June 11, 2022
We originally planned to just visit Charleston, WV as it is only 2.5 hours from Columbus, but after some research we found a surprising little gem in New River Gorge National Park, an extra hour drive from Charleston. Commissioned in 2020, the park is the newest national park in the US and offers a myriad of recreational activities. It is also home to the New River Gorge Bridge, a 3,000 foot steel arch bridge which was the longest single-span arch bridge for 26 years.
Our first stop was at the Endless Wall Trail where we hiked to the edge of cliffs lined along the upper portion of the gorge. The trail meandered along these cliffs and gave us a number of great views of the gorge and rafters barreling down the river. Our next stop was Long Point Trail where we hiked under the canopy of the forest until it opened up at the end at Long Point. There we had a perfect view of the New River Gorge Bridge. After hiking back, we drove to Main Overlook and got an amazing view of a bend in the river which Cynthia and I coined “Green Horseshoe Bend”.
Unfortunately, since we only planned to spend one day here, we only had time to hit up the popular trails and overlooks. If we have another opportunity to visit, we will definitely plan to spend at least three days to give us time to raft through the gorge, fish on New River, and backpack on more advanced trails.
