Episode Guest
Eve West – Chief of Interpretation
New River Gorge National Park
Park Stats
- Location: north of Fayetteville, WV
- 63rd National Park
- Date created: National River on November 10, 1978 (Jimmy Carter), 2020 Congress redesignated as a National park
- Park size: 70,000+ acres
- Field Notes:
- The New River is one of the oldest rivers on the continent
- Over 100 miles of hiking and biking trails
- Home to the New River Gorge Bridge – the longest steel span arch bridge in the western hemisphere, and the third highest bridge in the United States.
- 65 species of mammals, including chipmunk, squirrel, coyotes, red & gray foxes, groundhog, and more, 10 species of bats, 40 species of reptiles, 50 species of amphibians
Speed Round
What is your earliest park memory?
I grew up right outside of the very first National River ever established in the National Park System, which is a Buffalo National River established on March 1st, 1972, 100 years to the date after the very first national park, Yellowstone National Park. My first memory is probably being a little kid down there, learning how to swim in the river.
What made you love the parks?
Having the tremendous opportunity to grow up right next to one. But, beyond that, when I started working for the Park Service, it’s a fun place to go play and hang out.
The mission of the National Park Service, I love our mission. It’s nice to work in a job where you feel like you’re making a difference. Not everybody is afforded that opportunity. And I feel very blessed to have that.
What is your favorite thing about New River Gorge National Park?
The diversity. I love plants. I love walking around the trees and looking at different species. There’s so much about this place I haven’t learned yet. It’s a lifelong learning opportunity here.
What is your favorite thing to do at New River Gorge National Park?
Probably forest bathe, walk in the woods. I love to mountain bike and trail run. Although the older I get, the less the trail running is becoming. I just love being in the woods. So it’s a good feeling.
What park have you yet to visit but is on your bucket list and why?
I’ve not been to Denali and I wanna get up to some of the Alaskan parks.
What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
A map, a water bottle. And I never go anywhere without duct tape. You never know when you’re gonna need it.
What is your favorite campfire activity?
Making s’mores.
Tent, camper, or cabin?
I’m a tent camper, especially when you can pull the top off and look at night and look at the stars.
Hiking with or without trekking poles?
Right now I do it without, but there are plenty of times I wish I had one, especially here at New River ’cause some of our trails are pretty rocky and the (high) elevation change. It’s not a bad thing to have a trekking pole.
And what is your favorite trail snack?
That’s a hard one. I hate to say granola, that’s just so obvious. I like my protein, so I tend to lean towards those protein snacks,
What is the favorite animal sighting that you’ve had?
Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen was when I worked at Cape Cod in the wintertime. The seals would come down from the north and you’d see ’em right off shore.
And of course, now they’re down there more often. I was out there one day, and the seals were out there. And then there were organic birds dive bombing the water, and it was all going on at the same time. And it was this free wildlife show right off shore.
And I thought, boy, “I’m the luckiest person in the world.”
What is your favorite sound in the parks?
I love hearing the sounds of loons, but you don’t hear them much. Maybe that high pitch Raptor Eagle sound, is one I really enjoy hearing.
What is the greatest gift the parks give to us?
I think the derivation of the word recreation is re-creation and they offer us the opportunity to recreate ourselves, bond with other people, and especially in this day and time. I think that harmony is very important and I think National Parks offer that opportunity for us right now.
Show Notes & Links
Transcript
- Missy: We are headed to the country’s youngest national park where natural environment, industrial innovation, and the rights of workers all take center stage and one weekend a year. So does jumping off a bridge. Join me as we explore New River Gorge National Park. I’m your host, Missy Rentz, and this is the Parks podcast. We are so happy to welcome Eve West, who is the chief of Interpretation and education at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Eve. Welcome to the Parks podcast.Eve: Well, thank you. I’m very happy to be here.
Missy: So we start every episode with some stats. Let me go through this for this park. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is located north of Fayetteville, West Virginia. It is the 63rd National Park, so the newest national Park. In November of 1978, it was classified as a national river, but then in 2020, Congress re-designated it as a national park. The park is more than 70,000 acres, and in 2024 they had 1,811,937 visitors. Some interesting notes on the park. The New River is one of the oldest rivers on the continent. There are over 100 miles of hiking and biking trails in the park. It is home to New River Gorge Bridge, which is, the longest steel span Arch Bridge in the Western Hemisphere. And is the. Third highest bridge in the United States. There are 65 species of mammals, including chipmunks, squirrels, coyotes, red and gray, foxes, groundhog, and more. There are 10 species of bats, 40 species of reptiles. 50 species of amphibians. This is a great park and one of the things. I think about this park. So Eve there’s sometimes I go to a park and I know everything that I’m gonna see this is like the Onion Park to me. I went there for something and I just kept peeling away and finding more and more. And even as I was preparing for this episode, there’s more now that I wanna see. It’s huge.
