Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
Hinton
A railroad town on the New River below Bluestone Dam, with a preserved brick downtown and a stop on Amtrak's Cardinal route. Sandstone Falls, the Bluestone National Scenic River and the Class I to III upper New are all within a short drive, and this end of the national park receives far less traffic than the Fayetteville end.
What's here
- Sandstone Falls and the upper New
- Bluestone Lake and the Bluestone National Scenic River
- Amtrak Cardinal stops here
- Excellent walleye and smallmouth fishing
Lodging, food and gear in Hinton
Town-level listings for operators based here. Capped at four per basecamp page.
List your business hereWithin reach
Sandstone Falls
The largest waterfall on the New River — not tall, but 1,500 feet wide, spilling across the full breadth of the river between islands at the point where the gorge begins to open.
Bluestone National Scenic River
Ten miles of protected river in a deep, wooded gorge between Bluestone Lake and Pipestem — the least-visited National Park Service unit in West Virginia and the quietest.
Pipestem Resort State Park
A full resort park perched above the Bluestone Canyon, with an aerial tram descending 1,100 feet to a lodge on the river — the only state park tram in West Virginia.
Grandview
1,400 feet above a horseshoe bend in the New, with a seven-mile view up the gorge — the widest perspective anywhere in the park.
Best for
West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.