Hiking and Biking in the New River Gorge National River Area
-----Most of my hiking in the New River Gorge area has been with my deacon Woody Cox on "Bridge Day." But, there are a good number of excciting and refreshing trails throughout the "National River" area that can be biked or hiked. There are also some trails that are for hiking only because of their difficult nature. Some of these can be extreamly difficult but rewarding. The first Bridge Day that I attended with Woody, we simply parked our vehicle near the southern end of the bridge and walked back across to the visitor center. Frm the visitor center, we strolled the curvey road down the side of the canyon to the river where we crossed the rickety old bridge. Since that time they have repaired the bridge.
I made this photo of the view from the old bridge looking upstream.
.....After crossing the bridge we sat on the rocks and watched the daredevils as they jumped from the bridge with their colorful parachutes. After watching for awhile, we walked up the south canyon wall, returnd to the truck, and brought our "Bridge Day walking" to a end for that year. That was a rather tame but long walk entirely upon pavement. On our second visit to area on Bridge Day, Woody and I walked the trails below.
----The bridge trail is a moderate to difficult walk that takes you underneath the New River Gorge Bridge from the South Rim to the paved road near the Kaymoor Trailhead.
To reach the trail head, turn at the first road that enters from the west at the southern end of the bridge. A short distance down the road, you will find a parking lot on the right. This the lot for the Bridge Trail.
----The trail follows an old and rather steep road up the hill. After you reach the top of the hill, you will need to watch sharply as the trail veers of to the left. When the trail reaches the rim of the canyon, it begins to descend by a series of rock steps. As you go down these steps, you will need to be careful and not slip. After the trail descends a distance down the steep slope, it begins to meander around the side of the canyon wall around some magificent rock formations. These formations around the rim of the canyon have become great attractions for rock climbers who come to this area from great distances to enjoy their sport.
-----Soon, you will enter a clearing and look up to find yourself under the bridge. In this area, you will have a great vantage point from which to take photos. After the trail passes under the bridge, it makes use of an old road, and you will have a pleasant walk along the side of the canyon to the trails intersection with the paved road. From here, you have the choice of walking on down the road to the river or of walking the Kaymoor Trail. If you have not walked the Kaymoor Trail, I would encourage you to do so.
One of the vistas from Kaymoor trail
----So far, my favorite trail is the Kaymoor Trail. Where the road up the southern canyon wall makes a sharp bend to the right, the Kaymoor Trail begins. After crossing rocky Wolf Creek on a wooden bridge, Kaymoor Trail begins to wind its way along the side of the canyon on an old mine road.
This is my photo of the serene pool and water fall of Wolf Creek seen from the wooden bridge.
.....The ascent is gentle and the hike is easy as the trails passes through a leafy enviornment.
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.....As you can see from this photo, this trail presents breathtaking views of the river and of the cliffs on the northern wall of the canyon. You can set in comfortable place and watch the rafters as they descend the river far below. They are very far away which causes the rafts and the people to look very small. There are a number of old mines entrances along the way that you can look into. But, don't worry about the children. The entrances are safely fenced. After a nice walk, you come to the old operations of the Kaymoor Mine. Yhere was once an upper Kaymoor on the canyon rim, and a lower Kaymoor down at river level. The park service has constructed a set of stairs leading all the way down to lower Kaymore. These were not completed when Woody and I were there, so I have not had the opportunity to use them. There was once a self-contained community at Upper Kaymore complete with a school. Steep cliffs separated the mine from the upper town,and the only way the miners could get to work was by a rope ladder. However, a trail has now been constructed to upper Kaymore and you can climb up to where the town once stood without using the old ropeladders. In fact, Woody and I climbed this trail and .walked all the way back to to Fayetteville. That was a long hike indeed, and we didn't know who far it was to town. You will enjoy hiking the Kaymoor Trail.
----The following proves that even the experienced hikers can make stupid mistakes. Saturday, at Bridge Day, Woody and I visited Thurmond. After walking across the bridge and visiting the depot and the cicle shop, we walked back across the river and begain to walk the Southside Junction/Brooklin trail. While I was at the cycle chop, I had stuck a trail guide in my back pocket where it remained until I returned home.
-----After stopping along the trail to eat our lunch, Woody, his 13 year-old-four-legged friend Dutchess, and I walked on down the easy trail beside the river enjoying ourselves. After a little over a mile, we came to the bridge over Arbuckle Creek and a sign pst that said, "Thurmond/Minden Trail." Since I had really wanted to walk the Minden Trail, we thiught we would climb this trail up the hill.
-----We climbed a short distance and found another abandoned railroad bed which we followed to the right. But, there was another sign that pointed up the hill. We climbed this next short steep stretch and found ourselves on a fairly level trail headed upriver. We tripped right along until, all of a sudden, the trail was gone. What had been a wide trail was simply gone. Woody said that he thought that the trail continued on the other side of a low place, so we went on climbing under or over some fallen trees. We could see the Southside trail below and could also see where someone had gone before us. So, we decided that, although the way was steep, since we were old hands at steep hillsides we would go on. After a scramble down, Woody said, "We're not going to be able to get on down unless we have a rope. I looked around and saw that we were in a mess. Poor old Dutchess was having a hard time, and we were going to have to turn around and go back up. With effort, we did, but our taste for hiking that day was sharply diminished. When we finally did get back to the trail that had vainished, and had walked back a piece, we found where we had gone wrong. A small set of stone steps led up the hill, but they sort of blended into some of the other rocks. We walked back down the trail to the main one on the river and walked back to the truck.
-----Now what could have been done to prevent this stupidity?
----One: I should have studied the trail guide that I had put in my pocket. It would have told me that the steep trail was the "Arbuckle Connector" which connected the Minden Trail to the Southside Trail.
-----Two; There was absolutly no sign on the trail that read, "Arbuckle Connector." Also, there is no marker to indicate that the trails turns and goes up the steps. The trail that disappears is much more obvious that the real trail.
-----Conclusion: If I had studied the trail guide, or if the "Arbuckle Connector" had been marked correctly, We would not have gotten in such a mess and would have hiked more that day. So, if you have a trail guide, read it, and do not depend entirely on trail markers. Like us, the Park Service is not perfect, and they make mistakes too. What would we have done if we had broken a leg or worse.
This trail is a easy stroll or bike ride along an old branch line of the Old C&O Railroad. On the way to the old coal town of Minden, this nearly level trail provides some great view of the the river. It is 3.4 miles one-way.
This is a short trail of a half-mile that connects from teh head of the Thurmond-Minden Trail to the parking lot. The railroad tracks that the trail follows are still active so beware. These tracks climbs the steep Dunloup creek valley to teh top where they divide at Whiteoak Junction. One set of rails continues on to Beckley.
This six mile long trail from across the river from Thurmond to the old river coal town of Brooklin is a nice ride or walk with some interesting views of the other side of the river and of old railroad equipment. Iy you are walking or riding the entire distance and back, you ought to be prepare with plenty of water and food.
This is the trail that Woody and I nearly came to grief on. Although it is oly three tenths of a mile long, it is straight up the mountain and very rugged and not well marked. Much of the way is by narrow stone steps where one false step could mean a broken ankle or worse. This is not a rrail for folks with heart trouble or other breathing problems. But, if you like to make like a mountain goat, this trail is for you. It is called the Arbuckle Connector because it enters the Southside Junction Trail where that trail crosses Arbuckle Creek which heads up near the town of Oak Hill
Thurmond-Minden Trail
Dunloup Creek Trail
Brooklyn - Southside Junction Trail
Arbuckle Connector
To be continued.