Must Do New River Gorge Hiking Trails: Don’t Miss These! (with images)
West Virginia is known for a lot of things, including their gorgeous hiking trails. But in our nation’s newest national park, there are over 100 miles of hiking trails to choose from! And while this post could never include all of these trails, I’ve put together a list of 6 New River Gorge hiking trails you just can’t miss!
On these trails within the New River Gorge National Park you’ll find amazing views, diverse geology, waterfalls and even what remains of an old miners town. While there is plenty to do in New River Gorge National Park that requires no hiking at all, there are also some amazing trails.
These 6 New River Gorge hiking trails are ones that you can’t miss if you are visiting. Let’s start with the easiest trails and work our way to some more challenging trails.
Important Links
New River Gorge National Park website
Must see Locations for Amazing New River Gorge Photos
New River Gorge Tours you MUST do!
Fees
Let’s cut right to the chase and discuss money. New River Gorge National Park is one of just a few national parks that doesn’t charge for you to enter and enjoy. So if you are on a budget, this is a great place to come visit!
Location
New River Gorge National Park is located in southern West Virginia, just an hour or so from the state capital of Charleston. But if you aren’t from the state capital, getting to New River Gorge can be a bit of a hike (pun intended).
As you can see, our 63rd national park is 4 hours east of Columbus, OH, 4 hours south of Pittsburgh, PA, 4 hours northeast of Knoxville, TN and 4 hours west of Richmond, VA. So you will probably have to plan on spending the night somewhere to take a New River Gorge Hiking Trip.
But First, The Visitors Center
As with any national park, you will probably want to start at a visitor center. In this case, the Canyon Rim Visitor Center is going to be a great place to start. You can ask questions, grab a map and even get a quick look at the famous New River Gorge Bridge from here.
BONUS TRAIL: start at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center and follow the signs to the bridge. You can either choose to view the bridge from the initial platform, or you can descend the 178 stairs down to the lower platform. This “trail” is 0.4 miles round trip but gives you an up close and personal view of the famous bridge.
Word of Caution
One final quick thing before you dive into the trails. There is very little phone service throughout the park, especially the southern part of the park.
It is recommended that you have a physical map, and a downloaded map to use for this park. You don’t want to get lost in the hills of West Virginia!
The List of Trails
The New River Gorge hiking trails that you can’t miss are listed below with some basic information. I’ll go into greater detail in a moment. But first let’s see the list!
- Long Point Trail (3 miles / 344 Feet of Elevation Gain / Easy)
- Sandstone Falls Boardwalk Trail (1 mile / 22 Feet of Elevation Gain / Easy)
- Endless Wall Trail (Diamond Point) (3.2 miles / 320 Feet of Elevation Gain / Moderate)
- Castle Rock Trail (1.1 miles / 170 Feet of Elevation Gain / Moderate)
- Grandview Rim Trail to Turkey Spur (3.1 miles / 255 Feet of Elevation Gain / Moderate)
- Kaymoor Miners Trail (1.5 miles / 951 Feet of Elevation Gain / Hard)
Most of these trails are pretty mild, even the moderate ones are fairly easy. The only one that is truly a challenge is the Kaymoor Miners Trail, as this trail is short and steep, making it feel much worse than it appears on paper.
But let’s get into what you should expect when you hike these trails (with some photos of why you should hike them!)
What to Expect
This list of 6 New River Gorge hiking trails are not to be missed! And while this isn’t even remotely close to an all-inclusive list, it will get you started at seeing the highlights.
Long Point Trail (Easy)
First up is one of the best trails in the whole park. The Long Point Trail is a quick 3 mile hike, that leads you to a stunning point within the gorge. This point is surrounded by cliffs, so watch your step!
You’ll start from the Long Point Trailhead and follow the well-marked signs along the way. The trail is nearly all downhill to get out to the Long Point, which unfortunately means you will gain nearly all of your elevation on the way back to the parking lot.
Once you reach the point, you’ll be able to see a gorgeous and uninterrupted view of the New River Gorge Bridge. However, be aware that this is a very popular hike! You’ll want to start early on this hike so you can beat the crowds.
Sandstone Falls Boardwalk Trail (Easy)
This next installment of our New River Gorge hiking trails you can’t miss is the Sandstone Falls Boardwalk. This super easy and flat hike is more of a walk to explore and see parts of the Sandstone Falls area of the park.
The Sandstone Falls area is at the far south end of New River Gorge National park, so you’ll have to drive quite a ways to get here. But the waterfall and it’s surrounding mountains are beautiful and worth the drive if you are visiting the park.
