New River Gorge Bridge – Fayetteville, WV - July 29
We drove about an hour or so to visit the Canyon Rim Visitor
Center for the New River Gorge National River & Bridge. Along the way, we stopped at Kanawha Falls. There was a dam there making some rapids (falls).
Kanawha Falls
the hills and everything was covered by the invasive vine - made you feel like you shouldn't stand still long in these parts.....
We started with the short film on the history of the river
and the bridge. Despite the name New River, it actually is one of the oldest
rivers in the World.
The bridge was completed on October 22, 1977 and it reduced
a 40-minute drive down narrow mountain roads to less than a minute. It is the
longest steel span in the western hemisphere and the third highest in the
United States.
They offer a Bridge Walk which we didn’t have time for (takes
2 to 3 hours and we only had 1 day here) We did the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb
which was awesome, but this was just a flat walk over the lovely gorge on a 2
foot wide catwalk. (you are tethered to a safety cable)
We checked out the view of the gorge from the Visitor’s
Center and then walked to a coupe of the viewing areas. One had 178 steps down
to the best view. After that we walked to a view that showed the cars going across.
(we drove across it a couple of times today)
New River Gorge National River
Tunney Hunsaker Bridge - we crossed it later
We then drove across the street to take a short hike on the
Burnwood Trail. It was a 1.2 mile easy trail.
Burnwood Trail
Greg on the trail
It was now lunch time and we went to the Secret Sandwich
Society. Not such a secret as people were lined up outside the door. They had a
lot of “gourmet” sandwiches named after presidents. I had the Polk, which was a
grilled chicken with chipotle bacon jam, roasted garlic mayo, home-made bread
and butter pickles on a brioche bun. Greg had the Adams which was slow roasted
pork shoulder, honey butter, pimiento cheese, jalapeno and pickles on a brioche
bun. Both came with home-made chips. YUM!
crossing the New River Gorge Bridge
Secret Sandwich Society Restaurant
my chicken sandwich
Greg's pork sandwich
mural in town
After lunch we did the 45-minute, 8-mile drive which works
its way to the bottom of the gorge with a series of hairpin turns. There were
some pull-offs for great views.
under the bridge
Greg
Red-eyed Vireo
thistle
people doing the bridge walk
At the bottom, we came to the historic sites of Fayette and
South Fayette. We crossed over the Tunney Hunsaker Bridge over the New River.
We got out and walked across the bridge and there were a lot of people rafting.
railroad tracks
Tunney Hunsaker Bridge
white water rafters
Greg
kayakers
juvenile or female House Finch
The road then winds back to the top in Fayetteville where we
stopped for hot fudge sundaes before driving back to the hotel.
On the way we passed The Company Store. It is a former coal
company store which is now a museum of the heritage of the West Virginia Coal
Miner, his family, and Coal Camp Life as well as modern Appalachian society for
the mining of coal today. It is closed for remodeling or it would have been
interesting to visit it. Earlier in the day we passed some active coal mines.
Since it had everything the miners needed to support their families
and they were paid in company specific script that they could trade for what
they needed. Hence, the term “I owe my soul to the company store”.
The Company Store - museum now
Coal helped build the United States. Without coal and those
who mined it, the large-scale production of steel would have been nearly
impossible, and it was plentiful steel that facilitated the building boom and
the war effort during the two World Wars. The Whipple Company Store is a
standing tribute to these important coal miners and their families.
OK, that was my “history lesson”.
We got back to the hotel and started packing up to leave
tomorrow for Olean, NY. We are getting very excited about seeing Cathy &
Tom day after tomorrow!
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