New River Gorge National Park is located near Fayetteville, West Virginia, about 1hr15m from Charleston, WV where there's an airport.

Travelers: Two sedentary females (38 and 31). My niece (31) has never hiked a day in her life and legit brought a trench coat to wear bc she didn't know any better. Adorable

This is not the exact itinerary we did but what I would do if we had a re-do. We did do all of these things, just a different order. We flew in on a Saturday evening and departed on a Tuesday morning. It was perfect.


TRAVEL DAY / DAY 0
- Fly into Charleston, WV. Rent a car and drive to hotel in Fayetteville, WV.


DAY 1
- Sunrise @ Endless Wall Trail - Easy, 3.2mi, about 40min to Diamond Point Overlook for sunrise
- Go eat breakfast at Wood Iron Eatery
- Fayette Station Road Scenic Drive
- Cathedral Falls
- Bridge Walk Tour
- Babcock State Park to see the Glade Creek Grist Mill
- Sunset @ Canyon Rim Overlook

Sunrise at Diamond Point Overlook via Endless Wall Trail


Underneath the New River Gorge Bridge at the bridge walk tour


Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park


Babcock State Park


Canyon Rim Overlook



DAY 2
- Sunrise @ Grandview Overlook (45 min drive from Fayetteville)
- Tunnel Trail - Moderate, .5mi, 15min
- Castle Rock Trail - Moderate, 1.1mi RT
- Sandstone Falls Boardwalk
- Explore downtown Fayetteville shops
- Sunset @ Long Point Trail - Easy, 3mi, about 45min to the overlook for sunset

Grandview Overlook


Tunnel Trail


Sandstone Falls


Long Point Trail overlook - not at sunset, but greatest view of the New River Gorge Bridge


Me hanging off the ledge (as usual) at Long Point Trail overlook

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

That's awesome Nervy! I was wondering if you were going there. Did/are y'all going to raft also?

That's a bucket list park for me.

Love the pics!

We probably would have if we'd had a third day since the minimum commitment was 5-6 hours. Apparently they do rafting April - October and it's most challenging in October. I've done it exactly once on the Colorado River and my niece would have **** her pants, so I wouldn't consider us qualified for the more challenging season.

Great photos

Underrated area. Oddly spread out park. Also odd that they have almost zero facilities. I get that it's new, but still. Hinton reminds me of a cute little European town.

Great Pics, but we need a picture of the trench coat?

That place is really beautiful in the fall! My son and I went over Labor Day in 2021. The remnants of Hurricane Ida had blown thru so the rafting company warned us of possible Class 5 rapids instead of the normal Class 3 expected for that time. They gave us the opportunity to back out and get a refund but we said no way. It was a lot of fun.

13 - 0 said:

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Great Pics, but we need a picture of the trench coat?

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Heading back to Grandview for a couple hikes from Sandstone Falls - it's about 45 minutes. Apple Maps took us along this gravel road that was risky for the SWEET Hyundai rollerskate we'd rented. The sun was beginning to set and I have heard so many spooky stories about Appalachia after dark - I was afraid we were about to experience them first hand!

We passed NO ONE for about 10 miles on this gravel road up and into mountains, lined by private property on both sides. We reached a smooth, flat'ish section and I pulled to a stop because of how beautiful the trees were at this time of day. I said to her, "go stand in front of the car and let's do a photoshoot."

It turned out pretty great. Helps that she's a photographer herself and knows how to pose. My photos are SIGNIFICANTLY less cute!

Was worth the risk of Moth Man.


She is so freaking fun, too. Nobody raised an eyebrow at her coat, but I teased her for it. She started telling people that she was there to solve crimes, lol.

Great pictures and thanks for sharing! We went in late July and want to go back in October. We rafted, zip lined , and did the Bridge Walk. Enjoyed our two meals in Fayetteville. We needed another day.

I spent a lot of time around the NRG and the Gauley.

There used to be a great race there called Captain Thurmond's. You would ride upstream on the MTB trails for 15ish miles, kayak the gorge for 6-8 miles, then run up out of the gorge for 6 or so miles to the finish. The ride was pretty easy, the kayaking was pretty easy class 4ish, and the run/hike out was horrible. I am not nor have I ever been much of a runner.

Bridge day is also fun. It is the day base jumpers are allowed to drop off the bridge. Great party atmosphere.

You've been killing it with these!

This is a NP that I've been curious about, but know absolutely nothing about aside from the bridge. Glad you could provide some context.

