Fun Fact: Warm Springs became America’s first spa in 1761 after the construction of its original octagonal stone basin.

Bath County Rates 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We spent a long weekend exploring Bath County, Virginia for all types of fun, but especially outdoor, dog friendly activities. We rate our experiences below.

• Accommodations ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Dog Friendly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• History ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Recreation ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Restaurants⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Sightseeing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Soak It All In

Photo of Warm Springs Pools from Facebook, Exploring Virginia. Photographer: Alexandra Osherwitz.

Warm Springs Pools: formerly named the Jefferson Pools after a certain famous visitor who spent much of August 1818 taking the waters here

Warm Springs Pools, 11 Bath Street, Warm Springs, Virginia.

Reservation Line: (540) 839-3860

No dogs allowed, but no worries because dogs don’t like baths anyway.

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Enjoy Your Stay

Prepare to be BOW WOWed by Bath County’s world-class dog friendly accommodations.

Omni Homestead Resort

Photo from the Omni Homestead Resort, Facebook

America’s first resort, the Omni Homestead, includes 23 U.S. presidents on its guest roster and extends its hospitality to your Canine-in-Chief. Fido can stay with you in one of the venue’s dog friendly rooms.

Some Omni Homestead Resort Trivia:

• The Homestead opened in 1764 on the sacred hunting site of the Shawnee tribe.
• Golf legend and Bath County native son, Sam Snead worked here as a caddy during his pre-teen years.
• Former King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, stayed at the Homestead Resort for a month and tried to leave without paying their bill.
• During World War II, the Homestead Resort served as an internment camp for 785 Japanese diplomats and their families.
• In 1959, the Homestead Resort became the first full service ski resort in the southern U.S. thanks to the influence of Austrian skiier Sepp Kober.
• Some employees’ careers at the Homestead Resort span decades, including 60 years or more.
• The Omni Homestead Resort features a Podcast and a YouTube channel.

I like this YouTube video because it showcases some of the resort’s myriad amenities such as its championship golf courses.

Hidden Valley Bed & Breakfast

Photo from Hidden Valley Bed and Breakfast, Facebook

In 1992, the Warwickton Mansion’s Hidden Valley Bed & Breakfast transformed into a movie set for Sommersby, starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. A detached kitchen built for the set remains to this day and serves as the dog friendly guest room.

The Inn at Gristmill Square

Photo from the Inn at Gristmill Square, Facebook

Hey Fido, There’s room at the inn!

The utterly charming (and dog friendly) Inn at Gristmill Square features a renovated mill that serves as its Waterwheel Restaurant.

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The Great Outdoors

Bath County offers outdoor activities galore, including skiing and spelunking. Better yet, the roads contain the perfect conditions for happiness behind the wheel: scant traffic, beautiful scenery, and no traffic lights.

That’s correct. Bath County contains no traffic lights.

Just when we thought the scenery couldn’t possibly be lovelier, we drove by the stunningly beautiful Dripping Spring, on Route 42, near the Highlander Hunt Club.

Are we driving through a painting? A Drive Through Bath County by YouTube’s Hometown Drive channel sure makes it look that way.

Lake Moomaw

Nearly a century ago, Thomas Gaithright and Benjamin Moomaw imagined building a dam on the Jackson River. The culmination of that idea occurred in 1982 with the completion of Gaithright Dam and the resulting formation of Lake Moomaw. BlueRidgeCountry.com describes those in-between years as:

“a classic American tale of persistence and political maneuvering worthy of a Sinclair Lewis novel.”

Blue Ridge Country’s article Far from the Madding Crowd provides the fascinating backstory of Lake Moomaw’s genesis.

The weather didn’t cooperate during our visit to Lake Moomaw. Freezing temperatures and snow flurries greeted us on the day we visited, so we didn’t stay for long. However, we know Lake Moomaw and the Gaithright Wildlife Management Area to be popular (and dog friendly) spots for camping and hiking, as well as fishing and kayaking on the lake’s 2,500 acres.

This photo shows some of Lake Moomaw’s 40 miles of serene and beautifully undeveloped shoreline.

Douthat State Park

At over 4,500 acres, Douthat State Park is the second largest state park in Virginia and a fun place to hike with the dogs.

However, we arrived at the park just before sunset so didn’t have time for the 2.2 mile hike (classified as easy) to the Blue Suck Falls. Thanks to the wb4ofn channel for posting this video, shot in prime conditions after a heavy rain.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the park and created its 50-acre lake in the 1930s. Douthat Lake contains catfish, bass and crappie, as well as stocked trout, but unfortunately Mack didn’t get a bite during our visit.

