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.
Bluestone Turnpike Trail
Eight and a half miles along the Bluestone River between Pipestem Resort State Park and Bluestone State Park, following the line of an old turnpike through the gorge. Rated easy to moderate, which for this part of the state means the walking is level and the effort is in getting down to it and back out: the connecting trails from the Pipestem rim drop 500 feet.
Know before you go
- Starts at the Farley Loop and River Trail junction inside Pipestem Resort State Park
- The tram from the Pipestem rim runs seasonally; walking out is 500 feet of climb
- Bluestone National Scenic River protects the corridor it follows
What you can do here
Guides, gear and lodging near Bluestone Turnpike Trail
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the New River Gorge
New River Gorge Bridge
A 3,030-foot steel arch carrying US 19 some 876 feet above the New River — for decades the longest single-span arch bridge in the world, and still the image most people carry of West Virginia.
Endless Wall Trail
A 2.4-mile point-to-point trail along the gorge rim through hemlock and rhododendron, crossing Fern Creek on a footbridge and reaching Diamond Point, an exposed rock outcrop with a view up the gorge to the bridge.
Long Point Trail
About 3.2 miles round trip on mostly level old roadbed to a rock promontory below the rim, which provides the most-photographed view of the New River Gorge Bridge.
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.
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.
Kaymoor Miners Trail
A steep descent from the gorge rim to the ruins of the Kaymoor One coal mine and processing plant, including 821 wooden steps down the former haulage incline.