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.
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. A boardwalk from the parking area reaches the falls without stairs, making it the most accessible major natural feature in the park.
Know before you go
- River Road from Hinton is scenic but narrow and slow — allow 30 minutes
- The overlook on Route 20 gives the aerial view of the whole falls
- Smallmouth fishing below the falls is excellent in summer
What you can do here
Width is the subject here — 1,500 feet of river spilling between islands with a drop of only 10 to 25 feet, which no single frame from the bank contains. The Route 20 overlook gives the aerial view of the whole falls, and the boardwalk gives the close ones. River Road from Hinton is narrow and slow, so allow 30 minutes.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →A boardwalk runs from the parking area out to the falls without stairs, which makes this the most accessible major natural feature in the national park. That gets you to a 1,500-foot-wide waterfall rather than a distant view of one. Getting there is the slow part: River Road from Hinton is narrow, so allow 30 minutes from town.
Overlooks here
Smallmouth fishing below the falls is excellent in summer, which is the specific reason anglers make the drive out River Road from Hinton. The falls drop only 10 to 25 feet but span 1,500 feet, so the water below is broken and braided around islands. West Virginia licensing and current WVDNR regulations for the New River apply.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
The setting does the work here — a 1,500-foot-wide falls with islands scattered across the river at the point where the gorge begins to open. Island edges and broken water are the kind of habitat that repays a slow morning in May. The boardwalk holds you at a fixed distance, and no site checklist is published, so bring optics and patience.
Overlooks here
Call it a short walk rather than a hike: the boardwalk reaches the falls from the parking area without stairs, and no trail mileage is published beyond it. Treat it as a stop on the way to something longer, or pair it with the Route 20 overlook for the view of the whole 1,500-foot span. River Road from Hinton takes 30 minutes.
Overlooks here
Local organizations
Guides, gear and lodging near Sandstone Falls
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.
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.
Nuttallburg
An abandoned coal town at the bottom of the gorge with the most complete surviving coal conveyor and tipple complex in the country — a 1,385-foot inclined conveyor running straight up the hillside, once operated by Henry Ford.
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.