New River Gorge National Park, June 15-20

Had a wonderful stay at New River Gorge National Park from June 15-20. The first couple days were hot and stormy so we limited our trips to the Canyon Rim, Sandstone, and Grand View Visitors Centers as well as a visit to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine.

The New River Gorge had many coal mines in the late 1800's and early1900"s, all of which are now abandoned and most have disappeared back under the prolific forests that line the gorge. As much as I abhor the use of coal as well as the abuse of coal miners during that time period, it was interesting to learn about that history.

    The view from Canyon Rim

View of the bridge that crosses the gorge at Canyon Rim

Half of the view from Grand View looking down river.

The other half looking up river.

On the evening of the second day we did drive to Sandstone Falls followed by a nice simple dinner in the town of Hinton.

Sandstone Falls

I will say there are no straight or level roads in West Virginia and many of the roads are only wide enough for one vehicle. Made for interesting driving and a fair amount of nausea on Donna Sue's part.

The third day was much cooler with clear blue skies. We started the day with a three mile hike on the Endless Wall trail with excellent views. We passed through many rhododendron jungles that must be spectacular when they are on bloom.

In the afternoon, we drove down a long, windy and narrow road to the abandoned coal town of Nuttelburg.

The tipple at Nuttelburg used to load coal into rail cars.

The conveyor that brought the coal down the side of the gorge from the mine to the tipple.

A foundation from one of the main buildings. You could also see foundations of the company store, a church and a school as well as old crumbling come ovens.

On our final day, we drove back down into the gorge to the town of Thurmond which was the main train station in the gorge back in the hay day of the coal mines.

The mill at Babcock State Park. It's not an old original mill at this site. They built it from old mills from several locations in West Virginia.

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