If you can’t stare down an 851-foot drop from a 24-inch catwalk, then the New River Gorge Bridge Walk is not the activity for you. But for everyone else, West Virginia’s newest attraction is a high-flying thrill, an inch-by-inch saunter along a 3,030-foot span.
While we were suspended just below the rumbling road, mist choked the walkway, curling around rust-colored beams and obscuring the distant end that might have been comforting if visible. The river, unnervingly far below, squeezed through the gorge, carrying rafters and kayakers with it. We moved our tethers along an overhead wire, pointing cameras down for the shot that might perfectly capture the moment.
The New River Gorge Bridge is the area’s ubiquitous reference point. Hiking and biking trails, river runs, old coal towns long past their glory days — all are connected and framed by the river and its definitive bridge. Less than half a mile away, Adventures on the Gorge (AOTG) offers a basecamp for exploring this lush region of southern West Virginia, which until now has remained largely under the tourist radar.
On the New River Gorge Bridge Walk, thrill seekers are suspended 851 feet above the river below.
Credit: 2021 Christine Loomis
Spread across 350 acres on the gorge rim, AOTG’s 115 basic-to-luxe cabins, plus RV and tent sites, are tucked among trees where birdsong and squirrel rustling are the dominant sounds. My two-bedroom Outback Cabin came with a kitchen, washer and dryer and never-failing Wi-Fi among its amenities. There was a TV, but raw nature and a sweet hot tub just outside rendered it irrelevant. Although West Virginia has ended mask mandates (and AOTG follows state guidelines), many guests and indoor staff wore them.
Also on property are two restaurants, a wedding deck, pool, conference center, challenge course, zip lines, disc golf course, hiking trails and stunning views across the gorge. But it’s the AOTG staff who are arguably its greatest assets — men and women of all ages from all corners of the country who are passionate about sharing southern West Virginia’s disparate stories.
The newest of those stories is New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, signed into law as a national park Dec. 28, 2020. AOTG sits at its edge, giving guests easy access to adventures both at the resort and inside the park.
Bridge Walk was cool, but hiking the gorge envelopes you in its forests, allowing visitors to experience it not from a distance, but intimately and personally. Long Point Trail within the park is just 1.6 miles and rated as moderate; only the last 0.2 miles of the dirt trail are steep. The reward is Long Point itself, a boulder-strewn lookout with sweeping panoramas. Forget guardrails or other barriers between you and the 1,000-foot drop; there are none.
Rustic cabins are just one of several accommodation options available at Adventures on the Gorge.
Credit: 2021 Christine LoomisMy favorite park hike was Endless Wall Trail, booked with AOTG guide Mary Arritt, who at 31 was already in her 11th season guiding. Named for the no-end-in-sight rock wall running just below the canyon rim, its beauty was less in panoramas — though there are many — and more in humpy wood bridges across Fern Creek, and in the mushrooms, hemlock, sassafras and witch hazel pointed out by Arritt. Particularly striking were the leafy expanses of Catawba Rhododendron, dripping in deep pink blossoms at peak bloom in mid-May. How many photos of shockingly pink blossoms is too many? I’m not the one to ask.
There’s no leaving New River Gorge without getting on the water to rock and roll through the riffles and waves in a raft or kayak. Thirty years ago, I took to an inflatable kayak — aka rubber ducky — and paddled down the Upper New River while five-and-a-half-months pregnant (with my doctor’s blessing, of course). That’s the family-friendly stretch of river where kids as young as 6 can discover the secrets of a river — its eddies, holes, bends and rocks to leap from; its satisfying lunches served by guides on upside-down kayaks along a sun-warmed bank; the history of communities that rose along the river, thrived and mostly disappeared.
I knew how to paddle, but the aptly named Surprise Rapid still got me.
This time around, I could have chosen the more intense Lower New River, with its multiple thrills, but I wanted to go back through Class III Surprise and not succumb to its treachery.
I did stay dry, but that wasn’t really the point. Mostly, I reveled in the lulling rhythm of the river, the banter of AOTG guides Guido and Double D. A bald eagle soared above us, and a coal train chugged past, a reminder that this is still coal country. Through the day, the sound of the river coursing through the gorge is a sort of natural metronome, setting the beat of life to its intoxicating tempo, even for just a few hours. That alone is reason enough to come back.
The Details
Adventures on the Gorge
