Fayetteville, WV–New River Gorge National River

October 7 – 13, I went to Fayetteville, West Virginia.  I stayed at the Riftrafters campground just a few miles from the New River.

The day I got there, I headed to the visitor center and walked to a viewpoint of the bridge.  It was a bit foggy!

The New River Bridge is the worlds largest single arch steel span bridge and in America is the 2nd highest bridge at 876 feet above the river.

I only hiked short hikes since my foot was still bothering me.  My favorite was the Endless Wall trail in the New River Gorge National River park. 

The trail was a fun easy trail and the view from the Diamond Point Overlook was great.  I sat for a short break and enjoyed my apple and the view!

A couple of mornings I drove to Badcock State Park to see the grist mill.

 

I learned that West Virginia has some funky backroads.  On some of these roads they only paved 1 – 1.5 lanes even though the traffic was 2 way.  If you met somebody both cars needed to pull over a bit, in most cases while still moving.  I guess it saved money because these roads are not used much and I didn’t pass much traffic but in some cases the roads were so windy that you could not see cars coming around the curves.  A bit dangerous but beautiful.  I drove on one of these roads on my way to Buck Creek Falls. In this case there was not much room to pull over if you met somebody coming the other direction.

The falls were beautiful!

After visiting the falls, I drove the scenic way back to the campground and stopped at the Grandview area of the New River Gorge park

Of course, I had to find the biking in the area.  So I went to the Greenbrier River Trail.  I had planned on going to one area and ride 10 miles one way and turn around to make a nice 20 mile trip.

Well ----

My plans changed pretty quickly.  I did watch one guy go around/thru this.  But I decided it wasn’t worth it.   So I turned around after just a few miles, but then I went to another part of the trail which was really neat! 

This part of the trail had some great old railroad bridges.  These bridges were built in the 1920’s.

And it had tunnels -

The picture below was taken on the other side of tunnel.  Its a bit hard to see, but this picture was taken on a bridge and at the far end is the tunnel.  (2 bikers stopped to take pictures)

On my way to and from this trail I went through a beautiful valley with more skinny roads.  On the way I passed this old church or school building. 

I also biked a trail that was in the New River Gorge National River park, the Southside trail.  I didn’t go far as it was more of a walking trail than a biking trail.  While I enjoy biking on dirt trails I like the ones that are not too bumpy and muddy!  If I were to do this trail again, I would walk it not bike it.