Liene's Adventures

Doing fall foliage (or leaf-peeping) trips has been a tradition of ours for many years. In the past, we have explored the Great Smoky Mountains; Shenandoah National Park; New England region of the USA; and travelled even as far north as Canada – all in the name of colorful leaves and a little adventure! This year we decided to head a little off the beaten path and go west towards West Virginia. Although we were aware that our visit would most likely be a little bit ahead of the peak foliage time, it was still exciting to visit a place we had never been to.

 

Day 1 - Saturday, October 12

Our day started with an early alarm. We had made reservations for a train tour at 10AM, and it was about a 2-hour car ride from our house in Virginia. There are several train tours to choose from in West Virginia but Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad happened to fit nicely into our schedule and was along our planned route, so that’s the one we went with.

Their station was nicely decorated for fall with pumpkins, hay bales and mums. And although it took a little bit of standing in line while several hundred people boarded the train, the process was quite quick overall.

One can choose various experiences here – from VIP dining and 3-course meals to just bench seating and bar snacks. We had no interest in dining as we were here for the views, so we opted for the simplest coach at $60 per adult and $30 for each kid. The coach car had big windows on both sides that opened up, and it was lined with soft old-timey cushion seats on both sides.

We were also allowed to walk freely through the train cars and some of them were fully open (no windows) meant for standing and enjoying the views passing by. The scenery was very beautiful with a winding river, bridges, steep cliff walls, forests and meadows. There were also water birds and eagles. The only thing missing was the peak foliage. Although slight fall colors had started to appear, most of the trees were still holding on to their green color here.

My kids seemed to enjoy the train ride as well, or so they said. I am not quite sure though if my 9-year old saw anything at all because he spent about 2 hours and 50 minutes (of our 3-hour train tour) sitting and reading his Harry Potter book. But he said he liked the train, so I guess he at least was aware that we were on a train...

Our next destination was Blackwater Falls State Park which was about an hour’s drive south. As we were passing through West Virginia’s mountainous landscapes, we noticed how inconsistent the colors were. Some areas were almost completely green, but then just 5 minutes later we would be passing a forest section that was well past its peak with bare trees and no leaves left whatsoever. Another 5 minutes later the trees would have leaves again with bright reds and yellows. We just never knew what awaited us around the next bend...

Once we reached the Blackwater Falls park, we started with a stop at their visitor’s center. It was small but had some really neat hands-on exhibits for kids as well as animal displays with live turtles and snakes. 

A short drive down the road was Pendleton Point overlook. It was a short walk to see the Blackwater Canyon with a winding river and rolling mountains underneath us. Surprisingly, a good amount of fall colors were visible here, especially the yellows. Looking the other direction, a bright red tree seemed to be almost on fire!

Some of the park roads were turning red and yellow as well which made for a scenic drive through the park.

The main attraction of the park was, of course, the 57-foot (17m) tall Blackwater Falls which is  where the park got its name. It is the tallest waterfall in West Virginia. A short ½-mile (1km) long trail took visitors to several viewing platforms. It was very crowded here and seemed like a wedding reception was going to take place near the falls as well. We walked the steep wood steps down to the bottom of the falls which brough us right beside the waterfall. 

On the other side of the waterfall there was a small overlook area beside the road that gave a different vantage point of the falls.

The last trail we wanted to go on was Lindy Point overlook. It was another fairly crowded but short trail at just 1 mile (1.6km) in length. What surprised us were all the evergreens lining the trail – lots of rhododendron and mountain laurel engulfed the path from both sides making it feel almost jungle-like and tropical. It was pretty magical.

The Lindy Point overlooked the Blackwater Canyon from 3000 feet (915m) above. It was quite an impressive sight and some fall colors were staring to peak through the greenery here as well. The late evening light gave the landscape a smoky hue.

As it was approaching evening, we had a 2-hour drive to our hotel in Sutton. We got there already after dark and the only dinner place still open that we could find was a Chinese buffet. By far not the best we have had, but for 4 starving travelers it did the job. Also, our hotel had a heated swimming pool and a gym, so my husband and I took turns at the pool watching the kids and working out at the gym. Finally, at 11PM we were all ready to head to bed.

 

Day 2, Sunday – October 13

Although the main sight of the day was going to be the New River Gorge National Park, we wanted to make a stop at another smaller park beforehand. The park was Babcock State Park - famous for its Glade Creek Grist Mill.

This historic and iconic site has been featured on many puzzles, wallpapers, calendars and postcards. It offered a very picturesque setting which we, undoubtedly, wanted to see for ourselves. And it is the most impressive in fall with yellows and reds illuminating the background. 

We had to agree that it truly was beautiful. We also took the path down to the creek and let the boys skip some rocks here.

An interesting fact - West Virginia Tourism has pinpointed some of the most famous and Instagrammable locations around West Virginia and paired them with handmade wooden Almost Heaven swings. There are currently 14 swings around West Virginia and one of them was here at Grist Mill. The idea is that you take a picture which you then post on social media with a West Virginia hashtag to, hopefully, draw tourists.

After we had absorbed all the views at Babcock State Park, we were finally ready to head on to New River Gorge National Park. It is the newest of all 63 US national parks and got the national park designation only in 2020.

As usual, we started the park visit at the visitor’s center (Canyon Rim Visitor Center) to familiarize ourselves with all the exhibits about the park, the history as well as watched the park movie. Boys picked up the Junior Ranger booklets to fill out and earn the badge. 

