Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, and if you have good for you for keeping that sweet quarantine going because the world is a crazy place.
But if you haven’t you probably know that the New River Gorge National River just became the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, our nation’s 63rd National Park.
What does the designation mean for West Virginia and the Gorge? The jury is still out, but I pray that everyone in their right minds will keep it from becoming Pigeon Gorge. What we do know is that on average an NPS designation has meant for new parks at least a 20 percent increase in visitors. So they are coming. Translation for hikers – you might want to find a trail that does have the words – Long Point or Endless Wall on their signs, on the weekends.
So what do we all do now? As I promised when our Dave Trippin’ crew moved back home 20 years ago from outside Nashville, I’ve made it a mission to treat our beautiful slice of Appalachia like a tourist and carve out plenty of time to explore the wonders here at home. And certainly that is what I plan to continue to do in the Gorge.
Although I have walked the line of that ribbon-thin catwalk that sits at 851 feet about 25 feet below the NRG bridge, and have flown through the Gorge a number of times, I feel like the best way to regularly experience the Gorge is whitewater rafting through the river rock gardens below looking up in all at the majesty of those sandstone cliffs and the rich WV mine town history hiding in the forest canopies along the way.
I am so old that I’ve been going on commercial whitewater rafting trips in the Lower New and the Gauley since the late 1980s. And so lazy that in spite of “the look” and a life-long love of paddling, I’ll never be a raft guide but will graciously be a perpetual and grateful guest in awe of some of the most amazing but underpaid professional athletes also disguised as a stand-up comic/historian/cat-herder and if &^%$ goes south – a wilderness medicine EMT.
I first rode the Lower New in 1987. It was then that my Irish twin sister Jen took an “outdoors survival class” at Ohio University Southern. This was the days before “Survivor” and so the final was just a raucous weekend of whitewater rafting and beer drinking at the trailer-housed rafting company, Whitewater Information, and, of course, a stop at The Mystery Hole, and a plane ride with the quirky late, great pilot Frank Thomas named “Five Dollar Frank” because he had to make some emergency highway landings after running low of fuel. We survived, and my younger sister, Cathy and I vowed to try and go with every whitewater rafting company in the Gorge.
In the years since, I have made dozens of trips to the Gorge to run the New and Gauley, with a who’s who of some now long-gone whitewater companies (Rivers, Rivermen, Appalachian Wildwaters, Songer, Mountain River Tours, WV Rafting) and, of course, with the larger companies ACE and Adventures on the Gorge which bought up a lot of those companies and licenses and who have done the hard work diversifying and building up the deep and wide tourism industry in the Gorge. And who’ve kept adding to a world-class experience in spite of the general wane of the rafting industry.
Why You’ve Got to Do It
Having been on the river with literally dozens and dozens of my friends with grins so wide they enjoyed a free New River water sample, I can testify that it is about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on – which is a good time for a commercial break for floating sunglass straps and to say don’t wear flip flops on the river and secure your shorts. The river wild does taketh away.
I always tell people that the Lower New and the world-famous Gauley (100 rapids in 26 miles) is our DisneyWorld. And it is true. My neighbor and I recently took our soon-to-be-graduating sons on a rafting trip and met fellow rafters and outdoor lovers from California, Florida, and New York. All here for the first time, coming to see what this new NPS site is all about.
We can’t let the Floridians have all the fun, so you owe it to yourself if you’re a West Virginian, or Appalachian, to carve out some time to come gawk at the Gorge, the world’s second oldest north flowing river (next to the Nile). And to spend a fun and carefree day the Huck Finn way – jumping off high rocks, and floating a river wild.
Who Can Ride the River?
I think sometimes we paint whitewater rafting in too extreme of a picture. Sure, your friendly, neighborhood video boater will have your rapid-riding video pumping to Morbid Angel or some other hardcore metal music, but the most dangerous part of any whitewater weekend will be the trip in your automobile to and from the Gorge.
Folks as young as six can ride the Upper New which typically floats the really fun but not dangerous wave trains that roll to Cunard from the historic town of Thurmond. Note that kids are not encouraged to get out across the river from Thurmond and re-enact the world’s longest poker game in homage to the Dun Glen Hotel. Although you can certainly do that on your own time.