Eve: Yeah, it’s interesting because people think of the Smokies and they think of parks like that, that are so biologically diverse, botanically diverse, and it is part of the reason I think that there are so many layers here to this. Park, it’s still fairly new, and so science is new here to a certain degree, and so there’s a lot of research yet to be done on the numbers of species and those sorts of things. So when you say like 65 species of mammals, that’s what we know about. There may be more. We are still a fairly unstudied resource here, so we are learning new things about this place every day. It’s a place that if you are a naturalist, whatever discipline that might be, you can really find a place here. You can find a niche here. There’s something to be studied
Missy: Absolutely. And we mentioned that, 47 years ago it was a National River and it is new. It’s only five years ago that it was made a national park. Why is it important that New River Gorge be part of the National Park Service?
Eve: It is a resource that is. Unsurpassed in the variety of things that we have. I’ve worked in a lot of different national parks and I’ve visited a lot of parks as well. You can’t help but compare things and, it’s apples and oranges. You can’t compare the Everglades to Mount Rainier or Cape Cod, there’s just so many different wonderful places that we have. I have a friend who works down the Smokies, and she said this to me one time, she said, you guys have it all. She said, you really have it all. And I said, yeah, that’s kind of true in some ways. I mean, we have spectacular scenery. We have the geologic story, we have the natural history, we have, the plants. But we also have tremendous recreational opportunities here. When you talk healthy parks, healthy people, this is a place you can get healthy. You can get hurt, but you can also stay, get healthy too.’cause there’s so many different things you can do here. So if you like to rock climb, if you like to mountain bike, if you like to river raft, hike, zip line, whatever it is that you enjoy doing, whatever your thing is, you can pretty much find it here. I always like to say, if you get bored here, the problem isn’t with the place
Missy: No. Well, and, you brought up like the physical, activities, but there’s also mental,’cause there’s so many historical spots within the.
Eve: Yeah. And I didn’t even touch upon that. So, since West Virginia, at one time being part of the Commonwealth of Virginia as well. The history here being part of the Eastern United States, goes back to George Washington in his young days. George Washington is a surveyor. A young man came through this area, long before there were aspirations of, of probably politics or the presidency. So yeah, it’s, the history here is very, very deep. It goes back to, prehistoric as well. And it’s interesting history. It’s neat stuff, and it’s varied. There’s a couple of stories here that I always like to, that makes us nationally significant. And one is that of Henry Ford who leased the mines here at New River from, 1920 to 1929. The mines at Berg in order to fuel his, automobile industry in Dearborn, Michigan. So Henry Ford was here. We’ve got infrastructure here still related to the Ford era, that was state of the art for that time period. He was here. And then we also have Carter g Woodson, who was the father of Black History Month, and he was a coal miner here. He was working the same coal mines that Henry Ford leased so we have those two really cool stories that are just little nuggets out there that a lot of people don’t know about. Mother Jones had a tremendous impact here on workers’ rights. So there’s that story here as well. So we’ve got a really diverse story. It’s not just coal mining and railroading and timbering. There’s all these little niche stories like that as well that makes this a fascinating place. You can’t get bored here in that regard.
Missy: And one of the things that’s unique about this park is it’s park and preserve.
Eve: Correct.
Missy: Why that designation? What does that preserve mean?
Eve: So there were movements throughout the years to transition this from a national river to a national park. The most recent one occurring in, you know, 20 16, 20 17. And they were first looking at National Park, but then they realized that if they made it just a national park, that would, discount. Hunting, which was a traditional use of the area. So in order to allow hunting to maintain that as a traditional use here, they decided to opt for the National Park and Preserve designation. And we are one of, I think. Two National Park and preserves in the lower 48. The other one being Great Sand Dunes in, Colorado. There are a number up in Alaska, but, and then there are national preserves here in the lower 48, but I think we’re one of just two of the national parks and preserves, unless that’s changed, things change all the time. But as far as I know that, that’s still the case. So about 90% of the park is considered national preserve where you can hunt in, during hunting season. And then the other 10% is National Park. So that hunting is not allowed in,
Missy: And I know we’re going a little more in depth in it, but we often talk about there’s parks that are for natural conservation and there’s parks for historic conservation. And you are both at New River Gorge. Can you tell us a little bit more,’cause you’ve already started on what is the historic conservation and then what are some of the natural conservations that are happening?
Eve: Yeah. So, when the park was established. Is the enabling legislation that established the park and, what the primary emphasis were to, preserve the spectacular scenery. They recognized the botanical diversity considered to be the most botanically diverse river system. In the lower Appalachian mountains, central to Southern Appalachian mountains. So, preserving all those natural features was very important. The geologic, I. Features that are here quite unique. And then, but they also recognized that there were the cultural features as well. So preserving that cultural history was very important. And the three main industries that they did focus on that they were looking at the most were coal mining. Timbering and railroading. So those are the three major stories that they’re told here. Preserving both of those elements and one really does not supersede the other. We’ve got, emphasis here on our natural resources, but also, on our cultural resources as well. There were around a hundred small towns. Running up and down the 53 miles that make up New River Gorge back during the heydays of the coal mining industry. So those remnants of those towns are still out there. And that’s part of what we monitor, with our archeology, with our cultural resource preservation. So that’s just, that’s a huge piece of what we do.
