NEW RIVER GORGE BRIDGE NATIONAL PARK - WV
Click here to visit this National Park's website. It includes stats of the bridge, directions, and more

In August 2009, I had work in West Virginia. On the way home, I took the New River Gorge Bridge tour. Starting in the visitor center on the north side of the bridge, I walked down the overlook built into the northern slope. This gives fantastic views of the bridge to the right, and down into the river on the left. (In one shot is the view looking up the steps that led to the lower portion of the overlook.) Leaving the outdoor overlook, I took a few shots from the visitor center. From there, I got the audio tour CD (free - donations accepted), and traveled the pre-bridge road by car. This route winds down the northern slope, crosses the original (restored) bridge at the bottom, then winds back up the southern slope. The road is paved and has many fantastically scenic optional stops along the way. If you ignore all these options, it is about a 45 minute trip to cross the gorge. (Using the 1977 bridge above takes about 45 seconds in comparison. That's an amazing accomplishment for travel, but there is SO much more to take in if you have the time.) If you not only stop at the scenic routes, but hike some of the trails offered along the way, it would be very easy to spend an entire day in this massive National Park. Given the length of travel I still had in front off me to get home, I skipped the hiking trails, but I did make a stop at each point along the way for photos.

The photos here are in order. They start with the visitor center overlook, then move onto the photo-ops from the visitor center building itself. Then onto the tour by car, stopping at each point for photos. In one of the photos, you can look up and just make out the constructed overlook where I began. The tour winds back and forth as it descends, giving intimate views of the massive nature of the bridge and its structure. It is very difficult to not have tremendous appreciation for the accomplishment of building this bridge. Once at the bottom, I snapped a few pics of rafters enjoying the river as well as some shots looking up at the massive bridge. On the way back up the southern side, there are a few gorgeous tucked away trails, decorated with waterfalls, streams and picturesque groups of trees as you enter. I just had to stop for photos, though I didn't have time to hike. On this tour, once you pass under the bridge the last time, there is an option to head off into an area where a few homes are being built. This leads you to another small walking trail to a great side-view vantage point. These are the last bunch of pics here where the (almost) full view of the bridge is clearly seen.

From that point, I was traveling straight home, but given how much time I spent at New River Gorge, I decided to sleep in Front Royal, VA where I visited Skyline Caverns in the morning.

Once you've viewed all 92 pictures here, click here for next album - 21 pics of Skyline Caverns in Front Royal, Virginia.