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Geo_Boy
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2022

New River Gorge NP

We are just finishing up a visit to the newest national park, in West Virginia, and it is interesting. The small town of Fayetteville is charming with some nice eateries. There are several outfitters in the area, for whitewater and hiking/climbing.
We found a great campground, Rifrafter’s in Fayetteville, that is small, clean, quiet, affordable and can accommodate anything from a tent to class A motor home.
  • We were in the area last year. The new NP is amazing. We did the drive down to the old bridge that was used to cross the gorge. We stayed in Summersville at Mountain Lake Canpground. While decent, there are definitely better in the area!
  • I went 2 years ago for the bridge jump deal and it got cancelled by covid. Spent a week there and camp ground was right at the bridge. That is quite a structure.
  • We also did the bridge walk. Very cool.
    The entire area is an untapped gem for outdoor activities!
  • dodge guy wrote:
    We were in the area last year. The new NP is amazing. We did the drive down to the old bridge that was used to cross the gorge. We stayed in Summersville at Mountain Lake Canpground. While decent, there are definitely better in the area!

    Kevin, I took that same drive with my AF 990 TC, it was tight in places;), we also did the bridge walk and it was wow!
  • Geo*Boy wrote:
    We are just finishing up a visit to the newest national park, in West Virginia, and it is interesting. The small town of Fayetteville is charming with some nice eateries. There are several outfitters in the area, for whitewater and hiking/climbing.
    We found a great campground, Rifrafter’s in Fayetteville, that is small, clean, quiet, affordable and can accommodate anything from a tent to class A motor home.


    Stayed at RifRafters a couple of weeks ago. We really enjoyed that campground, nice small and quiet. The owners are very friendly. They do strictly enforce their $10 per hour early check in fee. I asked tham about it and they said they had to because people kept coming earlier and earlier and they needed time to check and clean the sites before new campers came in.

    The National park was really nice but we didn't have enough time to explore the entire park. We went to the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, looked at the bridge and the views there, then drove the Fayette Station Road (excellent) and stopped to hike the Kaymoor Trail.

    We would have loved to explore the other visitor centers and visit Thurmond but we were finshing a 4 week trip from Florida up to Massachusetts and return.
  • Geo*Boy wrote:
    dodge guy wrote:
    We were in the area last year. The new NP is amazing. We did the drive down to the old bridge that was used to cross the gorge. We stayed in Summersville at Mountain Lake Canpground. While decent, there are definitely better in the area!

    Kevin, I took that same drive with my AF 990 TC, it was tight in places;), we also did the bridge walk and it was wow!


    We also did the bridge walk. BTW, don’t take Midland trail through the Gauley Bridge area. Especially if you are in a 37ft class A towing a car! I thought I looked the route over real good, guess I missed the curves hiding in the trees! LOL
  • Babcock State Park is about 20 miles from the New River Gorge National Park. A campground with electric only first come sites (bathrooms with showers) and a very pretty grist mill: