Wilderness Wandering

October 17, 2024

NRG is the newest national park. And despite the name, the New River is the oldest river in the western hemisphere. Interestingly, the New River, like the oldest river in the world, the Nile River, runs south to north. 

New River Gorge was named a national park in 2020 to preserve the spectacular features and recreational opportunities of the New River Gorge. Boating, climbing, hiking and mountain biking are popular activities. 

We arrived at The Sandstone VC. We got trail maps, watched the park movie and stamped the passport. 

We ate lunch in the van and showed two couples our set up. One couple was from Kenosha. 

We drove 20 miles to The Sandstone Falls Boardwalk, that offered great views of the falls.  The drive was very colorful. We enjoyed the easy 1 mile walk that was half boardwalk. We drove to the gorgeous Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park. The mill has the most amazing setting! The Almost Heaven Swing was fun too! 

It was time to find our  campground home for this park – Bear Mountain Campground, which is not in the national park.  New River Gorge has a small campground and the largest one day extreme sporting event in the world, Bridge Day, is happening while we are here. So the campground was completely reserved months ago. 

We drove over the New River Gorge Bridge to get to our campground.  I’m excited to see more of it tomorrow.  We had a light dinner and the best s’mores ever around our campfire. 

October 18, 2024

Another chilly morning. We started the day on the Long Point Trail – a moderate 3.2 mile hike to an overlook of the New River. The trail was in great shape with a carpet of leaves and tree roots. The trail was lined with rhododendrons.  It would be gorgeous in spring!

On the way to the trail we had noticed a business called The Bike Farm. We stopped back after the hike. It was a very cool place. We told them that we have a friend with a YouTube channel called The Bike Farmer. The owner responded that he calls his mechanics bike farmers. They sell new bikes, rent ebikes, offer guided mountain bike rides, and have a camping area and small restaurant. Had we known about The Bike Farm earlier, we would have stayed there!

Our other hike for the day was The Endless Wall Trail, 4.8 miles and pretty easy. 

We saw climbers practicing for Bridge Day and there is a short detour that lead to a miner’s ladder bolted to the canyon wall. 

We took a break from hiking and drove the 8 mile Fayette Station Road Tour. It is a narrow, windy road that before the new New River Gorge Bridge opened in 1977, was the route people had to take to cross the river. The drive was beautiful. I read that the Fayette Station Bridge route to 45 minutes then for what takes 45 seconds now on the New River Bridge. 

Our last activity for the day was a Bridge Walk tour. We boarded a van and drove to the National Park Visitor Center and walked to the bridge.  We went through a locked gate and climbed onto the catwalk on the under side of the bridge. Our guide cabled us onto guidelines, so it was almost impossible for us to fall. We spent the next hour and a half walking under the bridge and enjoying amazing views. 

Homeland Security had been there earlier in the day to make sure things were safe for Bridge Day the next day. We could also see where the rappelling teams had their stations marked out. It was amazing how much vibration there was under the bridge. The guide explained that all that “give” Is a good thing. If it was too stiff, the bridge could be susceptible to cracking. 

October 19, 2024

We were up early for our last day at New River Gorge. Today is Bridge Day. We set out for the Fayetteville, WV Walmart to catch the shuttle to the bridge. Highway 19 is a four lane Interstate Highway that cuts across West Virginia. The New River Bridge is part of Hwy 19 and was completed in 1977. 2024 was the 45th Bridge Day. They completely shut the bridge down from 7 AM to 5 PM for BASE jumpers! BASE jumping is jumping from buildings, antennas, spans (bridges) and earth (mountains, cliffs, etc).

Spectators can walk on the bridge and watch the jumpers and rappelers. 

Average Bridge Day attendance is over 100,000 people. Around 400 people BASE jump. 

The New River Bridge is 3030 feet long and 876 feet above the river. It’s the longest steel span bridge in the Western Hemisphere. 

We arrived and parked and got in line for the shuttle.  

There were 150 people in line in front of us. We made it onto the 3rd school bus to the bridge. When we got off the bus at the base of the bridge, it was like a carnival with vendors selling Bridge Day paraphernalia, funnel cakes, cheese fries, doughnuts, etc.  We walked with the throngs of people onto the bridge. We had been told that there would be someone jumping from the bridge every 20 seconds from 9 AM to 3 PM. We looked over the side of the bridge and could see parachutes below. They place a target on a small beach below the bridge that the jumpers aim for, but if they miss their mark and land in the river, there are boats there to help them. 

We made our way to the middle of the bridge where the jumping platform was. Eventually we got a front row spot. We had a blast watching these people leap off a perfectly good bridge. There are requirements to be able to participate in Bridge Day BASE jumping. It can’t be your first time unless you’re doing a tandem jump. To do a tandem jump, you had to be less than 170 pounds and pay $1700.00. We decided to pass. The National Guard sponsored a catapult, so you could be launched off the bridge instead of jumping. It was so much fun to watch!

We could have watched all day, but decided to head back to the van and make our way towards our next park, Congaree NP in South Carolina. When we arrived back to the Walmart parking lot around 11:45 AM there were still at least 1000 in line to go to the event. It was really quite a thrill to witness this extreme sport event!