West Virginia

We arrived at Bushcreek RV Resort in Princeton, WV on Wednesday, July 23. Our main
purpose of being here is to be close to The Greenbriar Resort where Kevin will meet up with his buddies for their annual golf trip. There’s not a lot in Princeton other than Brush Creek Falls, which is one of the largest waterfalls in West Virginia, a few low end shops, a few restaurants, mostly chain, and one brewery. Of course there’s a super Walmart plus a Kroger. West Virginia is known for being beautiful country, nestled between the Allegheny and Appalachia mountains. An hour away is The New River Gorge, which became a national park in 2020, and other state parks with numerous water falls.
On Tuesday, July 29, we drove to Brush Creek Falls State Park. The entrance is only 1 mile from the RV park and the falls are less than 1/2 mile from the parking lot. The falls are not very high but are wide. We hiked to the end of the trail where Brush Creek meets Bluestone River and White Oak Falls. The fall itself was just a little more than a trickle but still pretty. On Saturday August 2 we drove to Camp Creek State Park and hiked 2 miles there. We were trying to find one of the waterfalls but we got on the wrong path. After the hike we drove to the Campbell Falls trailhead and walked a short distance to see it. The waterfall landscape curves in an arc and has multiple layers of rock making a stunning view. Camp Creek Park seems to be a local favorite as there were several large groups gathered under different pavilions. We passed tent camping going to Campbell Falls and saw interesting set ups - such as a makeshift tent over the back of an SUV, a pop-up VW bus and one site with nothing but a tarp for the tent. We’ve had a lot of rain recently so the setups did not look comfortable!
On Monday, August 4, we drove to the north side of New River Gorge and walked the scenic path to view the bridge that spans the gorge. It is the longest steel span bridge in the western hemisphere and the third highest bridge in the US. Built in 1977 it changed the commute time for those that had to go around the gorge from 45 minutes to just a few minutes. Interestingly, New River flows north and is not new but rather considered the second oldest river in the world, estimated to be between 10 and 360 million years old!! That’s a HUGE difference! It’s older than the mountains, which formed around it.
We then hiked a trail that took us under the bridge, about 3 miles in and out. After lunch at Secret Society Sandwich Shop in Fayetteville we did a mile hike to see Butcher Branch waterfall, which was only a trickle. Both hikes were challenging with lots of rocks to climb up and down.
Kevin left for his annual golf trip on Thursday, August 7 and I took Pepper on several hikes over the weekend. Friday we went to the south side of New River Gorge, first stopping at the Sandstone Falls Overlook. The falls were amazing but the overlook was very far up so you couldn’t feel the rush of the falls. Then I drove to the Grandview entrance. That area claims to have the best view of the gorge and it is not disappointing. First we walked to the overlook, which was amazing with the rolling mountains and deep gorge. We did a short hike around that area then set off down Canyon Rim Trail. It is the longest trail from that visitor center and follows the rim of the gorge. It’s supposed to be a nice hike in the spring and fall when there are less leaves on the trees and you can see down into the gorge. While I couldn’t see the gorge with all the trees there were a few overlook points along the way; and at the end of the trail is Turkey Spur Overlook with a 150 step tower that has a spectacular view of the mountains, gorge and river.もっと詳しく