STEVE SHALUTA Facing page: Along the Blackwater River Trail (see p. 80). Clockwise from above: Resort rooms are all redone; sitting rooms are included; the Blackwater River Trail offers stunning scenery. CONSIDERED ONE OF THE CROWN JEWELS of the STEVE SHALUTA West Virginia State Park system, Canaan Valley Resort State Park has recently completed a $34 million construction and renovation project, adding a diamond-like sparkle to this all-season recreation destination. At the dedication ceremony in October, Frank Jezioro, director of the West Virginia DNR, summed up the park's transformation this way: "Visitors are now able to enjoy modern and comfortable facilities in the new 160-room lodge. The nearly four-decade-old lodge structure this replaces served the public well beyond expectations, and we invite visitors who haven't been to Canaan in a while to come back and enjoy the improved complex any time of year." ED REHBEIN There is a comfortable retro feeling as you enter a lodge room...Folks visiting Canaan for the first time and those who remember the original structure will be amazed. JULY/AUGUST 2014 | 79