Great report, and really well done on the pics.

CDub06 said:

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You've been killing it with these!

This is a NP that I've been curious about, but know absolutely nothing about aside from the bridge. Glad you could provide some context.

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Seconded. Food wise anything stand out ??

Wicked Good Ag said:

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Seconded. Food wise anything stand out ??

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Pies & Pints in Fayetteville was pretty good. We ate sandwiches and fast food most of the time so I don't have much else to suggest there.

While technically not in the park, there are a few horse stables out there that are fun. You get get views of the park.

White water rafting is a must in my eyes. We used Ace Adventure Company.

I wish we could have walked under the bridge but we didn't have time.

This post has definitely inspired me to move it higher up my list.

You could easily fly into Roanoke, see Shenandoah, and hit New River Gorge all in one trip!

Wicked Good Ag said:

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Seconded. Food wise anything stand out ??

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I will admit that food is usually fuel for me and not for fun so I tend to go with 'good enough.' Fayetteville is 7,000 during the offseason and we were very much in the shoulder so we had our pick of 3 restaurants after 6'ish PM besides fast food. (Yelp indicated more were open buuuuut they were not.)

Wood Iron Eatery - holy crap, I wish I could eat here every single morning. They opened at 8:30 so we'd usually already been out and about by the time we made it here. It'll be CROWDED on the weekend with locals and hikers alike but the weekdays weren't nearly as bad. It's smack in the middle of the tiny town.
Breakfast burrito and add chicken (it's large - I'm about 150 lbs and I could eat half) with a little Frank's Hot Sauce. Plus, it's only the second place EVER I've found a Spanish latte which is my FAVORITE. (Spanish latte dissolves an espresso shot into condensed milk + the foamed or cold milk of a regular latte. Chefs kiss.) I've thought about this place constantly since I left. Food doesn't have to be fancy to be delicious, y'know?

Pies & Pints Pizzeria - 5/5 stars. I second BSD for this one; it was one of the few options open for dinner. Their pizzas are large so it wasn't a great option for two of us, but they looked and smelled great with a lot of different toppings options.
We each ordered a salad and added protein + root beer on tap. The salads are meant to share and were also huge. We did their garlic + cheese breadsticks (or whatever they were) with the marinara dipping sauce that scratched our pizza itch. Everything was REALLY good.

Secret Sandwich Society - 5/5. Another one of few open for dinner. Their sandwiches are named after former presidents like a secret society - cute concept. I had the Hoover (one of the most popular - fried chicken breast, honey butter, swiss) and niece had the Roosevelt (another popular one - roast beef, bacon, horseradish, white cheddar), we shared the French onion dip and chips. Their fries were different - maybe used a different potato than I was used to or maybe that's just what fresh French fries taste like, ha! We got out of there with tip for $55.

Wanderlust Creativefoods - this looks like an Asian / middle eastern / western fusion but they were closed, despite their posted hours. Yelp reviews rave about it.

Fins Up! said:

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This post has definitely inspired me to move it higher up my list.

You could easily fly into Roanoke, see Shenandoah, and hit New River Gorge all in one trip!

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We hit both this past summer. Not a bad drive from one to the other. For a full week, another alternative is to fly into Dulles and hit Shenandoah, NRG, and Harper's Ferry.

And we are at the same two restaurants (pizza and sandwiches) and concur with those recommendations!

Awesome pics! I was actually just there about a month ago for a national bridge committee meeting. Got to hang out with State bridge engineers from all over the country, including the TxDOT State Bridge Management Engineer (also an Aggie). Of course we had to do the bridge tour too. We even got a personal narration from the WV Chief Bridge Engineer, which was pretty awesome, but honestly, the regular tour guides nailed it too.

As someone who climbs bridges a lot, I'm curioushow did you feel up on the catwalk? I'm usually on catwalks or underbridge trucks, and even I had a moment or two where I had to check my headspace to avoid vertigo. How was it for someone who doesn't spend their days on bridges?

I went just for work, but after seeing it all, I told my wife we have to go back and explore more. The landscape and natural beauty were way more impressive than I expecteddefinitely worth a return trip! Thanks for sharing!

Really excited to read the above posts, as I'm thinking of heading up there next spring/early summer with my son on our annual camping trip.

Has anybody been backpacking and camping and/or fishing in that area?

Past couple years, I've been squeezing in rafting, fishing, and camping on trips to Cherokee national forest. Looking to go somewhere new next time and this looks like the perfect place.