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!

Excellent Hike, this trail and the Long Point Trail were awesome. This is a trail that with a…read morepermit rock climbers use. There are a lot of drop offs, be careful with kids.

This shaded forest trail is like A/C on a hot day. A good workout and nice views of the river at…read morethe top.

Very beautiful falls about 1hour and 30 minutes from Fayetteville, WV. But worth the drive. Decent…read moreparking available. Unless you are planning to do trail or jump in water, enjoying the falls shouldn't take more than 30 mins. A short video to see what kind of falls are those - Sandstone Falls | New River Gorge National Park | waterfall | West Virginia https://youtube.com/shorts/rmWsuQsRkjQ?feature=share

I highly recommend visiting Sandstone Falls if you are in the area. It has a handicapped accessible…read moreboardwalk trail and also an optional trail that while slightly rocky, is doable for most people. It's also pet friendly. Beautiful views of the New River.

Walking directly "under" the bridge. A first for me! Kinda scary when I stared looking down, but…read moreI think I held it together pretty good. It took about half an hour to get our harnesses on and get shuttled to the bridge walk site. We spent about an hour walking the bridge one way and the shuttle picked us up at the opposite end. Our guide was Pete and he was full of bridge knowledge. He snapped a photo for us too. Most importantly, I also felt safe the entire time. The tour runs rain or shine. No refunds. We got lucky and it was clear skies (a little windy) for our 9:30am tour, but the 11am definitely got a bit wet later that day. Definitely a check off the bucket list while you're at New River Gorge NP!

What an adventure! And an amazing walk across the catwalk under the bridge! Sarah was an excellent…read moreguide and was full of information about the history of the Bridge. I would not hesitate to do this again! I felt safe and the experience was unforgettable!

Beautiful views and waterfall. Highly recommend. Easy walk on the board walk with some sitting…read moreareas.

Leaving Hinton, WV on Rt 20, it climbs up the mountain side part of the Sandstone Mountains along…read morethe New River. Going up the mountainside there are two areas where you can pull over and view the lovely New River below. There is not a lot of room to pull over made three cars could fit, but not much more. I could not make out the Sandstone Falls below but the views were amazing!!!

Close to the Grandview area of New River Gorge and Beckley, this adorable little park was a great…read morestop to take a lakeside stroll to stretch my legs on a road trip day! The lake was really pretty and the dam had some water flowing over the spillway, which added to the peaceful ambiance. You could easily have a picnic here or rent a boat and paddle around or even hike or bike trails, like the Billy Goat's Gruff Trail, which may be the best name for a trail ever.

Absolute worst camping experience of my entire life. The people running this place had the nerve to…read morecall me literally the morning of my reservation and tell me my reservation was not being honored, the last thing I want to hear when out of state and hundreds of miles away from home while on a trip I spent countless hours preparing for. Total bullshit. Ruined my whole day and tainted my visit to West Virginia and New River Gorge. Don't bother camping here unless you want to be moved to a shitty site with more noise and less privacy that you didn't pay for and don't want. I spent a considerable amount of time researching third-party websites for views and reviews of specific sites before booking. They granted me the indignity of having to camp literally right next to the one I paid for and reserved in advance while someone else camped in the site I booked and was looking forward to. They claim they overbooked, but it was a different site than mine and on a previous day - making it entirely irrelevant to my reserved site the day of - they just couldn't be bothered to ask the person in my reserved site to move now that others were opened. Instead of asking the double-booked person to move to the one I was given, they made it my problem. Extremely unprofessional and just plain wrong. It's ridiculous that they even have a system which supposedly allows for double-booking in the first place. I never would have booked the site they replaced mine with. I checked out the site but never checked in (the RV people were right on the other side of the trees behind my site, something I had intentionally tried to avoid), ended up camping for free at Grandview Sandbar Campground instead. If I wanted that site I would have reserved it, but I didn't and would not have. Completely defeats the purpose of making a reservation if they aren't going to honor it. Little Beaver State Park Campground is run by incompetent and inconsiderate people. Flawed booking system and inept individuals ruining a public institution. Total joke, shame on them. "We hope you don't mind". Damn right I mind, you took my money for a reservation you didn't keep! I hated my non-stay with a passion and will never be back.

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.

An amazing set of Falls. See the Lower falls if you can…read more This is one of the best sights along the entire drive. There are 3 different sights to see at this stop. There are upper, middle and lower falls. Let's start at the beginning. There is a parking lot for about 30 cars directly off the road. There is a set of restrooms in the parking lot across from the trailhead. The trailhead has a solid pathway of switchbacks that leads to an observation point to the upper falls viewpoint. For people that want to shortcut the windy path, there is a straighter trail that goes directly down the hill to the first viewpoint. From there, there is a boardwalk with lots of steps that leads down the a bridge that crosses the river. Then more boardwalk and a steel set of stair to two platforms to view the middle falls. More boardwalk along the river and a large wooden stair platform leads to the lower falls. If you get a chance, you should see all three as each is unique and all are beautiful as much as the walk is enjoyable. Just remember, walking down is easy and you have to walk back up to return to the parking lot. Well worth the walk. Enjoy.

This was an unexpected find on my trip to WV. The trail was nice, if a little strenuous for this…read morefatman, and the water falls (plural) were lovely. It is a well developed trail with lots of stairs, including an actual stairwell to get you to the bottom of the falls. If you are mobile and in the area you should visit, just give yourself some time on the hike back if your a big person like myself.

We took a family vacay to New River Gorge National Park in August and we love chasing waterfalls,…read moreso we went looking for Butcher Branch Falls located on the Butcher Branch trail. When you go to the visitor center, NPS has a list of all the waterfalls in and around the area. To access these falls, you have to start from the Kaymoor Top trailhead to get to the Butcher Branch trail. - Parking - There is ample parking, 2 lots next to each other. Trail details: According to the All Trails app, the trail is about 1.3 miles out and back. The trail is well shaded and lots of trees. I suggest bug spray however. There are quite a few switchbacks. There are some spots where it will split into the Butcher Branch Trail and the climbing access. There is also an orange board to carry anyone out, but hopefully you or any of your people will not need to use that, but remember where it is, just in case. It had been raining off and on during our stay in the area, so the falls were flowing nicely. Great exercise and just a good time and reconnecting with Mother Nature. Tip: Download the NPS app and there are clear instructions on how to get there. Get outside and enjoy (and stay safe)!

Tony Vanoy and I went hiking today at Cascade Falls in Pembroke, VA. Started out really great, we…read morethought it was 1.5 or 2 mile loop hike but OMG it turned out to be 5.57 miles roundtrip!! It cost a $3 per car to park and if you have America the Beautiful Card its free!! It was a beautiful day, but it was so long and so many stairs!! Over 1,000 stairs!!

The provenance of this site is somewhat unclear, but I think it falls under the federal government…read moreand putting up my national parks pass was successful in getting me through a visit without paying any additional parking fee. The main falls are two miles uphill from the parking lot, but the entire journey is a series of eminently worthwhile sights and sounds. Signs warned of challenging currents for anyone taking a dip in the water, which some people did. I would note that when I arrived a rescue operation was underway and emergency services did drive someone by me with what thankfully appeared okay. There are trails on one elevated bank and one closer to the water, as well as some offshoots and extensions. It's a great stretch of forest where you could easily spend more time than the couple of hours I did.