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.
Gauley River
The most celebrated whitewater in the eastern United States. The Upper Gauley drops roughly 335 feet in about 10 miles through more than 100 rapids, including five rated Class V: Insignificant, Pillow Rock, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring and Sweet's Falls. It runs on scheduled autumn releases from Summersville Dam — roughly six weekends beginning the Friday after Labor Day — plus spring flows. The Lower Gauley is Class III–IV and a superb run in its own right.
Know before you go
- Most outfitters require prior rafting experience and a minimum age for the Upper
- Gauley Season weekends book months out — reserve early
- The Lower Gauley is the better choice for first-time big-water rafters
What you can do here
Roughly 335 feet of drop in about 10 miles, more than 100 rapids, five rated Class V: Insignificant, Pillow Rock, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring and Sweet's Falls. Most outfitters require prior rafting experience and set a minimum age for the Upper. First-timers on big water should book the Lower, Class III-IV. Gauley Season weekends fill months out.
Local organizations
Private boaters get two windows: the scheduled autumn releases from Summersville Dam at 2,800 cfs — roughly six weekends beginning the Friday after Labor Day — and spring flows. The Upper's Class V is not water to learn on, with Pillow Rock and Sweet's Falls in the middle of it. The Lower runs Class III-IV and stands on its own.
Local organizations
Whitewater Kayaking across West Virginia →This river is documented for its whitewater, not its fish, and the record publishes nothing about what lives in it. Statewide the warm rivers hold smallmouth, but nothing here confirms that for the Gauley. Check WVDNR regulations, and check the dam release schedule — a bank you fished in August is under 2,800 cfs in late September.
Local organizations
Guides, gear and lodging near Gauley River
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.
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.