What a stunning national park! We made the 5 hour drive from Louisville, and weren't sure exactly…read morewhat to expect. We were blown away with how beautiful and full all the trees were. While we decided to just stick with hiking, the national park offers rafting, fishing, hunting, and bridge walking. The canyon rim visitor center was packed with useful information and history, the staff were friendly and helped us map out our day. This national park has free entry which was a nice bonus! If you're camping go early because you can't reserve campsites and they fill up fast. We couldn't find a spot for the first night and ended up having to stay at a paid campground outside the park. The second night we found a spot at Meadow Creek campground, it's an open field surrounded by trees. Don't miss the waterfall or the old railroad town of Thurmond! Those were the highlights of our trip.

The newest National Park!…read more We did the Bridge Walk and drove the Fayette station road. Both highly recommended! You'll cover all angles of the bridge (well, not an aerial view) by doing both. The bridge walk was a unique, bucket list experience and the 8 mile one way drive was very picturesque. I wish we had time to do the whitewater rafting. It's class 4, so if you're inexperienced you definitely need an outfitter and a guide. Next time! Make sure you visit the Canyon Rim visitor center too which has an epic view of the bridge and canyon in back!

We planned to see as many waterfalls as we could in the Fayetteville area and Wolf Creek Falls is…read moreone of them. We accessed the falls via the Kaymoor trailhead. You just have to hike a short distance on the Kaymoor Trail from the trailhead. You will cross over a creek on a small bridge. It had been raining for a couple of days prior, so the waterfall was flowing really nicely. The unique thing about this waterfall is that a lot of the rocks had moss on them. It also continues to fall underneath the trail path. Definitely a nice waterfall to see, and a short hike from trailhead. The path is not paved though, so not stroller friendly. Get outside and enjoy friends!

Stopped for a short hike on our road trip. Beautiful views of the river along the rim trail and…read morethe castle rock trail has some really cool cliffs and rock walls of you don't mind a little more difficult terrain.

I really enjoyed the view. WV is beautiful I never knew about this place. I've been to the Grand…read moreCanyon it is awesome but wv has so much to offer as well. It's a must see along with the new river gorge bridge.

Cute spot for some great hikes. The short trails are easy , but the moderate trails require…read morephysical fitness ability. My husband and I did about half of the cliffside trail. One of the other more difficult trails was significantly overgrown and a guide warned us of snakes and bees. Great views

Hiked the Cliffside Trail here and it was as good, and as tough, as any trail we did in nearby New…read moreRiver Gorge NP. This trail was carved along the rock side of the mountain. There were technical and sketchy parts of the hike where you need to pay attention for sure footing. Many nice runoffs and waterfalls along the out and back. And we even watch a ruckus of hawks getting into it in the cliffs above us!

Very pretty scenery. Would recommend a bunch!! Love the…read morelittle waterfalls, then the huge lake/pound? The cabins you can stay in are placed in some very pretty woody areas. The swinging bridge was super fun!

Great walking trail. Scenic look outs. Beautiful waterfalls and old mill with a tour- Grist Mill…read more Small shop with souvenirs and restrooms.

Close to a college town, this rail to trail is long, relatively unimpeded, and offers river views…read more There were multiple parking lots at what is currently the south end of the trail, as well as signage indicating that some of the railway had been sold to buyers who were not part of the trail, so it kind of starts midway along the rail line. Regardless, it is a longer trail than I had time for and the part I completed was easily worthwhile.

Southern end -…read more Good surface. RR wide. Some restrooms Only problem is trail maps are mis-leading. Caldwell is beginning but is MP 3, not 1 Easy access - well signed Few road crossings

Amazing hidden gem hike with an elevated boardwalk that wanders through what will definitely feel…read morelike a town for bears. There's rock crevices and holes all easily visible from the .6 mile trail. Warning.. there are a lot if stairs, and the boardwalk can be slippery, but I did it in Teva flip flops, so take that for what it's worth. I recommend better shoes, but it's doable. There's but much else here, save a picnic area, but there's also not much out there like this place, either, so it's worth the trip! Droop Mountain State Park is nearby, so you can check that one out for longer hikes.

I absolutely loved walking along the boardwalk and seeing all of the cool stone and rocky views a…read morelong the way. So cool! Would love to explore more of the park someday. Unfortunately, the rest room needs attention. I couldn't even use it with the amount of flies in there. It was unbelievable. However, go before you get there because the boardwalk is worth the trip. In the area, check it out!

