New River Gorge - Fayette Station Road

 

Many reviewers listed driving the Fayette Station Road is listed as the number one thing to do in New River Gorge National Park, and so we definitely wanted to do that. However, the warnings that it wasn't designed for large vehicles made me feel a bit nervous.

They should have included some of these pictures on their websites; then our drive would have been less stressful! For the record, our Ford E350 12 passenger van managed the route just fine - parking in the pullouts was the most difficult part. (We did ask the park rangers for advice beforehand, and their mentioning that there was a rafting pickup at the bottom alleviated my concerns.)

So, let's back up. The Fayette Station Road was the route people had to take to cross the river before the New River Gorge Bridge was built in the 1970s. Nowadays it's a one way, winding road starting in Lansing and ending in Fayetteville. It gets you down to the New River while switchbacking under the new bridge several times. It's definitely worth the trip. The National Park Service app has an audio tour which explains some of the history found at the various pullouts, or you can download a transcript here. Stop #1 explains the drive itself.

At the bottom of the gorge, cross one set of railroad tracks, go over the bridge, then find a parking spot and get out and explore. There's lots to see!

Wolf Creek entering the New River

We arrived at the bridge just as various groups of rafters and kayakers were ending their day on river. So much fun to watch them go through the last set of rapids before going ashore.

Finish the auto tour by climbing out of the gorge, passing under the big bridge one more time. Then decide what you want to do next!