Tom's National Park Adventure

Today I got a nice early start and drove to the Glade Creek Trailhead. One of the things you won’t ever forget about West Virginia is how steep the roads can be. It doesn’t matter if it’s an interstate highway, or a gravel road taking you to the trail head, the hills and valleys are very steep and can be a bit scary if you aren’t used to driving on them!

I hiked along side the Glade Creek for about three miles and then made my way back to the trail head with a short climb up the hill to check out Kate’s Falls.

I got back to Ethyl and decided to drive up to the Canyon Rim Visitors center. I wanted to learn more about the engineering marvel that is the New River Gorge Bridge.

Before the bridge was built if a person wanted to cross the New River, they would have to drive down a road filled with switchbacks from the top of the canyon rim down to a bridge at the river’s level and then drive up a similar road to get to the top of the rim on the other side of the canyon This process took about 40 minutes to complete.

The new bridge construction was started in 1974 and completed in 1977. They created new construction techniques in order to complete the job.

The bridge was constructed using Cor – Ten Steel. This material is designed to rust in place leaving behind a protective coating that will never have to be painted.

The bridge is 876 feet above the river.

The drive across to get to the other side of the canyon now takes only 40 seconds! This bridge has opened up the area to all kinds of economic activity that wasn’t happening prior to the bridge’s existence.

The bridge cost $37 million dollars. It is the third highest bridge in the United States. For 26 years the bridge was the longest single arch span in the world. On the third Saturday in October the good people of West Virginia celebrate “Bridge Day”. They close the bridge down for the day and people are allowed to legally “BASE jump” and repelling from the bridge.

Originally I had planned on driving home from here in one day. I had planned to get home on Monday the 27th. I am still shooting to get home on Monday, but I’m going to leave tomorrow and take it easy on myself and drive home over two days instead of one!

My next outing will be in September. I am planning on visiting Voyagers National Park in Minnesota. I will then head west and drive to Theadore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

After that trip is completed, I will be down to only one more Park to visit in the lower 48 states. My last park will be Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. I believe I will going there sometime next year.