Missy: When I start my research for any conversation, I go to the National Parks Service, website first. And one of the elements that is talked a lot about on your section of the website is the changing forest and how that impacts the park. How is our changing forest system impacting the park and the resources?
Eve: This, in most cases, this is a recovering forest because, when they came in, when they built the railroad and, finished it in 1873 and all these little towns started popping up, of course they needed timber and things like that, the natural resources to sustain those towns. So, the forests were basically just denuded. In many, many areas. And so pretty much everything you see here in the park right now is, second growth. There are some old growth forests, some little pockets that they couldn’t get to, but for the most part, these are second growth forests. It’s tremendous how well this area has bounced back. If you look out, stand at Grandview at the main overlook and lookout, in front of you, you would never think that that area had been logged.
Missy: Never.
Eve: But it had been, most of it’s been logged.’Cause if you look at historic photographs, there’s, I’m not gonna say it’s, total, no trees, but it’s, there’s just not as much out there. It’s amazing the resilience of this land, how well it’s come back. And I think that does speak to the conservation and the, preservation, attitudes of the people that live here as well.
Missy: Is any of it about the climate of that area? And I ask,’cause I live in Virginia and so New River Gorge driving by you is kind of my gateway to the west. I always have to go through you and every time I’m headed that way. It’s either socked in by fog or, it’s socked in by rain or it’s this beautiful blue sky sunny day. So it’s really diverse climates up there
Eve: Oh yeah. It’s incredible. I mean, we do get a lot of moisture and a lot of rain here. In fact, I think Beckley is in the, the town of Beckley itself, which is pretty much in the center of the park, it’s considered one of the top 10 rainiest cities in the United States, so it’s, you feel like you’re in the Pacific Northwest at times here. Which is good. That’s why we have all this lush vegetation. But yeah, new rivers actually too. It’s also considered to be a carbon sink. This whole area is considered to be a carbon sink. And so, with changing climates and changing things, this is an area that actually absorbs carbon because of all the, the forests that are here. It’s a good thing. That’s why we need trees. That’s why we need this need to sustain this. If you look at a map of the Eastern United States at night and you see all the lights that are along the eastern seaboard and the eastern coast that extend throughout the east, you’re gonna see this big blob of black. And that’s West Virginia, that’s this whole area through here. It’s not that we don’t have lights here and in the night sky, but it is fairly, relatively speaking, undeveloped
Missy: it’s beautiful.
Eve: Mm-hmm.
Missy: one of the things that I’ve never talked about on the Parks podcast, and you’re not, the only park impacted, but you are one of the few I’ve seen that talk about it is invasive species. You have a whole section on the website and I’d love to talk a little bit about. What are invasive species, what it’s doing to the park and to forests specifically towards you, but I think it, it’s what you talk about will be replicated throughout the country and how can we control it.
Eve: Yeah. And that’s a, boy, that’s a good question. It’s a constant battle, especially when it comes to, well, you know, you go down to the Everglades. I mean, you look at the pythons and things that are down there. It’s just, once an animal’s introduced, it does not have an natural predator. It’s very, very difficult. And that’s why it’s so important for people, for us as individuals to take, personal responsibility. To try to not do those sorts of things. Now, here at New River in particular, throughout the Appalachians, of course you’ve got plant species that are non-native. That, and the problem is they take over. They just, they, they just take over and they can engulf. Like Kudzu is a good example. But we have different species here at New River that are specific to New River. We’ve got roughly, 1500. Species of plants that are native, we’ve got about 200 non-native species. And it is those non-native species, some of which are more. Obnoxious than others that can choke out some of our native species. And they engulf things like our cultural resources. You will see, old fences, stone fences and things that are just covered over in kudzu and some other things like that. We do our best to try to maintain those. We’ve done a variety of things. We’ve even brought goats in some areas to try to, eat things which work pretty well. Interestingly enough, we do use, some of the biological things that you can use to keep things at bay. Are we ever gonna eradicate things? We’re probably just gonna maintain things, and then there’s the whole philosophical discussion about what’s native versus introduced. But again, there are some species that we just prefer that they weren’t here.
Missy: How do we as part goers control it? Are there practices that we can do to help prevent bringing more or stop what’s there?
