New River Gorge, located in southern West Virginia, is the newest U.S. National Park. The park protects the New River and the surrounding gorge that its waters have carved over millennia, with fascinating geology and several different microclimates, where unique plant and animal life thrive.

If you want to explore this incredible landscape for yourself, the park offers nearly 100 miles of trails, with lots of old growth forests, rugged sandstone walls, and overlooks that provide dramatic views of the impossibly deep gorge, waiting to be explored on foot.  After my husband, Justin, and I spent a week here, tackling as many trails as we could, here are the 8 best hikes in New River Gorge National Park that you need to add to your bucket list. 

---

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may receive a small commission, for which we are extremely grateful, at no extra cost to you.

What is New River Gorge National Park? 

The park protects over 70,000 acres that surround the New River, which, despite its name, is actually believed to be the second oldest river on the entire planet, estimated between 260 to 320 MILLION years old (pretty wild, right?). 

Over the millennia, its waters have eroded away the sandstone bedrock here, forming the New River Gorge’s massive slopes. This gorge is one of the deepest in the United States, with walls that reach up to 1,600 feet deep. The gorge’s steep slopes and dramatic topography has created several different microclimates that support unique plants and animals, like the Virginia Big-eared bat. 

While the gorge is largely celebrated for its distinctive geology and biodiversity, it also has some fascinating human elements to it as well, ranging from the Indigenous people that have called this area home for thousands of years and the coal mining towns that sprung up along the river in the 1800s to the iconic New River Gorge Bridge. This bridge has held many impressive records over the years, including formerly holding the title for the world’s highest vehicle bridge and still is considered the longest single span arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  

Best Hikes in New River Gorge National Park

One of the coolest things about the hikes in New River Gorge National Park is that they offer opportunities to more deeply explore different aspects of the park, ranging from trails that offer stunning views of its iconic bridge to paths that wind through the ruins of a coal mining complex. Plus, there’s a lot of fantastic trails that are easy enough for beginners—no need to scale mountains or scramble across boulder fields to get incredible views here!

Let’s get into it. 

1. Canyon Rim Boardwalk

• Length: 0.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 78 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

If you’re looking for an epic view of the New River Gorge Bridge, head to this series of metal catwalks, located right outside of the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. In my opinion, this is the best of the four visitor centers in the park and well worth a visit. 

Directly from the parking lot, there’s a wheelchair accessible ramp that leads to an upper overlook of the bridge, with in-your-face views of its trusses and supports. From this area, there are a series of metal catwalks, with over 150 wooden stairs (with lots of benches along the way to take a breather!), that leads down to a lower viewpoint. This platform juts out into the gorge and provides an even more dramatic view of the bridge. 

This is one of the most popular areas in the park, so definitely be prepared to share the trail with others here! 

2. Sandstone Falls Trail

• Length: 1 mile
• Elevation gain: 22 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

New River Gorge National Park has over 100 waterfalls, but Sandstone Falls is arguably its most popular one, thanks to its impressive 1,500 foot span. It’s actually the largest waterfall on the entire New River! 

This hike is the only one in the park that provides views of the falls and combines two different short paths together—the Sandstone Falls Boardwalk and the Island Loop Trail. 

The falls are accessible via the Sandstone Falls Boardwalk, a half-mile (roundtrip) wheelchair accessible wooden pathway that leads to an island in the middle of the New River. The waterfall straddles this small plot of land, so you get incredible views of its curtain, cascading over the rugged sandstone bedrock that lines the floor of the New River. 

If you’re short on time, you can turn around here, but, if you’re looking to stretch your legs a bit more, you can also continue on the Island Loop Trail, which winds along the New River and into a beautiful second-growth forest. This part of the trail can have areas that are a bit muddy and rocky, but there definitely isn’t anything that some decent hiking boots can’t handle! 

Insider tip: This is inarguably one of the best waterfall hikes in New River Gorge National Park, but it’s also located about an hour from most of its other main attractions. The drive to the trailhead is absolutely beautiful, with stunning views of the New River along the way, but, if you’re short on time in the park, this might be one to skip. 

3. Long Point Trail

• Length: 3 miles
• Elevation gain: 344 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

In my opinion, if you’re only going to do one hike in the park, it should be the Long Point Trail—it has the best views of New River Gorge Bridge in the entire park! 

