New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Canyon Rim Visitor Center

Date of Visit: June 24, 2026

Our visit to Canyon Rim Visitor Center was mainly to get the America 250 stamps they had there. Dad and I had visited here before, but since it was Mik's first visit, we also walked out to the overlooks so he could see the river and the New River Gorge Bridge. As we wanted to make sure we had enough time at our next stop of the day in Ohio, we did not end up seeing the movie in the visitor center.

There is a good overlook of the river out the back door of the visitor center. You can also view the river out the back windows from inside the visitor center, but Mik found the frame lines of the window were right at eye level for him when Dad rolled him up to the window.

To see the bridge, there is a short boardwalk trail off to the side of the visitor center.

The trail continues down steps including a warning to know your limits as going down is optional, but coming back up is not. Even without going down the steps, you can get a decent view of the bridge.

Destination Info:

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Canyon Rim Visitor Center

162 Visitor Center Road

Lansing, WV 25862

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Sandstone Falls

Date of Visit: June 24, 2026

Dad and I previously visited in 2016 when it was a National River. That trip we only visited the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. This trip we also visited the Sandstone Visitor Center partly because they had some different America 250 stamps than Canyon Rim, but also because we wanted to explore more of the park this trip.

We ended up getting to the visitor center a little before closing time, so just Dad went in to get the National Park passport stamps. While doing that, he found out there was an accessible trail to see Sandstone Falls, so we decided to go do that before going to the hotel.

The drive from the Sandstone Visitor Center to Sandstone Falls is a scenic drive that takes you along the river on one side and then back on the other side to where there is an accessible boardwalk trail to view the falls.

While the trail is accessible, the parking is mostly not. There was accessible spots right at the boardwalk start, but they were occupied. Most of the parking is on another level of the hill and it is rather steep going between the levels. Thus, we unloaded Mik and then Dad parked. He did end up with a spot on the lower level by the trail. Even though the car next to us left just as we we got back to the truck, Dad had to pull out for us to load because there was a giant water puddle there.

Mik said it was a rather smooth boardwalk trail other than the initial transition up on to the boardwalk was a bit of a bump.

Just a little into the trail, there is a good viewpoint of Sandstone Falls.

At the end of the trail, there is another farther view of Sandstone Falls. Mik preferred the first view of the falls, but the whole trail was still worthwhile as the end view was a good view of more of the river.

Destination Info:

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Sandstone Visitor Center

330 Meadow Creek Road

Sandstone, WV 25985