New River Gorge National Park

Aug. 3-4, 2025 Day 1

The rolling hills of West Virginia are quite pretty and the roads are fun to drive as long as you are not in a hurry. The first faux pas was my GPS taking me to the wrong side of the river for the Sandstone falls trail. Bridges are limited and roads are long dead ends so it took almost 30 minutes to get to the right side even though I could have swam across the river quicker. The falls are a series of shelves with many islands making it popular on a Sunday afternoon with dog walkers and fishermen alike. I left there to go 1.25 hours downstream (12 miles) to Glade Creek which flows into the New River. The trail follows the creek up past several nice swimming holes and small waterfalls. This would be a beautiful hike in spring as it is surrounded by huge rhododendrons.

Day 2

My first stop was Endless Wall which follows the ridgeline with a sheer cliff down to the river. The cliffs go for about two miles making this one of the best rock climbing areas on the east coast. I was nervous about the weather as I was driving across the historic New River Bridge, it was solid fog. It had cleared up by the time I got to my first viewpoint. The bridge is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere and I saw it from three trails including Long Point trail.