Bridge offers wonders to locals and visitors

By Cheryl Keenan

For those seeking to marvel at man’s sheer ingenuity and problem-solving skills, the New River Gorge Bridge majestically spans the New River between Fayetteville and Lansing. Travelers visit the bridge from around the world, stopping to examine the Western Hemisphere’s longest single-arch span.

The bridge, whose construction was completed October 22, 1977, is most popularly known for the event which carries its name, Bridge Day, and the hundreds of BASE jumpers, so named for the four objects from which they jump: Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth, who leap from its 876-foot height each October. New River Gorge Bridge Day is the state’s largest single day festival, and annually attracts 100,000-plus to the site in Fayette County. Bridge Day 2009 is set for Oct. 17 and will be the 30-year celebration of the event, during which the entire bridge is shut down and visitors may walk across the span, watching BASE jumpers floating to earth or whitewater rafters floating in the river below, riding a high line, shopping at the stalls of dozens of vendors and marveling at Southern West Virginia’s normally generous display of fall colors.

The New River Gorge Bridge means much more than Bridge Day, however, to locals and adventure lovers alike. Decades after its construction, it now is so firmly a part of the scenery and the daily lives of local citizens, it’s known simply as “the bridge.”

A trip deep into the New River Gorge, winding around the mountain on switchback after switchback, and back up the other side, used to take local residents around 40 minutes. Today, a trip across the gorge on the man-made marvel takes hardly more than that many seconds, and is much less dangerous.

The travel challenge solved by the completion of the bridge and the Corridor L (U.S. 19) highway opened the area to visitors eager to cut traveling time from their trips, but also to those eager to explore the countless recreational activities in Fayette County and Southern West Virginia.

The New River Gorge, its southern and northern sides connected by the 3030-foot bridge, and its activities are easily accessible and lend themselves to a multi-day stay in the area. From Nicholas County’s Summersville Lake south to Burning Rock and the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, opportunities for recreation — ranging from full-out, pedal-to-the-metal excitement of ripping along miles of trails on an ATV to more leisurely pastimes like riding a jetboat to the New River Gorge Bridge from Hawks Nest State Park and everything in between — abound in the area and the bridge ties it all together.

Fayette County, long known for its whitewater rafting companies, offers attractions like world-class birdwatching in the neo-tropical migratory haven of the Gorge and hiking on numerous trails within the New River Gorge National River, Hawks Nest, and Babcock State Parks, as well as local municipalities Ansted, Fayetteville and Oak Hill. National Park Service visitor centers are located at Canyon Rim, just off the northern end of the bridge, and at Thurmond, as well as Grandview in Raleigh County and Sandstone Visitor Center in Summers County.

For the more energetic and adventurous, the New River Gorge is noted around the world for its top-notch climbing opportunities, with sites across the area made more employable by the existence of the New River Gorge Bridge.

Tree-top canopy tours, during which participants explore the Gorge’s abundant forests and winding canyons, and snaking off-road trails for mountain biking attract those eager for a more physically involving adventure.

After an exhilarating, though tiring, day on the trails, the area offers dozens of hidden get-aways in which to relax and reload for more adventure the next day.

And the bridge has brought all that, and so much more, within easy reach of anyone willing to seek it out.

A visit to the New River Gorge Bridge is a must for those who’ve never seen it. A quick trip from Beckley north to Fayetteville or south from Summersville to Lansing on U.S. 19 will lead seekers there, and a stop at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center offers spectacular views of the engineering wonder which is the second highest single arch span in the country. In fact, for those who are curious, the Washington Monument could sit below the peak of the arch with the Statue of Liberty on top of it — twice — and still a 20-foot gap would be evident.

For more on the New River Gorge Bridge, or activities in Fayette County, call the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and New River Convention & Visitors Bureau at 304-465-5617.

— E-mail: ckeenan@register-herald.com