New River Gorge - Grandview Area

 

The main feature at Grandview is a vista of the New River as it makes a giant U-turn, but there are other points of interest as well. The visitors center was closed until Memorial Day, so that wasn't an option, and the outdoor ampitheater didn't have any plays scheduled during our time there. However, we did get to check out the McMann homestead and the bat house. That, though, was done at the end of our visit.

First, we went to the main overlook, along with a bunch of other people.

Then we started criss-crossing our way around the maze of trails. First up was the Tunnel Trail. In the past you could actually go through the rocks, but now they're blocked off with iron gates. It's still a pretty cool trail, though, and we bet our kids would have loved exploring some nooks and crannies.

That trail looped back to the Castle Rock Trail, another interesting and shady experience, with an unexpected view of the river below.

That trail connected back to the main trail, which continued on to Turkey Spur, where there were a couple more overlook areas constructed.

Heading back to the main parking lot, we came to the North Overlook (which would be above the Castle Rock Trail). It was much less crowded with people, and we liked the views there just as well. Too bad my pictures don't do the scenery justice.

You can find picnic areas and playgrounds and ball fields. There was even a nature trail (but we never figured out where to find the numbered descriptions). We packed a lot into our few hours, but it would be easy to spend an entire day here exploring.