We left Cumberland Gap and drove into West Virginia to visit the newest US National Park, New River Gorge. We had considered giving it a pass to save some time, but so many people had mentioned it, we thought we’d better go take a look. From what we were told, it had been a state park, but the state wasn’t maintaining it and the National Park Service decided it was an area worth preserving, so they took control. The park isn’t very large, but they’re not making any money on it since they don’t charge an entrance fee, and the campgrounds are still free. Three of the five campgrounds have room for RVs, so we started at the one closest to the direction we were coming from, and found a great spot. The park, and the campground, are beautiful, set on the edge of the New River, with a trout-filled creek running down the hill and into the river right at the campground. When we got there, we took a walk on the trail that runs up the creek, and thought we’d probably stay the next day and hike a couple of the other trails in the area.
But, plans change. For one thing, it started raining sometime in the night, so the already wet and muddy trails were really a mess. The other thing that factored into our decision to leave the next morning was that we had one of the worst nights of sleep we’ve had on this trip. Sometime after 2AM, a car pulled into the campsite closest to us. The campsites are spread out and there are only five campsites on a fairly large loop, but this idiot pulled in and parked so his headlights were shining directly on the side of the camper. He then spent the next 45 minutes slamming car doors, honking the horn, setting off his car alarm, and generally banging around and making noise. We couldn’t really see what he was doing because he was behind the headlights that were shining directly on us, but in the morning all we saw was his car, a lawn chair, and a mess on the picnic table. All we can figure is that he came in drunk from fishing, made himself something to eat, and then passed out in his car. He wasn’t out of the car when we left the next morning after not getting any sleep since we didn’t know what he was doing, in addition to all the light and noise. We’ve had better nights’ sleep even at the dodgiest of Walmarts, so we gave up and headed for the capitol at Charleston.
But, plans change. For one thing, it started raining sometime in the night, so the already wet and muddy trails were really a mess. The other thing that factored into our decision to leave the next morning was that we had one of the worst nights of sleep we’ve had on this trip. Sometime after 2AM, a car pulled into the campsite closest to us. The campsites are spread out and there are only five campsites on a fairly large loop, but this idiot pulled in and parked so his headlights were shining directly on the side of the camper. He then spent the next 45 minutes slamming car doors, honking the horn, setting off his car alarm, and generally banging around and making noise. We couldn’t really see what he was doing because he was behind the headlights that were shining directly on us, but in the morning all we saw was his car, a lawn chair, and a mess on the picnic table. All we can figure is that he came in drunk from fishing, made himself something to eat, and then passed out in his car. He wasn’t out of the car when we left the next morning after not getting any sleep since we didn’t know what he was doing, in addition to all the light and noise. We’ve had better nights’ sleep even at the dodgiest of Walmarts, so we gave up and headed for the capitol at Charleston.
Glade Creek runs down the hill and into the New River.
The New River runs through this gorge. It looks wide and peaceful in this photo, but it is known with rafters and kayakers for its Class V rapids.
The park is so new they don’t even have one of the big National Park signs yet. I had to make do with this small campground sign.
The campsites are spacious and very clean. This one even had a pull through parking space.