My kids have always laughed at me, because I like bridges. I'm not sure I really "like" bridges, but they ARE interesting, and I can appreciate the work that goes into designing interesting bridges. That is what brought me to the New River Gorge National River, and the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is located on the bluff right next to the HUGE New RIver Gorge bridge. When it was built, it was the longest arch bridge in the world, at 3030 feet long. The roadway is 876 feet above the river, and... this is important... there is a catwalk located 25 feet below the bridge deck.

I visited the Visitor Center, and the movie there talked about the coal producing region, and how the trip from one side of the New River to the other took over 30 minutes before the bridge. After the bridge, it takes under a minute. The old route and the old bridge in the gorge are still there, and are still operational, but they are one-way only. The visitor center has a great CD that you start when you start the drive on the old route into the gorge, and it talks a lot about the history of the area, how the coal towns were set up and also about the construction of the new bridge. I never had one of these before at a National Park, and it was a great way to give the information, in a new way.

Adjacent to the Visitor Center is the building for the "Bridge Walk" people. I went there and signed up for a tour of the bridge ON THE CATWALK!!! There were two other guys on the tour, as well as the guide. We headed out there, with hats, mittens, etc on. The temperature outside was about 45 degrees, and it didn't seem windy - until we were on the catwalk, and away from the south abutment. Then, the wind whipped to about 40 mph.!! It was really crazy. We were harnessed in, and there was no real threat of falling (far), but the wind, the height and the bouncing of the bridge when trucks went overhead made it all pretty harrowing. Apparently, it was too much for one of the other people on the tour - we were at about the half way point - where the catwalk is about 850 feet above the ground. THe guy was right behind the guide, told him he didn't feel well, and proceeded to faint. The guide caught him and guided him to the floor of the catwalk, but this guy was over 6 feet tall, and the guide was maybe 5 8, so it was a struggle. We didn't know if he was having a heart attack or what. The guy wasn't "out" long at all, and ended up getting sick, but then got to his feet. The guide decided we should turn around - which was probably a good idea, what with the wind and all... we left, but I still got a ton of awesome photos and a great experience. That other guy didn't.

After the tour, I went down the gorge with the CD from the Visitor Center, then went to a hike that was suggested by the lady at the Bridge Walk. It was the "Long Point Trail" - which is exactly what it sounds like. It is a 1.6 mile one -way (total of 3.2 miles) hike, out a long point, waaaay over the gorge. At the very end, it reminded me a lot of the Angels Landing hike, being that it was about 1000 feet down on either side of a narrow passage, but it was like that for only about 40 feet - not the half mile that Angels Landing was. I met a great couple on the hike, Cheryl and Charlie, that were on a year-long adventure. They had sold their house, and were RV-ing across America. We had a great chat, and they agreed to take my photo for me. They have a blog, at https://cctraveladventures.wordpress.com/ I made it on their blog. Read it! They called me "young"!!

After the hike, I stopped at the Tamarack, which is a place that sells local art. There was a glass blower there, and I paid him to give me a lesson, where I ended up making a blue and white vase. Good day!

West Virginia is beautiful, I will definitely be back!

#WestVirginia