Escape Into America's Natural Splendor When You Visit New River Gorge National Park In West Virginia
By Megan Shute|Published August 01, 2022
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
Located in the heart of West Virginia, New River Gorge National Park was designated in December 2020 and is officially America’s newest national park. Encompassing more than 70,000 acres of land along the scenic New River, it is full of stunning wonders just waiting to be explored. Among the oldest rivers in North America, the New River is a rugged, whitewater oasis flowing northward through deep canyons. The park is rich in cultural and natural history.
My family and I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drive out to the national park on a long weekend to check another destination off our bucket list, and I can’t wait to share our adventures with you. Shortly after my husband and I were married, we discovered a shared love for travel and dreamed of exploring all of America’s 63 national parks together. We lived in Hawaii at the time, so much of the great outdoors across America was time-consuming and cost-prohibitive to explore, but now that we have relocated to the East Coast, we have been able to visit a few more wonders — and New River Gorge National Park might just be our new favorite. Let’s dive in.
If you’re planning a visit to this incredible national park, there’s no better time to visit than during National Park Week. Learn all about this celebration of America’s great outdoors — including fee-free days throughout the year!
We drove into the town of Beckley on a Friday evening, so our adventures began bright and early on Saturday morning with a visit to the seemingly untouched boomtown of Thurmond.
The road to Thurmond parallels train tracks, the New River, and plenty of lush greenery. While initially unsure about crossing the narrow bridge into town, we were soon in awe of the area’s natural beauty and rich history.
A bustling rail town in the early 1900s, Thurmond had the largest revenue on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway with its huge amounts of coal from area mines.
More than 15 passenger trains came through the town each day, and the Thurmond depot serves as many as 75,000 passengers each year. With the advent of diesel locomotives and less coal coming in from local mines, the town declined, businesses closed, and residents moved on – and the National Park Service now owns more than 20 structures around town.
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We only saw a few people in town, and my toddler loved picking up the rocks along the railroad, dancing along the bridge, and watching a train filled with coal pass by.
To our delight, just steps from the road but hidden amongst the trees was a delightful little waterfall that looked as though it was ripped straight from the pages of a fairytale. We spent quite some time soaking in the natural beauty before heading north toward the Canyon Rim Visitors Center.
Once we arrived at the Canyon Rim Visitors Center, we attempted to walk the boardwalk trails to view the New River Gorge Bridge, but it started pouring almost immediately, so we took refuge in the visitors center until the rain stopped.
We headed back to the boardwalk, and it was 100% worth the wait to watch the mist dissipate through the gorge – revealing the stunning New River Gorge Bridge.
Spanning more than 3,000 feet over the New River, this steel arch bridge is not only one of the longest single-span arch bridges in the world but one of the highest as well at 876 feet above the river.
After enjoying the views, we embarked on another adventure along the Fayette Station Road, which follows a series of switchbacks down into the gorge, across the New River, and back to U.S. Route 19.
After a morning of rain, the trail was quite muddy, but we thoroughly enjoyed the workout – before the thunder started in the distance and we decided to head back down the gorge to be safe.
Our next day of adventure started with a visit to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, where we enjoyed a unique 45-minute tour of the once-thriving mine with a knowledgeable tour guide.
The coal mine operated in the late 1800s and early 1900s before being sold to the city of Beckley in the 1950s. It opened to the public in 1962 as the first historic site dedicated wholly to coal mine education.
We loved learning about the history of coal mining aboard a restored coal cart – though our toddler was mostly enamored will all the rocks.
This 2.4-mile one-way trail winds its way along the gorge’s rim through a lush forest, featuring more stunning lookout points than one could possibly even count.
We began at the Nuttall Trailhead and hiked down to the Fern Creek Trailhead (from my research, this appeared to feature less elevation gain), stopping at Diamond Point to enjoy some of the fudge we purchase earlier that morning – the peanut butter fudge was scrumptious!
Driving the Fayette Station Road yet again (my husband’s idea), we splashed around at the water’s edge under the New River Gorge Bridge, being careful to not swim into the tumultuous currents of this whitewater river, and then headed back to the hotel to rest for another day of adventure.
On Monday morning, we checked out of our hotel and decided to experience another section of New River Gorge National Park before hitting the road: Grandview. Paved with stones, the path to the Grandview Overlook was picturesque, but the view was even better: forested, emerald peaks highlight the curves of the New River and instantly make you feel at peace.
Some fun at the nearby playground and a short hike along the towering and impressive rock formations found on the Tunnel Trail and we were off. This was the perfect spot to stretch our legs and relieve some of our energy before the five-hour drive back home to Maryland.
Now, this trip wasn’t about the food as much as it was about exploring this natural oasis, though we did visit some mighty delicious spots along our adventures.
We loved stopping at The Chocolate Moose and Aurora Coffee and More (pictured above) for – you guessed it – coffee, The Burrito Bar for quesadillas and burritos, and Cathedral Cafe for scrumptious lattes, French Toast made with croissants, and a tasty egg hash.
Though this trip was planned last-minute, and I did just an hour’s worth of research into the park, our spontaneity paid off tenfold with lots of time spent exploring the great outdoors and family memories made.
Visit the National Park Service’s website to learn more about the breathtaking New River Gorge National Park and plan your trip.
If you want to discover more incredible boots-on-the-ground adventures across America from our local travel experts, check out the articles in OnlyInYourState’s Everyday Explorers series. What destinations would you like to see featured next on OnlyInYourState’s Everyday Explorers? Tell us where we should go on our nominations page.
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