The easiest way to see the famous Gorge Bridge is right there by the visitor’s center where a short (but steep) boardwalk and steps take visitors to several viewing platforms. A few facts about the bridge:

• It is the longest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere;

• The 3rd longest single arch bridge in the world;

• The 2nd highest vehicle-carrying bridge in the United States;

• The 5th highest vehicle-carrying bridge in the world;

• The 13th highest bridge in the world;

• The bridge height is 876’, length 3030’, cost 37 million dollars to build and was completed in 1977.

Another popular trail which we headed out on was the 3-mile (5km) long Endless Wall trail. The rhododendron lined trail was even more lush and jungle-like here and we were discussing how it reminded us of our hikes in Hawaii.

The trail zigzagged along the cliff edge with several rocky lookout areas over the New River 1000 feet (300m) below. Here you could also see why the trail got its name the Endless Wall... A long stretch of steep cliff walls was weaving its way along the gorge. 

It was perfect weather with sunny blue skies and we enjoyed our walk through this part of the park.

Another popular thing to do in the park, which is accessible to anyone, is the drive on old Fayette Station Road. It is the most popular driving road in the park. This 100-year-old road of hairpin turns was once the only way to cross the gorge (before the construction of the bridge). It winds down to the bottom of New River Gorge, across a narrow bridge, and up the other side. The road tour is 8 miles (13km) long and takes about 30 - 45 minutes to complete. 

The drive offers various vantage points of the bridge but, in our opinion, the most impressive view was at the very bottom looking right across the New River from the crossing bridge. Here you could see the full view of the large bridge from one end to the other. 

We also got lucky and witnessed a group of rafters heading out for their ride through the rapids. It was one of the activities I considered doing myself but eventually dropped the idea. When I saw how much fun these tourists had, I regretted my choice of not making the reservations. My boys loved river rafting in Alaska, and I am sure they would have loved to do it here as well!

Some of the local wildlife was also out, enjoying the warm afternoon by the river.

With evening and darkness quickly approaching, we grabbed a quick bite at Subway and made the short drive to our last trailhead – the Long Point Trail. This trail was about 3-miles (5km) round trip and at the end it offered those iconic full-on bridge views that you often see when researching the New River Gorge Bridge. 

Also, we got to witness a romantic sunset proposal here. She said ''Yes!'' 😊 

Our hotel, this time around, was very simple with no gym or indoor swimming pool. So, it was an ice-cream and a movie night for the kids. Obviously, they had no objections!

 

Day 3 – Monday, October 14

Before leaving, we stopped in the downtown area of Fayetteville which was the location of our hotel the night before. There wasn’t much to this little town – one main street, a church, a couple shops, cafes and a park.

I found an interesting mural which portrayed the main attractions of the area - the bridge, river, water sports and rock climbing, as well as some history and culture.

This was our last day at New River Gorge National Park and for this day we had plans to explore 2 different areas of the park than the day before. About an hour’s drive south took us to Grandview area of New River Gorge National Park. The visitor center here had already closed for the season; however, we were more interested in the trails that were offered here. To start off, we stopped at the Grandview Main Overlook which was truly quite grand! The New River was snaking its way through the canyons below weaving left and right on the way to its final destination...

Unfortunately, the overall scenery was still quite green here in comparison to yesterday's Canyon Rim section of the park! However, several individual trees here and there were sporting quite bright colors just to show off!

From here, we headed out on Castle Rock trail which had some steep rock and cliff walls right beside the trail.

Farther up it joined the trail to Turkey Spur Rocks. This was another elevated overlook of the area perched high on rocks with steps carved into gaps.

We also enjoyed the tranquil and peaceful forest setting. We were walking very quietly in hopes of being able to spot a black bear, yet no such luck. They are quite frequent in West Virginia and, on a sadder note - a day before we saw a momma bear and her cub being hit by a car on a highway.

We finished off our hike with a Tunnel trail. Combined all trails took us 2 hours to complete with 4.5-miles (7km) in length. 

The last section of New River Gorge National Park left for us to explore was the Sandstone area. There was another well-equipped visitor center here with a park movie that was different from the one played at the Canyon Rim visitor center. The hands-on activities were also very interactive and interesting for the kids. Because the park got established only 4 years earlier, all the facilities were new and in great condition.

The main attraction of this part of the park was the Sandstone Falls – the widest waterfall on New River. The falls span 1500-feet (460m) wide, although they are not very tall and drop just 10-20 feet (3-6m) on average. Because the access to the falls boardwalk was a 40-minute drive down, over and up the other side of the river from the visitor center, we opted to just make a roadside stop and peek at the falls from the near-by overlook just 3 short miles (5km) down the road. It gave us a good idea of the falls and the long drive around to get a close-up view was deemed unnecessary.

Here we made the decision that with the approaching darkness our West Virginia road trip was coming to an end and it was time to start the 4-hour drive back home. West Virginia definitely had scenery and landscapes that surprised me. I did not expect to see the endless valleys and gorges, and mountains and rivers... And the unexpected array of early fall colors gave West Virginia an extra special charm.

 

Travel stories about our previous fall foliage trips:

Our first RV road trip - Georgia's Southern Charm vs Colors of the Great Smoky Mountains

Fall in Shenandoah National Park

Canada in Fall - Ottawa, Montreal and Algonquin Provincial park

In Search of Fall in New England Region of the USA