New River Gorge

We met Grandpa and Grandma Mattson in West Virginia to explore the New River Gorge.

Grandpa Hansen enjoyed visiting another state out East and learning about West Virginia coal mining in the 1800s at the visitor's center. We even stopped on the railroad down by the river and collected some coal.


The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3,030 feet long over the New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains. With an arch 1,700 feet long, the New River Gorge Bridge was for many years the world's longest arch bridge; it is now the third longest. The bridge is crossed by an average of 16,200 motor vehicles per day. The roadway of the New River Gorge Bridge is 876 feet above the New River, making it the fifth highest vehicular bridge in the world, and the third highest in the Americas.

A rugged, white water river, flowing northward through deep canyons, the New River is among the oldest rivers on the continent. The park encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along the New River, is rich in cultural and natural history, and offers an abundance of scenic and recreational opportunities. Although is is serene in this picture, there are many rapids between class 3 and 5 on the river in other areas.

Down by the water, we found this Water snake.
As we drove along the highway that followed the New River, we stopped to see several waterfalls.This section of the New River is called Horseshoe Bend. The cutout down by the river is for the railroad, we got to see a train go by while we were watching.