Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia, our nation's newest National Park! The park was actually established in 1978 as a national river, and redesignated in 2020 as New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. That makes 63 National Parks that we now have in the United States, and I can proudly say that I have been to all 63 of them! On this last trip, I drove my sons truck from Virginia to Southern California, and took a side trip in the truck to visit New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The campgrounds at the Park are all primitive, free and beautiful, and yes that would be my campsite in Meadow Creek.
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| The New River runs right through the campground and here, it is quiet and lazy, a perfect picture of serenity. The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve protects and maintains over 70,000 acres of the New River Gorge in the Appalachian Mountains of southern West Virginia That makes me happy. |
Wanting to explore, I drove around and scouted out the sights. It was cloudy and threatening rain, but while I camped there it was mostly dry. Even though it hadn't rained, my tent was soaked from the morning dew, and had to dry out for a day before I used it again.
One of the nicest places I found was Sandstone Falls, which was not far from the campground. It was beautiful, with hiking trails all around the area, cascading waterfalls, trees and clouds.
This fruit tree was hanging over the river. I am not sure what it was, maybe peach or apple.
From one viewpoint, the falls were surrounded in green foliage. So pretty!
Along the trails I took this photo, and as you can see it was getting late and clouds were abundant.
I liked the boardwalks and overlooks that were built to view the river.
The reflections in the water always catch my eye, that and the driftwood stuck in the falls.
I had a long rode ahead of me, and the visit to this beautiful gorge gave me the strength to carry on. It was a total of nearly 3000 miles that I drove on that crazy trip.
The following day I drove up to the opposite end of the park to see the New River Gorge Bridge. At the visitor center I took these stairs, over 200 of them, yes I counted, down to the view point.
It was very early in the morning when I arrived at the viewpoint. No one else was around. Wispy fog encircled the bridge. It was amazing.
The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge, 3030 feet long, over the New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. Quite impressive to see it in person. From the viewpoint I was able to see the train running along the river, and was reminded of the song, "Riding on that New River Train, riding on that New River Train, same old train that brought me here is gonna carry me away again."
After I packed up and left the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, I passed through a small town, got out and took some pictures. I cannot remember the name of this town, and if anyone recognizes it, please email me! Back in the car I headed toward Clarksville, Tennessee.
After a nice visit with my friend Don Jarrell and family, I drove through several more states until reaching the McClellan Creek National Grassland in Texas. The water was all dried up and yet the landscape was just beautiful. However there were a lot of stickers there and I had to move my campsite several times to get away from them.
By the time I resettled, the sun was setting and I noticed the unearthly sounds of thousands of cicadas, all making noise. The sound would ebb and flow like the tide, and it made me feel like I was on another planet!
Come morning, I packed up again and headed into New Mexico. That is when it really rained hard. It rained so hard that I thought it was going to crack the windshield! I just slowed down and said my prayers, trusting that I would make it through.
It finally stopped raining long enough to get out and look around. Near the railroad tracks I found some old rusty railroad spikes. It was cool. Just as I turned around and headed back to my car, the train came chugging by, fast as can be.
As the sun started going down, the sky began swirling with color, orange, red, purple, yellow. A glorious sunset indeed. Time to look for a place to sleep.
The next morning, I drove through Ludlow California and stopped for gas. I nearly died to see that it was $7.49 a gallon! I declined to fill up, and instead wandered in the back, looking at the sand and rocks. When I turned around to head back to my car, 3 mules were staring at me. I think they were mules, but I am a city girl and could be wrong. And with that I said goodbye to the mules and kept on driving until I reached my home in southern Cali. O happy day! It is getting late and I must go. May God bless you and yours, and keep you safe this night and many more to come. Adios! Susan Little