The trail is easy to follow and you’ll get some beautiful views of the river-width waterfalls here.
Endless Wall Trail out to Diamond Point (Moderate)
Now we’re getting into the moderate section of our New River Gorge hiking trails list.
You’ll have to head back to the north end of the park for this one, and it’s a great trail for seeing more of the cliff walls along the gorge. You also get a gorgeous view of the New River from Diamond Point.
The trailhead has very limited parking, so make sure you do this trail early, or in the afternoon when the crowds start to leave. Once you begin on this trail, you’re essentially following the edge of the gorge until you reach Diamond Point.
The Endless Wall Trail can be done as a loop, or as an out and back to Diamond Point. The loop will have you walking on the road after you leave the trail, so I recommend doing this trail as an out and back.
Castle Rock Trail (Moderate)
As you move towards the Grandview area of the park (middle area) you will have the opportunity to hike the Castle Rock Trail.
The Castle Rock Trail will allow you to channel your inner geologist as you walk along cliff walls that stretch hundreds of feet above you. This trail is fairly short but it has some challenging sections of rocky trails. You’ll also get some cool views out over the gorge.
There are several other trails in this area that didn’t make the list, like the Tunnel Trail, but the highlight of that area is the Grandview Rim Trail to the Turkey Spur.
Grandview Rim Trail (Moderate)
Another moderate trail on this New River Gorge hiking trails list you can’t miss is the Grandview Rim Trail to the Turkey Spur.
This trail is about 3 miles long and leads you along the gorge’s rim out to a unique view. The Grand View area has many overlooks that you can drive to, but this is worth hiking to.
Once you have gone about 1.3 miles, you will reach a section of wooden stairs. Here you’ll make your way up hundreds of steep stairs to an overlook. From the overlook you can see this extremely windy section of the New River.
This area is one of the most beautiful sections of the park, but we have one more trail for you!
Kaymoor Miners Trail (Difficult)
The final trail on our list of New River Gorge hiking trails you can’t miss is the Kaymoor Miners Trail.
This short, but steep trail is a bit of a challenge. The trail is short, coming in at only 1.5 miles long. However, the first 0.75 miles are straight down and then you have to come back up this steep trail to get back to your car. Your total elevation gain will be nearly 1000 feet of gain over that 0.75 miles.
This trail leads you down 821 steps to the miner’s town of Kaymoor, where there are still structures standing. These structures will give you a glimpse of history. While this town is so far from its operating self, it’s a sobering reminder of the mining history of West Virginia.
As this concludes our New River Gorge hiking trails list, you might have one final question that I can answer for you!
If You Only Have Time for 1 Trail!?
Ok so we’ve discussed the awesome New River Gorge hiking trails that you just can’t miss, but what if you only have time for 1?
If I only had time for 1 trail in all of New River Gorge National Park, it would be the Long Point Trail. This easy trail is 3 miles round trip and the views from the end of the trail are some of the best in the park. You’ll see an amazing view of the New River Gorge Bridge and get to experience the thrill of standing on a cliff high above the gorge.
There is a reason the Long Point Trail is one of the most popular in all of the park, so take your family and go hike it!
New River Gorge Tours
One final note, if you are looking to explore New River Gorge in a more unique way, you’ll want to check out these tours! While visiting our newest national park, my husband and I embarked on some awesome experiences, and I wanted to share them with you!
The white water rafting here is world class and the historic tour of Fayetteville was awesome. So check out my post that includes several of the 5-star New River Gorge Tours for you to take.
Conclusion
With over 100 miles of trails within the national park, here are 6 New River Gorge hiking trails you just can’t miss! And with a touch of easy, moderate and difficult, you won’t want to skip them.
The 2 easy trails (Long Point Trail and Sandstone Falls Boardwalk Trail) will lead you to cliffs and waterfalls. The 3 moderate trails (Endless Wall, Castle Rock, and Grandview Rim Trail) will show off cliffs that you can hike above and below. While the difficult trail on this list (Kaymoor Miners Trail) will lead you down to what remains of a mining town.
All of these trails are must-do in my opinion and they will each show you the highlights and the must-see sections of the park!
As always, please email me at averagewildexperience@gmail.com with any questions!
-Happy Hiking!
Megan C.
Avid hiker and traveler around the US. I've been hiking consistently since I was 18 and I can't wait to teach you my tips, tricks and hiking hacks! Travel and hike with me and my camera.
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