6/10/22 Shortly after I arrived in West Virginia and worked my first few shifts at my new hospital, I found myself with several days off in a row and decided to spend it exploring New River Gorge National Park. I visited this Park last year during “fake Bonnaroo”– when several friends and I got diverted from Bonnaroo when it was cancelled last minute and ended up spending a week in West Virginia instead. On that trip, I barely scratched the surface of things to do and places to see here, so I was excited to return.
My first day off I drove over to Fayetteville, WV and snagged a campsite at Cantrell Rafting, a river outfitter that runs trips on the New and Gauley Rivers. I decided to stay there because I had heard that there would be a band playing at the on-site restaurant and bar and was itching to see some live music. I ended up meeting a few really cool people that night, including a raft guide who works at Cantrell and a local jewelry artist who is also an avid rock climber. I exchanged numbers with both of them, eager to make friends in my new “home away from home.”
Endless Wall
6/11/22 The next day, I started the “weekend” (my weekends are often multiple days long and during the week) with a hike on Endless Wall Trail, which I had wanted to hike on my previous trip but didn’t make it to. My plan for the day was to hike the entire Endless Wall loop, adding a spur down a climbing route to a series of difficult to reach waterfalls. I knew that there were ladders involved, so I wasn’t entirely sure if Shooter would be able to make the hike. He’s climbed and descended ladders before though, so we decided to go for it.
Turns out, these ladders were STEEP and narrow. They were a bit nerve wracking for me to descend; there was no way Shooter was making it down them. We decided to nix our plans for waterfalls and just finish the loop instead.
The Endless Wall trail is absolutely breathtaking in its own right, and we spent a lot of time enjoying the multiple vistas it has to offer. I’m often wary of hiking popular trails such as this one because of throngs of people and often extremely misbehaved dogs, but I was pleasantly surprised that everyone had their dogs leashed and were extremely polite. Overall, this was a super positive experience and I highly recommend this trail for anyone wanting great views and a relatively easy hike.
Waterfalls of Wolf Creek
6/12/22 The following day I decided to spend some time exploring the Gorge by vehicle. I went to the visitor’s center, which I was pleased to find was better stocked and had more going on than when I was there the year prior. This national park is relatively new, so they are still growing. The visitor’s center was PACKED so they must be seeing more and more use.
After the visitor’s center, I drove down the old route through New River Gorge via Fayette Station Rd. Before the iconic bridge was built, all traffic had to take this route. Now, it is primarily used to access the Fayette Station public boat launch. I stopped by to check out the launch and the proceeded further down Fayette Station Rd to a trailhead for the Kaymoor Trail. Here, I parked and went off in search of Wolf Creek Falls.
To begin with I did not see a way down to the creek where the waterfall was supposed to be. I wandered up and down the side of the road looking for my route for a few minutes before deciding to return to my car and re-read the guidebook. As I was standing next to my car, nose in a waterfall book or three, a couple approached me from the direction of the Kaymoor Trail. “Excuse me, I’m not trying to be weird, but are you adventurelikeagirl on instagram?” the woman asked. “Yes!” I exclaimed. We chatted for a minute and I found out that she recognized me by my Lightheart Gear hiking dress. I told them I was trying to find a waterfall, and they mentioned they had been geocaching and were exploring NRG before heading on to explore several more east coast National Parks. She and her partner are on instagram @naturesavesoursanity. We bid farewell and they went off to find a few more geocaches while I gave Wolf Creek Falls a second shot.
This time, armed with slightly better information, I found the scramble path down to the base. It was muddy, steep, and tangled with rhododendron, but it was short and when I popped out into the creek at the bottom, my jaw dropped.
It isn’t worth the scramble to the base.
Kevin Adams, author of North Carolina Waterfalls and Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia
Well, as much as I respect Kevin’s opinion most of the time, I have to beg to differ on this one. Wolf Creek plunges over a wide ledge of moss-covered rocks, past colorful red rocks and into a cool, deep blue-green pool before continuing on it’s route to the New River. I could have stayed here for hours basking in the magic, but I had another waterfall to see.
Waterfall on a tributary of Wolf Creek
After scrambling back up to the road, Shooter and I proceeded down the Kaymoor Trail, crossed a beautiful bridge over Wolf Creek, and switchbacked up a small incline to see a tall, cascading waterfall gushing out of the side of the mountain. The water then passed underneath the trail and tumbled down the hillside to join Wolf Creek far below. This waterfall appears to have been creating by mine blasting or a landslide, because it’s in a rather odd location where it doesn’t seem like it would have occurred naturally.
These two “trails” were too short to really call hikes, but it was an extremely hot day and neither Shooter nor I were in the mood for a lot of walking or exertion. These two waterfall hikes were perfect short excursions for a hot day, and afterward Shooter and I headed off to set up camp. We spent the first two nights at Cantrell Rafting campground, which I’ve really grown fond of. There is a bar on sight, there are a couple of sites that have good hammocking trees, and it’s generally quiet. However, we wanted a change of scenery so after our Sunday hike we decided to head over to Ace Adventure Resort to spend a couple of nights in a different spot and meet up with my friend Ash who guides for and lives at Ace in the summer.
To be continued…
Adventure Like A Girl 