hemlock and red spruce needles.
Gauge: USGS 03066000 BLACKWATER RIVER AT DAVIS, WV, upstream of the falls at Davis. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
A boardwalk and staircase lead to the main viewing platforms. The Gentle Trail offers an accessible view of the falls.
Blackwater Falls. The colour is tannin from the spruce and hemlock bogs upstream, not sediment. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Common questions
Blackwater Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. The Blackwater drains a high plateau of bogs and spruce, so it responds quickly to rain and snowmelt and runs amber year round. Spring is the heaviest, and late summer can thin it to a ribbon in a dry year.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Blackwater River (BLACKWATER RIVER AT DAVIS, WV, upstream of the falls at Davis) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
Rarely dry, but it does thin. The tannin colour stays regardless of volume; it comes from the vegetation upstream, not from the amount of water.
Blackwater Falls State Park (West Virginia State Parks). A boardwalk and staircase lead to the main viewing platforms. The Gentle Trail offers an accessible view of the falls. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Keep planning
More falls, and the rest of the West Virginia year
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Blackwater Falls State Park (West Virginia State Parks). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Places to stay