New River Gorge National Park

Established in 2020, New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia is one of the newest national parks. New River Gorge National Park conserves over 70,000 acres of land along the New River between the towns of Hinton and Fayetteville. The park and surrounding area are rich in cultural and natural history, with an abundance of scenic and recreational opportunities.

The New River that has formed the gorge is one of the oldest rivers in the world, older than the Appalachian Mountains themselves. The river cuts through the Appalachian Plateau creating the gorge exposing some rocks as old as 330 million years old. For centuries, this part of the New River was inaccessible to most people. In 1873 the railroad arrived, making it possible to ship coal to the outside world. Towns like historic Thurmond sprang up and thrived all throughout the gorge during the coal boom. Today, freight trains still travel along the river on a daily basis transporting mostly coal to Atlantic ports like Norfolk.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, people started coming to the New River Gorge to experience some of the nation’s premier whitewater stretches. Over the course of 50 miles, the New River drops 750 feet in elevation creating Class I to Class IV+ rapids making it a suitable river trip for first time rafters as well as those with more experience paddling whitewater. Numerous outfitters offer whitewater rafting trips within the national park. Another popular activity within the national park is sport fishing where bluegill, catfish, and bass thrive in New River’s warm waters.

Prior to the opening of the New River Gorge Bridge in 1977, the Fayette Station Road was the main travel route for vehicles for nearly 100 years. The road wound from the top of one side of the gorge down to the river and then back up the other side. A vehicle bridge constructed in 1889 connected the two communities of Fayette and South Fayette which flanked the New River at this location. The original bridge was closed and condemned with the construction of the New River Gorge Bridge, but a replica was built in 1998 and is now part of the scenic, 8-mile Fayette Station Road Driving Tour in the national park.

The opening of the New River Gorge Bridge on October 22, 1977 was a major boost to the state of West Virginia. Several designs were considered to span the 3,030 feet gap in the gorge with a suspension or arch bridge the frontrunners. The winning design was a 1,700-foot, single arch bridge which makes it the third longest single arch bridge in the world. It took three years to construct the 876 feet tall bridge which contains 44 million pounds of steel at a cost of $37M. On the third Saturday of every October, the state celebrates the opening of the bridge with Bridge Day in which it is closed to traffic for pedestrians to explore and BASE jumpers to have a thrill.

Since 2009, visitors to New River Gorge National Park have been able to experience the bridge and gorge from a unique vantagepoint: 25 feet under the bridge. The Bridge Walk allows participants to take a guided walk across the gorge from the maintenance catwalk located under the New River Gorge Bridge’s roadway. Everyone is tethered to the bridge with a safety harness so there is no danger of falling, but anyone with a fear of heights, it is 850 feet to the river below, might find it a little challenging. I did the Bridge Walk during my visit to the national park and the views were spectacular!