New River Gorge

This stop was added to my trip last minute as it only became a national park in January of 2021. Which means my Christmas presents of a National Park T-shirt, and National Park Map are already out dated 😒

I haven't been feeling particularly social recently so I decided to not do any of the white water rafting trips down the river, and that was a mistake. I spent more time driving around on winding roads trying to find trail heads than I did hiking or biking. So do yourself a favor and book the two day trip so you can properly appreciate all this park has to offer.

I took advantage of some of the mountain biking trails my first full day here, and damn I'm out of biking shape. Three miles of easy to intermediate trails whooped my butt. But if you are in better shape than I am, and have a bike that can actually handle some of the rockier sections that bruised my heinie you should have plenty of fun on the 15 or so miles of trails in the northern section of the park.

The next day I had to take it easy so I headed down to one of the southern sections of the park off I-64 called Grandview. There are a few miles of mostly easy trails here that have spectacular views overlooking the river. Although if you're up for something a little trickier the Castle Rock trail is like a secret path to a hidden sacred treasure. It has steep slopes and narrow paths with a cliff on one side and a steep drop on the other. If I ever need a location to film finding a secret source of great magical power, I know where I'm going.

My last day in the park I went down to the Sandstone waterfall section of the park. I didn't end up getting as good of a look at the falls as I would have liked as I took an unmarked treacherous path from the overlook down toward the water. This isn't a real trail, and if you go to the overlook I recommend avoiding this path. It is steep with unstable footing, and I turned around before I got to the bottom because I didn't want to risk breaking an ankle, or losing my camera as I'd lost my footing twice when the ground gave way under my boots. The hike back up took a lot out of me and I ended up just heading into town searching for the famous Mac & Cheese from When Pigs Fly BBQ in Lewisburg. Unfortunately this leg of my cheese quest was in vain as it has either closed, or moved locations without letting anyone know.