New River Gorge, West Virginia

The New River Gorge area is formed by the New River and the Gauley River. They have cut a gorge that is over 1000 feet deep and are two of the foremost eastern White Water rivers. The map I have names the rapids on the Gauley, but notes that "only rapids of Class V or above are named". There are quite a few names. Unfortunately, I could not figure a way to get to any of the rapids on the Gauley. The best I could do was finding a waterfall at the edge of Gauley Bridge.


On the New River, I hope the story will be very different. I think it will. I have already found a good access to photograph and video one rapid.


The New River, while known for its white water, is also known to engineers because it is spanned by the one of the longest steel arch bridges. The bridge is 876 feet above the river. It doesn't just span the river, it also crosses ABOVE a small mountain on the southeast part of the bridge, terminating at the second mountain. According to Wikipedia, it is 3030 feet long, 1700 feet of which is the arch.
That is a four lane divided highway up there, and I am only 1/3 of the way down into the gorge!


On the west side of the gorge, I found an appealing trail.

I'm not up to any hiking today but I will be here for 5 more days...