During 2021, I’ve visited New River Gorge National Park twice. Both were part of longer road trips with Teddy, one being in the spring and the other during the summer. On our first visit, we spent most of our day checking out the Canyon Rim Visitor Center and surrounding area and then traveling the Fayette Station Scenic Road. On our second visit, we wanted to do a bit more hiking to see the views of the gorge and bridge. Someone had told us the views at Diamond Point were awesome on the Endless Wall Trail, so we picked this trail thinking we’d be able to have great views of the bridge and the gorge on this trail.
While there are great views of the gorge, you don’t get to see the entire bridge on the trail. So while we were a bit disappointed initially when we realized this, we still enjoyed the beauty of the trail along the cliff. Next time, we plan to hike the Long Point Trail which gives both gorge and bridge views. If you want to explore other things to do in the National Park, you can check out my overview here.
Trail Info:
The trail is 2.3 miles from point to point. It’s not a loop trail, so if you want to go back to the start, you can either go the way you came, or walk along the road back to the parking lot.
Getting Here:
Either parking lot for the trail is not far from the Canyon Rim Visitor Center off of Route 19. The Fern Creek Trailhead is located 1.3 miles down Lansing-Edmond road, and the Nuttall Trailhead is a half mile further. If the first parking lot is busy, check out the second which seems to be a bit bigger and had spots when we arrived. I’d recommend getting here early just to make sure you get a spot.
Tips:
- The hike itself is easy to moderate with most of the way being pretty flat and easy to hike
- Do not park on the road if the parking lots are full as your car will be towed
- The hike is diverse in scenery as it leads through the forest, crosses the creek, meanders its way through the rhododendron bushes, and has expansive overlooks
- There are a few overlooks along the trail with the most well known at Diamond Point where you can see about 1000 feet into the gorge
- This trail is also used for climbing access to the sandstone cliffs so if you veer off at point point on one of the trails, you may see some ladders attached into the rock to help with the rock climbing
Other Adventures:
If you want to add this National Park to part of a longer trip, check out some of the other blog posts below for other stops within a few hours of New River Gorge.
- Ohio Pyle – 3 Hour Drive
- Shenandoah National Park – 2.5 Hour Drive
- Red River Gorge – 4 Hour Drive
- Virginia – 2 Hour Drive
- Pittsburgh – 3 Hour Drive
Happy travels!
