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Photo: JaGa / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Canyons & deserts

New River Gorge National Park

Fayetteville, WV · Appalachian Mountains, West VirginiaFreeFree to enter

About

A short boardwalk at Canyon Rim Visitor Center, just north of Fayetteville, West Virginia, drops into the gorge to two decks with a view of the New River Gorge Bridge. Fayette Station Road, an 8-mile loop of hairpin curves that takes 30 to 45 minutes, runs underneath it. Vehicles over 12 feet tall can't clear the low railroad bridge along the way. Rafting splits at Thurmond, with water up to Class III above it and Class III to V in the Lower Gorge below, from April through October. On Bridge Day, the third Saturday in October, the bridge is open only to people on foot, while BASE jumpers leap from it into the gorge.

Highlights

New River Gorge Bridge, 876 feet high and 3,030 feet longClass III to V rafting below ThurmondFayette Station Road under the bridgeCoal towns at Thurmond and NuttallburgCanyon Rim Visitor Center near FayettevilleBridge Day, third Saturday in October

Getting there

Canyon Rim Visitor Center, 162 Visitor Center Rd, Lansing, WV 25862

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Part of these collections

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.