What an amazing site in the National Park. This is an abandoned town from the early to mid 1900's…read morethat had quite the past. They do an excellent job of explaining the buildings and life when it was a booming steam engine railroad town. Take your time visiting the area. I could believe that it is an active Amtrak site today.

What an amazing place to stop and try to imagine this was once a place bustling with people…read moreworking, traveling, living .. it's so small and empty now that only the pictures can tell the tale! They did a good job putting up information and learned so much about what it was like to work here for the railroads way back when. It's incredible how times change, things become more efficient, jobs are reduced, and eventually eliminated. I spent a total of an hour and 15 minutes here for reference. There is a gift shop where I got my usual souvenir magnet, but there are other neat things here as well! I was tempted to buy the "dining on the railway" book (or a name something like that). A great piece of history here and I hope someday the interiors of the buildings can be brought up to code and replicated to look how they did in their heyday so we can get a real feel of walking into the businesses (also a rebuild of the Lafayette Hotel would be amazing, even if just a smaller scale). I'm glad what is there has been preserved by the NPS! I have to say, I left West Virginia with a treasure trove of history!

Very peaceful!!! It's always very clean and well maintained. Never a bunch of people. Plenty of…read morehiking trails

It's not far at all from town but once you're there you would never know that. It's so peaceful and…read moreusually shady with lots of trails and little streams nearby. Yes, your animals are required to be on leash. There was hardly anyone there that day and no one was near the spot we were at. And my dogs wouldn't run off.

What a great way to spend a summer day. This is a rafting review, we only came up for the day, but…read morewe are already talking about next year and doing a two day visit and double our rafting fun. We picked the Lower New River, a full day adventure. We kicked off a little bit before 9 and had a quick equipment assignment and then climbed aboard a well seasoned bus. Its a bus and it served its purpose. During the ride we got a basic but funny safety briefing. You can tell these guys love their job and enjoy making life fun. After about a 25 minute ride, we arrived at the departure spot and got assigned a raft. We are a family of 4 so they assigned two more people to our raft and our guide, Jackson was phenomenal! Seriously, Jackson is so chill and personable, we could have just hung out and listened to his adventures in life. He did a really great job making everyone feel welcomed, valued and appreciated. For me, I know I would have been barking rules at our novice tubers, but he just gave specific instructions on what to expect, what to do if the 'in case' happens, and provided assurance that he would protect everyone. He also provided fun little facts about the river and history of the Gorge. We saw class II to class IV rapids and there were some intense moments. It took me a couple rapids to figure out that Jackson would strategically place our boat in the best part of the rapids for maximum effect, which made this ride so memorable. Despite sometimes facing a wall of water, we always felt in control and hearing Jackson hooting and hollering like a kid gave the assurance and reminder that this is 100% fun adrenaline. The river water was cool and refreshing, not shockingly cold in July and the levels were high so we had a good time. We did stop half way down for a lunch which consisted of either meat/cheese sandwiches or PB sandwiches, potato salad, a pasta salad, watermelon, chips & salsa, and a desert. It was good and sustained everyone. The second half of the day the river was even better than the first half. At the end, we got picked up by the bus with an even shorter ride back to AOTG. They provided a couple coolers of ice cold water, soda, and gatorade for the ride back. Once back we showered, changed and checked out the photos of our trip. This was an 11 out of 10 experience for my family and like I said, we are already planning on coming back for a 2 day trip.

Wow wow wow. We tend to be a little bougie with our accommodations so we were going out on a limb…read moreduring our trip to West Virginia. Partly because there were no four seasons in the area (mostly joking) but also because we were in WeSt vIrGiNiA and wanted to get in touch with NaTuRe we decided to go outside of our cocmfort zone and picked some closer to nature options. This was the second. We went with Kaymoor at Adventures on the Gorge. Thjey have the full scale between literal camping and hotel-like, I believe we chose the most hotel-like option. I wanted to do the glamping but there were none available about a month before our trip when I finally got my shit together to book shit. Check in was super easy. We were given a key and a treasure map of how to get to our "cabin" which was easy to drive to. It is a legit cabin in the woods but will all amenities one would expect staying in the a hotel. Great bathroom and shower with a ton of towels, bedroom and separate lounge room that included a mini fridge. TV, wifi, climate control. There was even a cute little porch with chairs in the literal woods. It is so cool. AC worked great. The shower was great. They provided more towels than I'm used to getting at hotels. The bed was SUPER COMFY. I literally don't have enough good things to say about this place. Such a good choice.