Eve: That’s an excellent question. And I think there’s small things we can do. One of the things we’ve encouraged or is our people to, to purchase firewood locally. So that way you’re not bringing it in from other places and you’ve got little bugs and things. You don’t know what you’re bringing in when you’re bringing firewood, if you’re coming in from outta state or something. And that’s how, because that’s how things get introduced. So, even some, we even suggest. Clothing and things like that. You don’t know what kind of seeds are on your clothing, those types of things. So had a native species spread, in a variety of or non-native species spread, invasive species in a variety of waves, a variety of ways. And some here at New River in particular, you’ll see along the railroad lines because the railroad used to use them for, providing insulation or things around or shipping in packages and things. So, seeds and things like that would blow off of some of the railroads that were, the trains passing through. And that’s how we get non-native species, along the railroad tracks. So those are just things that are really difficult to manage.
Missy: Yeah. And we, I wanna get into planning a trip to the park because there’s so much to see and in this conversation, we’ll get into a little bit more of the history too. But this was a park the first time I came. It was an intimidating park to me. And I think because it’s long and I, I wasn’t sure like. Where do I start? So what do you recommend, like maybe the first couple steps that people do in order to plan a trip to New River Gorge?
Eve: I think recognizing that it is not your traditional park, that like you go into the Smokies or Rocky Mountain or Yellowstone. We are long and skinny along a river corridor. There’s many entrances and exits. It’s good to know where those places are. We are, we have, I always like to think of them as not scenic drives, but scenic destinations. So there’s nothing, there’s no road that goes right along the river. There’s no road that goes all the way through the park. There’s no trail that goes all the way through the park. So you’re in and out. So you have to look from, we have our branding, which is the Arrowhead, and you have to look for that. That brown and white sign with the arrowhead on it, knowing where things are. Best thing to do is go to the visitor center first and get information. So we’ve got two main visitor centers, canyon Ram, which is where the A new Gorge Bridge is. The famous new Gorge Bridge that is actually our busiest. Place in the park. We have, we just did a traffic pattern study and there are more people that go there than anywhere else, which makes, so that’s a great place to start. Sandstone Vista Center down south, that’s is not quite as busy. That’s a great place for information as well, and it covers that southern end of the park. The park actually covers four different counties. It goes into four different counties. But the, the four national park areas that are here that we always suggest people visit include the lower gorge, which that’s the Canyon Rim area. Thurmond, which is, was the, the center of the, this whole area near the coal mining heydays. It’s an old railroading town. It’s a historic district, so Thurmond’s really neat to visit. Actually. There’s a depot there, it’s a flag stop for Amtrak. You can take Amtrak and get off the park, have a ride set up. You need to do that. There’s no transportation right there, but people do that. They get on and off the train in Thurmond fairly regularly,
Missy: I do wanna take a minute to talk about Thurmond because this is one of the, I think I was a little surprised that it was there,’cause I was thinking New River Gorge was more of the like natural resources. And I am learning how much I love the historical part of these parks, I think that. I sort of romanticize thurmond’s’cause when I read about it, it talks about like, it was a bit of a vacation destination for people at one time, once the railroad came there. But I think it was also used to get resources to and from the region.
Eve: Thurman was, I think 1910, there was more freight revenue, on that depot than anywhere else in the entire Chesapeake and Ohio rail line. So, I mean, it’s hard to imagine’cause you look at it now, it’s like. Really, but, you know, the rail line was the main artery that was the interstate highway of that time period. So in fact, there was a train track in Thurman before there was a highway in Thurman. There was a train bridge in Thurmond before there was a highway bridge in Thurman crossing the New River. So, you’re referring to it as a tourist destination. And that was truly the case because Thurman was also across the river from Thurman, was the. Famous Dunlin area. And so the Dunlin Hotel was kind of like what we call the Greenbriar up today. You hear about the Greenbriar Resort and some of these, one of these large, which is a large resort. That was the Dun Glenn Hotel. The interesting story is, the whole Dun Glen area was owned and operated by a man named William Kel. And then of course, across the river at Thurmond, you had captain, Thurmond and Captain Thurmond was a tto. William Mikel alcohol was served on that side of the river. So a lot of the reputation that Thurman has actually comes from that side of the river, the opposite side. But it was an interesting place. I mean, it was a self-sustaining. It was a place where the coal barons got off and they entered the New River coal fields. There were so many things that came through that little town of Thurman, it was its own thriving little community. They had fresh fish from, the Chesapeake on a daily basis. They had, newspapers from Chicago. It really was a happening, booming little place. It was kind of the entry place, to the rest of the gorge as well.
Missy: And I feel like that was an era where people really did seek to get out into nature for healing, for recovery, for rest,
Eve: Well and money during that time period. To make money. To make money. Yeah. That was one of the big things. It was a thriving economic, business here. They say that New River actually fueled the industrial revolution with the coal that was here. It was a very pure coal, smokeless. So, you know, it fueled Navy ships because there was no smoke produced. But it was said to be one of the areas that fueled the industrial revolution. A lot of the coal here was so pure that they actually transformed it into another type of fuel called Coke. Which was more refined, and so they had to actually cook and bake the coal to turn it into this more refined, Coke. And so that really helped fuel some of the steel mills and things like that in Pennsylvania and other places. So yeah, it was the center of a lot of activity for a variety of different things.
