Our final tourist destination was in West Virginia. This was Claude's pick of places to see on this trip. There is an area in the lower middle portion of West Virginia called the New River Gorge. Rivers feed into rivers and run into other rivers and this portion is a gorge in the land carved out by the New River which is a descendant of the Teays River. There is a 70,000 acre National Park covering this area today.
Now, if you have ever taken a drive through West Virginia, you know that it is all tree covered mountain after tree covered mountain. Try driving Hwy 50 across the upper portion. Years ago, my car almost overheated driving Hwy 50. The kids and I stopped at a wonderful back country kind of store for a meal and shopping to let the car cool down. They now have several Interstates running though the state that facilitate a faster means of travel. But for years this particular gorge was a real 'slow down the process' part of the state. The only way to get across at this point was a windy road that was mostly one lane and it took you at least 40 minutes at best to get from the top to the bottom of the gorge on one side, cross a little bridge, and drive from the bottom to the top of the other side. This was done with horse and wagon and was extremely laboreous and a mite dangerous.
Claude and I started at the lower end of the park just of I-64. We visited the Sandstone Visitor's Center. Got maps of the park and a couple of maps of further sites in the park we wanted to see. Then we drove to Sandstone Falls.
Then we went a little further north in the park to Grandview and visited 3 overlook sites there: Main Overlook, North Overlook and Turkey Spur Overlook. The Main and North Overlooks are both views of the same site.
The Turkey Spur Overlook is the most grueling to get to. You hike up 150 narrow, steep wooden steps to get to the top of an enormous rock.
On one side you view the same site seen at the Main and North Overlooks. One the other side of this huge rock you see a small old settlement with a train station in it. We also saw the cutest deer that just watched us. It was a doe and she would peek under the railing to be sure where we were.
Our final destination was the Canyon Rim Visitor's Center. We walked to the overlook at the top of the canyon and also the one in the visitor's center.
Then we drove the old road from the top of the canyon to the bottom, across a little old bridge, then back up the other side to the top and back over the New River Bridge. In the older days this road was dirt and one lane. Today they have paved it but it is still one way most of the time. We made a donation at the visitor's center and got a CD that narrates your drive along this road. You pause when you get to the pull-offs and restart when you restart your drive.
At the bottom of the gorge, we hiked across a lot of huge rocks to get to the waters edge.
I took pictures of the rafters going down the river at the little rapids and the old bridge we had cross to get over the river.
The New River Gorge Bridge is taller than the Washington Monument with 2 Statues of Liberty staked on top. It is the 2nd highest bridge in the United States. It is the longest steel arch in the world. There is a lot of hiking, rock climbing and rafting done in this park. It is just beautiful and a delightful place to visit.
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