New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

We left Restrite campground and drove 250 S. Not long after getting on 250 S we came across a detour because the road was flooded. It took us down a narrow road with water and debris all over it. We were squeezing by folks going the other way. One got close enough to rub mirrors. Because of all the rain that went through, we called back to Bear Creek campground and found that they had evacuated the campers next to the creek as the water came up. They were calling for snow in the mountains so we were glad to be heading to lower ground. We cut across and took some bigger roads.

We stopped at the visitor center for the New River Gorge NP. We did the walk to the bridge overlook and then we drove across the bridge. We set up camp at Little Beaver SP and took a hike around their lake. They have a pretty spillway at the bottom. Then we drove over to the New River Gorge NP Sandstone Area. We saw the Sandstone Falls overlook which is really cool as the falls is across the whole river. We stopped at the Brooks overlook and the historic town of Hinton by the river. Got some snow overnight.

Thursday we headed over the park again at the Grandview area. We saw the Grandview overlook and then hiked the Castle Rock trail. From there we headed to the Thurmond Historic District. There is a bunch of old buildings there to look at plus the bonus of a few waterfalls along the drive. We had a couple of trains come through while we were there. From there we headed to Babcock SP where we hiked the Island in the Sky trail, saw the natural arch, gristmill, and lake. We then took the Scenic Drive from Lansing down the gorge under the big bridge across the river and up the other side. More waterfalls. Snow falling most of the day.

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