Missy: And you mentioned Berg. Can you tell us about that?
Eve: So Berg was the third place that coal was ever shipped out of the gorge. It’s a really good example too, of the town of Berg. The infrastructure was in place whenever the, railroad was completed in 1873. One of the reasons that the railroad actually came in here. Well, to connect the East and the West and, and the gorge was actually the last place that the CNO was built. They had built it on either side of it, but the last track laid to my knowledge, was around the Hawks Nest area. In fact, that’s where they dumped the, cup of water from the Chesapeake into the river. So kind of connecting,’cause it connected to Chesapeake, with the Ohio River Valley. But, but Berg was so, the infrastructure of Berg was in place whenever the railroad came through and, it was, just had an interesting history. And it was built by a man named Nut all, and he had, he was traveling through this area to somewhere else. I don’t remember where it was, but he stopped somewhere, I think it was in a little pub. And he noticed that the, they had a fire built and he noticed that the fire was not producing smoke. And he was like, Hmm, that’s interesting. Well, it was the smokeless coal. So he decided to stop here instead of going on to where he had planned to go. And this is where he, made his home and created the town of Berg. And the family, the not all family still lives in the area. Nettle Berg became a coal mine in the 1870s, and it persisted on up until it wasn’t the last coal mine to close Kenmore was the last coal mine. But it persisted on through, up until the, mid to late 1950s. I don’t recall the exact date. It was created the coal mine. Then, Henry Ford came in in 1920 and leased the mines. Built a whole different sort of infrastructure that was state of the art. In fact, if you look at. Pictures of Berg during the 1920s, you’ll see what looks like a big water slide that comes down from the bench level, which is where the coal came out, and then took the coal down to the river level where the trains came through. So, very, very innovated system. That was built there. There, and so he, but in 1929, he decided to give up his lease because he could not control the schedule of the railroad. So that kind of upset his business model. He couldn’t afford to buy the railroad, so he actually gave up the mines. Thriving mine and these little mining communities too were just, there were different ones. Some of them were not so good to the workers, not so helpful.’cause we all heard the story. You are owned by the company store. Others were better to work at than other, than, Berg was considered to be one of the better minds to work at. They had their own school, later on they had plumbing, things like that. So they had some of the modern conveniences and things. They did have their company stored, they had the Coke ovens, so it was a pretty classic little mining town.
Missy: Interesting. And there’s a lot of other great spots within the park.. I encourage people to go to the website to hear all the other stories and all the other different things that we can see. But I do wanna move into things that you can do’cause it’s. Endless at this park. And I think it goes from a quick stop as you’re, driving through and you stop at the visitor center. You walk and see the bridge to a week long vacation or more because it is so diverse. Can you tell us a little bit about the things that people can do when they come to visit New New River Gorge?
Eve: Yeah, sure. So, it really depends on what you like to do, and at what level you like to do it. We have whitewater rafting. That’s class four and five. They say it’s class four. As long as you stay in the boat. If you fall out of the boat, it can quickly become class five. A lot of undercut rocks here. The lower gorge does have whitewater rafting that people typically go along with one of the outfitters, unless they’ve got their own kayak or something like that. So you do wanna go with an outfitter unless you’re experienced. And we have a list of those in the park. But then there’s, quieter water on the upper news, for tubing and duckies and things like that. If you’re somebody that just wants to get out and enjoy being on the water, we have what we call the wild, and we have what we call the mild. We are considered to be one of the premier. Rock climbing destinations in the Eastern United States. Rock climbing tends to be at the more advanced level here, but there is, beginner level as well. Something too that you can go with one of the local outfitters. And we always encourage people also to look at our CBBs local, convention visitor bureaus. The Chamber of Commerce is check with them as well because they’ve got a lot of information that they can provide. There’s mountain, there’s rock climbing. We are one of the few national parks that allow biking on trails. And not all the trails, but a lot of the trails. It’s a rail trail here. So we have, the rail trail that you can bike on and there’s places to rent mountain bikes, or you can bring your own own bikes as well. We actually have 13 miles of single track mountain bike trails, specifically for mountain bikes and that a lot of most parks don’t have that. And then fishing, you can fish here. And you have to have a fishing license through the state of West Virginia. You can hunt here. You have to have a hunting license in the state of West Virginia in certain places. Good to know, for those, it’s good to know where you can and can’t go and when you should and shouldn’t go. So, and swimming, you can do, but it’s, there’s a lot of undercurrents in the new river. If you’ve got a family, if you’re looking for something a little bit more family friendly. We suggest going to Lake Summersville, a place which is just north of us, which actually feeds into the Golley River National Recreation area. And if you’re looking for extreme white water rafting, Golley River National Recreation area, we also administer that. And that’s one of the top 10 white water rivers in the world.