After watching this video by the International Bicycling Association I can see why cyclists fondly refer to Douthat State Park as “Mountain Biking Disneyland.”

Blowing Springs Recreation Area

We spent one day exploring Blowing Springs Campground which lies within the National Forest and named for a phenomenon that blows air out of the rock crevices at a constant 58 degrees.

While Mack fished the Little Back Creek (and caught and released 2 rainbow trout) I hiked with dogs on the trail next to the creek.

I happened to look up, and holy moly, there’s a cave!

Its location across the creek and up a steep ledge meant that I couldn’t get too close, especially with 3 dogs in tow.

After our trip concluded, I searched online for information about this cave and found nothing. Only when I posted the above photo to Facebook did I learned its name—the Back Creek Cave. Thanks to all the commenters, I learned that the larger Blowing Cave is also located nearby.

Hidden Valley Trail

We didn’t get lost. We were just having an adventure.

The Hidden Valley Trail begins at a well-marked trailhead in front of the Warwickton Mansion. From there, the trail crosses a field and then enters a lush forest next to the Jackson River. However, we didn’t know that.

We initially walked on a gravel road for 2 miles looking for a suspension bridge that we had heard about which crosses the Jackson River. Our GPS wasn’t working but we kept thinking that this bridge would be around the next bend. Finally a nice man in a pickup truck drove by and informed us that we were very far off course.

Mack looking for fish from the Hidden Valley Trail Suspension Bridge

Thanks to our good Samaritan, we found both the Hidden Valley Trail and the suspension bridge. I also got my 10,000 steps that day.

Jake is so happy to cross another smaller bridge on the Hidden Valley Trail

Ingalls Overlook Trail

I’m glad we sought out the Ingalls Overlook Trail. The easy mile or so hike on the Warm Springs Mountain rewarded us with a beautiful view.

Forests cover about 90% of Bath County and Warm Springs Mountain contains Virginia’s only mountain pine forests. Known as montane pine barrens, these ecosystems rejuvenate through periodic fires. Likewise, the suppression of fire creates an imbalance and other trees, such as oaks, will grow instead of pines.

Hiking for Days

Bath County contains over 160 miles of hiking trails. If we had time to hike more during our visit, I would have explored these:

• Bear Loop Trail
• Marshall Draft Trail
• Shenandoah Mountain Trail

Don’t Forget to Look Up

Bath County is one of the best spots in Virginia for stargazing, but not during our trip! The skies were completely overcast and we could not even see our own neighborhood star during daylight hours.

Expectations

Image from discoverbath.com

Reality

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LOVEworks

Whoever constructed this LOVE sign in their yard definitely has their priorities in order.

(Located at a private residence at the intersection of Sam Snead Highway and McClintic Heights Drive, Warm Springs.)

Richmond artist Sunny Stack Goode painted this LOVEVOLVE mural at the Bath County Wellness Center.

(Located at 9247 Sam Snead Highway Hot Springs.)

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Know before You Go

• Read DiscoverBath.com, Bath County’s own blog and the Lonely Planet’s article on Bath County.
• Book this home on AirBnb if you’re looking for a dog friendly cottage with a fully fenced-in yard.
• Time your visit to coincide with the Bath County Art Association’s annual art show or a performance at the Garth Newel Music Center.
• Download Bath County onto your Google maps and print out this county map before you leave for your trip. (We lost signal a lot while we were out exploring.)
• Visit the Bath County Welcome Pavilion, at 12968 Sam Snead Highway, Warm Springs.
• Check the hours of operation before you arrive at Bath County’s Historical Society’s Museum, 99 Court House Hill Road, Warm Springs.

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Bath County Animal Services

The Bath County Animal Welfare Foundation works with the Bath County Animal Shelter to find loving homes for the resident adoptables. (Be sure to check out these sweeties. Maybe one of them is your soulmate.) Donations are also much appreciated.

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Road Trip Reads

Audible offers all of these books so you can listen during your trip.

• Our National Forests: Stories from America’s Most Important Public Lands tells the history of the National Forests.
• And Then Tiger Told the Shark… includes a section on Sam Snead and intersperses Sam Snead cameos throughout.
• Death Comes to Bath is set in Bath County’s namesake, Bath, England. It’s a hoot and I couldn’t resist including it.

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