To get there, you’ll follow a mostly flat pathway through a dense forest of Mountain laurel and American beech trees. Around 1.2 miles into the trail, it starts sloping steeply downwards, with lots of roots and rocks along the way—so be sure to mind your step here! 

Eventually, you’ll pop out onto a ridgeline that juts out of the forest, providing a magnificent view of the surrounding gorge and the entire expanse of the New River Gorge Bridge. This rocky outcropping is the perfect place to sit down, take a breather, and enjoy one of the best vistas in the park.  

If you really want to knock your socks off here, time your hike so that you arrive at the endpoint right before sunset—just don’t forget to bring your headlamp!

4. Nuttallburg Mine Trail

• Length: 1.6 miles
• Elevation gain: 131 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

One of the most unique things to do in New River Gorge National Park is to dive into this area’s coal mining history. 

Once coal was discovered in West Virginia’s mountains in the mid-1800s, dozens of coal mining towns popped up along the New River. However, less than a century later, the coal industry had largely dried up, due to technological advancements, cheaper energy alternatives, and exhaustion of the most accessible coal in the state. Accordingly, almost all of those little settlements became nothing more than ghost towns, leaving behind rusting mining equipment and building ruins that are slowly being taken over by Mother Nature.

Nuttallburg is one of these ghost towns and remains one of the best preserved mining complexes in all of West Virginia. This hike actually connects two paths—the Tipple Trail and the Town Loop Trail—to explore the most interesting ruins of the mining facilities, as well as the buildings used by the miners and their families, like a church, school, and housing. Along the way, there are tons of informational signs to learn more about mining and the people who once lived and worked here.

Parts of this trail, especially the switchbacks along the Town Loop Trail that lead to the residential area of Nuttallburg can be on the steeper side and REALLY overgrown. So, before driving here, I’d recommend downloading a map of this trail on AllTrails so that you can access it offline (don’t expect cell service here!) to make sure that you don’t get lost along the way.

Even if the trail is too overgrown to reach the more residential area of Nuttallburg, the Tipple Trail is usually well-maintained and definitely worth exploring in its own right!

Insider tip: The road to Nuttallburg is windy, partially unpaved, and, in many places, only wide enough for one car—meaning, if you happen to pass someone going the other way, you may have to back up a bit down the aforementioned windy, narrow road to let them pass by. I wouldn’t recommend driving here with a trailer or a large vehicle or if there’s inclement weather, like fog, rain, or ice. 

5. Tunnel Trail

• Length: 0.6 miles
• Elevation gain: 101 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

The Tunnel Trail departs from the Grand View Overlook. This is one of the most popular viewpoints in the park, thanks to its sweeping views of a dramatic bend in the New River Gorge. 

After a short walk on a wooden boardwalk to the viewpoint, the trail veers off into the woods and eventually, down a set of stairs. Continuing on, it weaves between several cool rock formations, like rugged walls; outcroppings of jagged sandstone, jutting out of the earth; and impressive overhangs. This trail was so named as there are tunnels in some of these formations you used to be able to walk through, but, unfortunately, they’re currently closed, due to safety concerns. 

This trail is located right by some of the other best hikes in New River Gorge National Park (namely, the Castle Rock and Grand View Rim Trails), so I’d suggest budgeting a few hours to hit all of the ones in this area of the park at one time. 

6. Grand View Rim Trail to Turkey Spur Rock

• Length: 3.1 miles
• Elevation gain: 255 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

Again, this trail leaves from the Grand View Overlook area and snakes along the rim of the gorge through a dense forest, with lots of overlooks along the way to enjoy unique perspectives of the river below. 

The endpoint of this trail is Turkey Spur Rock, where you’ll walk along a rugged canyon wall and reach a set of wooden stairs between two massive sandstone formations. At the top of this staircase, you’ll have several different viewpoints from a wooden platform, with spectacular vistas of the New River Gorge. 

Most of this trail follows closely along Glade Creek Road, so you can frequently see and hear cars passing by. To be honest, this kind of detracted from the experience for me, so, if you don’t have time to do all of the hikes in the Grand View area, I’d probably recommend skipping this one and simply driving between the parking lots for the Grand View and Turkey Spur Rock overlooks. 