Missy: Well, and I think because of where you’re located and how it’s not, you’re traditional. You go in the grand arch of the park and you have the road through it. I do think you’re so well integrated with the towns and communities and resources around. You mentioned look at what’s going on in the towns around, but there’s state parks and there’s, national recreation areas. There’s a lot to do that is adjacent to the park as well.
Eve: Very much so. Yeah, we, a lot of these state parks could very much be part of the national park. In fact, Grandview was a state park and that became part of the National Park in 1991. We’ve got quite a few of these state parks that are around that, that, in terms of camping, our campgrounds at New River are primitive, no water, no electricity, but some of these state parks actually have hookups and things like that. So if you’re looking for that, private campgrounds that have that as well. There’s glamping, there is, there’s just all levels of, abilities to be outside or inside. In an outdoor setting here. And there’s a lot of, one of the towns we have these gateway communities like Fayetteville and Hinton, Beckley, then the town of Thurman, little town of Thurman Prince, places like that are, Oak Hill. They do festivals all the time and they have these neat little festivals and they’ve got their own little restaurants, eclectical restaurants and micro breweries and things like that. So that if you’re into that sort of thing, you can get the natural recreational, the historical, but you can also get that cultural piece as well within some of the local communities.
Missy: Obviously I want people to be in the parks and enjoying the outdoors, but these communities, it’s great artisans, great food, and you did touch a little bit on, on where to stay and I think, that the parks campgrounds could be limiting depending on your tolerance for primitive. But to your point, there’s a lot around it. And you can stay in a hotel, you could, where you would have all the luxuries you needed or you a campground or whatnot.
Eve: Yeah, that’s true. I mean, and Beckley tends to be the place that has the most of, of your chain. I. Places. So, and it is centrally located, so it is a good spot, but there’s a lot of Airbnbs and a lot of vrbo. And there are some of these, chain. Hotels and motels too, and some of the other gateway communities. But, one of the other things too that is interesting about this area is just that, we are, five and a half hours from dc We’re four hours from Pittsburgh, we’re three hours from Lexington. Six to eight hours from New York City, depending on when you leave, the time of the day, you get trying to get out of there. It’s not that far from all these places. We’ve got an airport in Charleston International Airport in Charleston now that you can fly into and rent a car in a 55 minutes, you can be in the park. And then we’ve got airports. Beckley actually has, Raleigh County actually has its own, its own smaller airport that is being served by flights coming in from, I think, Charlotte. So, not every day of the week, but Lewisburg has its own little airport to now Huntington’s. So there’s a lot of different ways to get it. Or you can take the train, you can take the train from DC get off the train in Thurman and you just need to have some transportation set up ahead of time. Some of the local outfitters will do that as well. And there’s car rental places in Buckley, so it’s a fairly easy place to get to. The only thing I always tell people and caution people is again, it’s not like going to a traditional national park where you just go like you alluded to go in the entrance. So it’s good to look at our website and good to plan ahead.’cause if you’re, like most of us, time is the most precious thing you have, so you wanna make the best use of it while you’re here.
Missy: This park is busy. It can be hard to get reservations and things. So this is a park that you need to plan in advance because of, how busy outfitters and places they fill up, especially summertime. It’s a little cooler there than everywhere else. And I think it’s just a really, appealing place to be.
Eve: Yeah. One of the advantages of this place is we don’t have a reservation system yet, like you do at Archer’s and some of the other National Park sites. But one of the disadvantages of that is, you do have to plan ahead and Memorial Day weekend, for instance, at one of some of our busier trail heads, there was no parking. And, it’s an issue. But do you want, I always say, do you wanna build a parking lot that you’re gonna have 4,000 people out on a trail? Is that an experience you wanna have? No, of course it’s not. If you plan on coming during those busier time periods, plan on waiting in line, I wish. We had the luxury of just being totally spontaneous in our lives.’Cause we all love that. But, especially those who are non planners and procrastinators. But it’s just unfortunate we don’t sometimes.
Missy: And one of the pieces of advice I was given and I share with others is that’s where it’s beneficial when you have a state park and a national park side by side because sometimes the state park has some options for you, for things and then you can just, pop into the national park and you guys are well set up for that.
Eve: Yes. And not only that, but we’ve got their bike trails. Some of the local communities have their own bike trails and things like that as well. It makes it wonderful because, e-bikes is a good example. We’ve got one very, very small trail in the park that e-bikes is allowed on. There are places outside the park that you’ve got an e-bike you can take it on.
Missy: And an e-bike would be appealing with all your hills. The one thing that I, we have not touched on is the bridge. I think it’s probably the iconic picture from the park, but this scene is unbelievable, for the bridge and you all celebrate the bridge with bridge day.