Anyone 12 and up can ride the famed rapids of the Lower New like Double Z, Greyhound and Miller’s Folly. The bonus on the Lower New is that the take-out is after Fayetteville Station rapid, and that bank is the landing spot for the BASE jumpers for Bridge Day. So you take out right before the world famous New River Gorge Bridge, which is 876-feet high, America’s second highest vehicle bridge. Note that if you go with AOTG, they own a take out spot beyond the bridge so they are the only company that runs under the bridge. You can find out more about Bridge Day here https://officialbridgeday.com
Have Your Stay Your Way
So pretty much anyone six to 96 can go on the New River and whether you like cabins, glamping or camping, you can have it your way on land.
If you want a resort style experience definitely ACE Adventure Center (www.aceraft.com) or Adventures on the Gorge (www.onthegorge.com)is the way to go. AOTG has a mile-long list of amenities including the TreeTops Canopy Course, Gravity Ziplines, TimberTrek Adventure Park, a massive pool with a deck view of the bridge, 116 cabins, a bar, rock climbing, a restaurant and much more. It’s in Lansing right north of the bridge and a stone’s throw from Fayetteville.
On the southern end of the Gorge, in Minden, is the sprawling 1,500-acre ACE Adventure Resort. One of America’s largest private outdoors resorts, ACE is well, all aces, with its center-piece five-acre spring-fed lake attraction, Wonderland Waterpark, as well as ziplines (on the lip of the Gorge), rock climbing, ATV tours, paintball, mountain biking, all to compliment the full array of water adventures from rafting to guided fishing trips. ACE also is home to one of West Virginia’s largest music festivals, the Mountain Music Festival, June 3-5 with more than 25 national and regional acts, not to mention a full calendar of live music at the Lost Paddle Lounge, regular events at Wonderland Waterpark as well as races on their trail system.
Saving Money on Trips
If you want to go economical, and are just interested in hitting the river, you can also try one of the smaller family-owned rafting companies like New and Gauley River Adventures, Alpine Ministries (specializing in youth groups), River Expeditions, West Virginia Adventures, and Cantrell’s (https://cantrellultimaterafting.com/). I was just pricing it and they are about $30 per person cheaper for running the New so a great choice if you’re looking for a bargain. They also have cabins though, a bar and are a stone’s throw from Fayetteville, and just down the road from Arrowhead Bike Farm and Campground https://arrowheadbikefarm.com/
Go online at https://www.nps.gov/neri/planyourvisit/whitewater_commercial.htm to get links to all of the outfitters.
And, if you can, go on any day that is NOT SATURDAY you can save a lot of money no matter which company you go with.
Exploring The Gorge off The River
Off the River, there’s a bunch of unique places to dine in Fayetteville and beyond – places like Cathedral Café, the original Pies and Pints, The Burrito Bar at Breeze Hill, the new Pink Pig, and breweries such as Bridge Brew Works, the new FreeFolk Brewery, and a little further south, one of WV’s standout farmhouse breweries, Weathered Ground.
Whenever you go, and whatever you do – make sure you go to see the Gorge whether it is Bridge Day (Oct. 16) watching folks get catapulted off the bridge, or a hike out to Grandview, or even for those pressed for time, the short walk down to the overlook at the NPS’s Canyon Rim welcome center. https://www.nps.gov/neri/planyourvisit/crvc.htm
Whatever you end up doing, if you have a chance, be sure and grab a NPS map and get out off the beaten path on some of the country roads leading in and out of the Gorge, like the always eye-popping and waterfall-laden Midland Trail that you can take from Charleston to Hico (near the New River Gorge Bridge) https://newrivergorgecvb.com/rt-60-road-trip/
For all of us who have been going to the Gorge for a while, this moment in time with NRG becoming a National Park is equal parts epic, scary and exciting. As an employee of the West Virginia Development Office and long-time regional travel writer and advocate trying to rep for what I think is one of America’s coolest states, I for one am excited to see the priceless, endless media wall of free publicity that has been occurring with beautiful panoramic shots from the Gorge and all the cool spots that show the majesty of our mountains and rivers.
The tourists are coming. Let’s welcome them with open arms and our trademark West Virginia friendliness. And since WV has lost more people than any other state in the past decade, we might want to ask a some of those folks who really get West Virginia’s laidback vibe to stay.
Start exploring The Gorge now through these websites. The National Park Service at https://www.nps.gov/neri/index.htm
The New River Gorge CVB at https://newrivergorgecvb.com/
Visit Southern West Virginia at https://visitwv.com/
The West Virginia Tourism Office at https://wvtourism.com/
