While nothing can quite match the Grand Canyon, West Virginia has a smaller version that is no less beautiful: the New River Gorge.

The gorge is 53 miles long.
WikiMedia Commons/ Malik Ahamed
The rocky cliffs are popular with climbers.
WikiMedia Commons/ Jarek Tuszyński
The New River is thought to be one of the five oldest rivers in the world.
Flickr/Jo Munday
No one is sure why it's called the "New" river.
WikiMedia Commons/Gabor Eszes
It's somewhere between 325 million and 260 million years old, making it much older than the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
Flickr/Jo Munday

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The New River is especially popular with white water rafters.
Flickr/Rory Finneren
The CSX railroad travels along the bottom of the gorge.
Flickr/jpmueller99
The New River Gorge Bridge is one of the iconic images of West Virginia scenery.
Flickr/B Rosen
It's celebrated each year at the annual Bridge Day.
Flickr/Jeremy Markovich
People BASE jump and rappel from the bridge.
Flickr/Jeremy Markovich

You can watch a video of people jumping off the bridge here.

If you’d like to learn more about the New River Gorge bridge, here are some facts that you probably didn’t know.

We’re lucky to have such a beautiful place in West Virginia!

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