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.
Meadow River
The Meadow is two things at once: an exceptional and demanding whitewater run, and one of the most significant new climbing developments in the eastern United States over the past decade, with hundreds of routes established on clean sandstone in a deep, quiet gorge. The lower Meadow enters the Gauley and is protected within the national recreation area.
Know before you go
- Meadow River Valley Association is the group to follow for access
- Rain-dependent for paddling
- New route development means information changes fast — check Mountain Project
What you can do here
Hundreds of routes have gone up on clean sandstone in this gorge over the past decade, which makes it one of the most significant new developments in the eastern United States. It also means printed information ages fast — Mountain Project is where the current route and approach beta lives. Follow the Meadow River Valley Association for anything to do with access.
Local organizations
Class IV–V and rain-dependent, which together mean the run exists when it has been raining and not otherwise; spring carries the peak for that reason. The lower river enters the Gauley inside the national recreation area. Watch gauges rather than the calendar, and go with people who know the lines — a deep, quiet gorge is a bad place to have a problem.
Local organizations
Whitewater Kayaking across West Virginia →Walking access here was built by climbers rather than trail crews, and no trail mileage is published. What the record does establish is the shape of the place: a deep, quiet gorge whose lower end is protected within the national recreation area. Climbers' approaches change as new routes go in, so check Mountain Project and the Meadow River Valley Association.
Local organizations
Flow depends on rain, so levels swing hard through the year and a stretch that fishes in April can be bones in August. No species are published for this river in the record — check WVDNR regulations for the drainage. The lower river lies inside the national recreation area, so ask whether federal rules apply on top of state ones.
Local organizations
Guides, gear and lodging near Meadow 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.