Eve: Yeah, and we always kinda laugh because the bridge is not actually in the park. It just connects us on both sides. It’s, owned by the state of West Virginia Department by the Department of Highways. Bridge Day itself is actually a community run event. So where we figure into it is they land on us because. People, jokingly, the joke is people jump off this perfectly good bridge, it’s one day a year, the third Saturday in October. And it’s a huge event. It’s the one of the largest, I guess it probably is the largest event, and it’s one of the top 10 high adventure events in the world. So, and it’s the only na, we’re the only national park that base jumping is allowed in. So yeah, but it happens a Saturday in October and we’ll have upwards of 80 to, I think they’ve had over, well over a hundred thousand people here during the day. And so what they do is they actually close. That section, the bridge down from seven o’clock in the morning until about five o’clock in the evening. Bridge day starts at nine and last till three, and there are vendors set up on either side of the bridge, and then jumpers come from all over the world. You’ll hear French, you’ll hear German, you’ll hear. All sorts of language is being spoken here and they jump off the bridge and then, land, on, at a targeted, if they’re lucky, a targeted site down below that’s on dry land. Some of them we’re down there in the boats ready to scoop’em out the river and things like that. And then there’s tandem jumps that people do so you can actually purchase a jump. And also people are zip lining off of, underneath or repelling. So just a lot of stuff going on and that short time period. So it’s pretty exciting. It should probably be on everybody’s bucket list at least one time to attend.
Missy: I don’t know. I get nervous just.
Eve: It’s one of those things, they make it look so easy. It looks so uneasy when they’re doing it.
Missy: Have you ever done it?
Eve: no, but I would. The tickets are expensive to purchase a tandem jump, but there is a lottery. But a friend of mine, she recently won the lottery and so she was like, does this mean I actually have to do it now? So, she did it. It was great.
Missy: I think Bridge Day sounds fascinating, but just to be there to see, the view is amazing looking at it, but I think just seeing nature and the architecture and industry of the bridge, combined. It’s just, I don’t know, there’s just something really special about that
Eve: It’s a beautiful example of human engineering. It really is. The other thing I do wanna mention though, as far as the bridge goes is, there is a pedestrian walkway underneath the bridge that there is a private company called Bridge Walk that they do provide, give the opportunity for you to be able to walk. Underneath the bridge as well. So it’s a two hour tour. They do it throughout the year. So that’s something else that you can do when you come here,
Missy: I have two big questions that people ask is, accessibility and.
Eve: So we are considered to be, let’s go to pets first. Pet friendly park, dogs on leash, six feet or less, but they are allowed on trails. And so that’s, that is something, we actually have a Bark Ranger program here,
Missy: bark Ranger.
Eve: Oh, good, good. That’s good to know. So yeah, we’ll love to get a, thing when they come here too. So yeah, we’re pet friendly. In fact, we’re actually starting a program with one of the local humane societies or animal shelters, that for, foster a dog a day in the park, high control,’cause it helps them. It’s something we can provide. So that’s something new. We’re just trying to get off the ground. And then the other thing, I’m sorry, you asked about. Accessibility. This obviously is not an easy park to access some places, but there are trails and places we have that are considered to be accessible. Sandstone Falls is the largest waterfall in the entire New River. So we have a boardwalk that takes you out. It’s wheelchair accessible, but beyond that, there’s a rail. I always like to tell people there’s levels of accessibility and levels of needs, it’s nice for some people, all they need is a place to put their hand to support themselves when they’re walking. And so that’s a rail to boardwalk that they can walk on. So there’s that. There’s also the boardwalk at Canyon Rim, that the upward viewing platform. Is, doesn’t quite meet the standards because of the slope. It’s just a little bit too sloped, but it’s, there’s. Lots of people out there with wheelchairs because it’s, and that provides a nice view of the bridge. And then in the wintertime you get a good view of the bridge. Of course, the visitor centers are all considered to be accessible as well. So, the main overlook at Grand View, which is the highest point, top to bottom in the river’s, 1400 feet from the, rim down to look at the river. That one is an old CCC Flagstone path that. That you can get to a certain point, but it’s, and then you can go out on a viewing platform. It does it again, that’s gonna depend on your level of abilities and your wheelchair, what your all that is as well. But that’s something that we are working on, we’re trying to continue to make better as time goes on.
Missy: I think that’s interesting when you get to a new park and you know that it is just evolving. Five years, five years old, so it is evolving and it will be interesting to see all the different improvements that are made in
Eve: And one more caveat, so if you get on our website, there are other places that are accessible in the park as well. So, so get on our website just to check out where all those places are.
Missy: I also do wanna bring up, the website does an amazing job’cause there’s places in the park that it would be hard for my van to go. And the website does an amazing job of. Really laying that out and putting little warnings and heads up to people. So even accessibility when it comes to the kind of vehicles you have. there are areas where if you have a big vehicle, it’s just not a good idea for you to go to.