7. Castle Rock Trail

• Length: 2.9 miles
• Elevation gain: 813 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Trailhead location
• Trail map

The trail again departs from the Grand View Overlook, before curving into the forest.

You absolutely get some peek-a-boo views of the gorge along this trail, but its main highlight is some really cool rock formations, including towering sandstone walls and massive craggy boulders. The scale of the formations along this trail are really impressive—this was easily my favorite trail in the Grand View area! 

It also happens to be the most challenging trail in this area of the park, with some rugged and uneven boulders you need to climb over.

The trail is totally doable for most hikers in decent shape, but I would recommend being careful while you’re hiking here, especially if there’s any rain or ice, and wearing proper hiking boots. Justin has used these hiking boots for years and I LOVE mine (they’re so cute and comfortable!). 

Insider tip: If you want to do all three trails in this area, I’d suggest hiking the Tunnel Trail on to the Castle Rock Trail to Turkey Spur Rock and back along the Grand View Rim Trail (for a total roundtrip mileage of about 5.5 miles). That’s how we tackled these three trails and it was a great mix of gorgeous views of the New River Gorge and the park’s very cool sandstone formations. 

8. Endless Wall Trail

• Length: 5.3 miles
• Elevation gain: 538 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Trailhead location (If this parking lot is full, you can also park at this alternative trailhead on the western side of the pathway)
• Trail map

The Endless Wall Trail is one of the most popular hikes in New River Gorge National Park—and for good reason!

Along this trail, you’ll hike along the rim of the gorge, with lots of rocky outcroppings that jut out into the gorge and provide epic views of the New River, the iconic bridge, and, with any luck, even some brave rock climbers scaling one of the 1,400 climbing routes located in the park. 

If you’re starting from the main trailhead (to the east), you’ll enter into a dense forest. Just 0.3 miles into the trail, you’ll have an opportunity to follow a short offshoot to peer down at Miner’s Ladder, a metal ladder bolted into a near vertical rock wall that’s used by climbers to reach the floor of the gorge.

Continuing on, the pathway will eventually start following along the gorge’s rim, with lots of social trails that lead to rocky outcroppings that overlook the New River, almost 1,000 feet below. 

There are dozens of these informal viewpoints, but the most popular is Diamond Point. This wide outcropping provides some of the most epic views of the gorge, plus unique perspectives of the bridge to the west. Many hikers use Diamond Point as the turnaround point for this hike, but you can continue down the trail for another 1.2 miles (one-way) through the dense forest, with a handful of other viewpoints along the way. 

If you decide to go this route, you can either retrace your footsteps back along the trail or, to shave off a little over two miles, you can just walk the half mile back to the main trailhead along Lansing Edmond Road. It’s definitely not the most scenic way to get back to the trailhead, but we love a solid shortcut!

When to hike in New River Gorge National Park

Good news—you can usually hike in New River Gorge National Park most of the year! 

In my opinion, the best time of the year to visit is in the fall. The weather is pleasantly cool and West Virginia is a super underrated destination for beautiful autumnal foliage. 

This area of West Virginia has fairly mild winters, but there can be ice and snow in the park, especially from December through February. Accordingly, if you’re hiking here during this period of time, it isn’t a bad idea to throw a pair of microspikes in your backpack before you hit the trailhead, just in case you run into any slippery patches along the trail. 

Summer is the most popular time to visit New River Gorge National Park, thanks to its world-renowned white water rafting. If you visit during the warmer months, I’d highly recommend squeezing in a rafting trip, like this option for beginners or this more adventurous option, between all of your hikes. Just be prepared for some warm and humid weather along the way! 

Spring is a mixed bag, with plenty of sunny days with pleasant temperatures and lots of rainy days (and thus, muddy trails!) sprinkled in there. If you’re visiting in May or June, I’d recommend packing along a rainjacket, like this option for men or this option for women, and wearing some waterproof boots, in case you run into any gnarly muddy sections.

---

I hope you’ve added some of these hikes in New River Gorge National Park to your bucketlist! Do you have any questions about visiting our newest national park? Let us know in the comments below!