New National Park - New Gorge, West Virginia
A positive to take into the New Year is the introduction of a new National Park. Located in the south-eastern part of West Virginia, New River Gorge has been managed by the National Park Service as a national river since 1978, however the new identity as an official National Park will boost revenue for local businesses along with providing opportunity for the area.
The park encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along the New River, is rich in cultural and natural history, and offers an abundance of scenic and recreational opportunities. Some of the activities the park has to offer include white-water rafting, canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, fishing, hunting, bird watching, camping, picnicking, biking, and just enjoying the solitude the natural world.With spectacular scenery in every direction, this place is set to be a must-visit. Additionally, the New River slices through the Appalachian Mountains, home to some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. This has created many habitats including untouched forest, cliff and rimrock habitats, providing refuge for the abundance of wildlife living in the Park. The waters of the New River System are also filled with life, home to diverse aquatic population such as fish, mussels, crayfish, including rare amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
In addition, the park is home to over 1,400 established rock climbing routes ranging from 30-120 feet high on hard sandstone cliffs, attracting rock climbers from all over to visit the area in Spring an Fall. Furthermore, the viewpoints in the park will allow you to see where the first railroad tracks that were opened back in 1872, used to shop coal out of the gorge. Hikers are able to see ruins of old mining towns in addition to old rail yards, depots, rail equipment and associated towns that were in place to support the railroad.Also contributing to the area's rich cultural history are surviving examples of subsistence farms, former community sites, homesteads.