Eve: exactly.
Missy: before we get into our speed round, I do wanna show a little love because you guys have a friends group that, is really important to the work that’s done in the park. And maybe you could just tell us a little bit about the Friends of the New River Gorge.
Eve: I would love to, and thank you for bringing that up. People ask us all the time, how do we help the park? And I always say, join our friends group. Because they are a primary philanthropic partner and they do a lot of wonderful things for us. But they’re young, they’re new, they’re getting started. They just hired their first full-time executive director, who’s gonna be trying to help them, work with fundraising and those sorts of things. They do things for us that we can’t do, and they do a lot of wonderful things for us. They actually have their own website that you can, it’s Friends of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. So if you put that in your browser, it’ll take to their website. You can join there. There’s other things you can do there as well. It talks about some of the things, they’ve done. Our friends group is a wonderful way to help the park if you want to do that.
Missy: We’ll link to them from the episode page. So if you go to the Parks podcast, you can find that link
Eve: Perfect.
Missy: So we end every episode with a speed round of questions. Just answer whatever comes to mind. What is your earliest park memory
Eve: I grew up right outside of a national, the very first National River ever established in the National Park System, which is a Buffalo National River established, March 1st, 1972, 100 years to the date after the very first national park, Yellowstone National Park. So my first memory is probably being a little kid down there just learning how to swim in the river.
Missy: And what made you love the parks?
Eve: Well, again, probably, having the, the un tremendous opportunity to grow up right next to one, as well. But, beyond that, when I started working for the Park Service, I like most people, I’m like, yeah, it’s a fun place to go play, hang out, you’re a teenager, learn how to drive, things like that. The mission of the National Park Service, I love our mission. It’s nice to work in a job that you feel like you’re making a difference and not everybody is, afforded that opportunity. And I feel very blessed to have that.
Missy: What is your favorite thing about New River Gorge National Park and Preserve?
Eve: Again, the diversity. I love plants. I love just walking around the trees and looking at different species and things there’s so much about this place I haven’t learned yet, so, it’s a lifelong learning opportunity here.
Missy: And what is your favorite thing to do at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve?
Eve: Probably just Forest Bay walk in the woods. I love, I loved to mountain bike and I love to trail run and those sorts of things, although the older I get, the less the trail running is becoming. But, I just love being in the woods. So it’s a good feeling.
Missy: What park have you yet to visit, but it’s on your bucket list and why?
Eve: Oh my, I’ve not been to Denali and I wanna get up to some of the Alaskan parks. So that’s definitely one that’s on my bucket list.
Missy: What are three must haves you pack for a park visit?
Eve: A map, a water bottle. And I never go anywhere without duct tape. You never know when you’re gonna need it. So
Missy: What is your favorite campfire activity?
Eve: probably making some wars. Hands down,
Missy: And are you a tent, camper, or cabin person?
Eve: I’m a tent camper. I love being at, I’m a tent and so especially when if you can pull the top off and look at night at stars at night. So depending on how bad the mosquitoes are,
Missy: and do you hike with or without trekking poles?
Eve: Right now I do it without, but there’s plenty of times I’m wishing I had one, especially here at New River’cause some of our trails are pretty rocky and, the elevation change out. It’s not a bad thing to have a trekking pole.
Missy: What is your favorite trail snack?
Eve: Oh my, I don’t know. That’s a hard one. I hate to say granola, that’s just so obvious. But, I just, I’m a protein. I like my protein, so I tend to lean towards those protein snacks,
Missy: What is your favorite animal sighting?
Eve: Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen was when I worked at Cape Cod, in the wintertime, the seals would come down from the north and you’d see’em right off shore. And of course now they’re down there more often. But I mean, just, I was out there one day and the seals were out there. And then there were organic birds died bombing the water, and it was all going on at the same time. And it was this free wildlife show right off shore. And I thought, boy, am I the luckiest person in the world or what?
Missy: That’s special. What is your favorite sound in the park?
Eve: I love hearing the sounds of wounds, but you don’t hear them much. I just, maybe that high pitch. You know, Raptor Eagle sound, I probably is one I really enjoy hearing.
Missy: And what is the greatest gift that the parks give to us?
Eve: I think just, the derivation of the word recreation is recreation and they offer us the opportunity to recreate ourselves, bond with other people, and especially in this day and time. I think that harmony is very important and I think National Parks offer that opportunity for us right now,
Missy: I agree with you. Thank you so much for being part of the Parks podcast and sharing this incredible park and its preservation and history and all of its goodness.
Eve: Well, you’re most welcome. It’s a nice place to talk about. You could, it comes from the heart,
Missy: Thanks for joining us for today’s episode. Until next time, we’ll see you in the parks.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please be sure to like and share on your favorite podcast platform. Music for the parks podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. For more information, please follow us on Instagram at the parks podcast. Or visit our website@theparkspodcast.com.