September 11 – September 13
New River Gorge, located in southern West Virginia, is the newest national park in the United States. This stunning park boasts a deep, rugged canyon carved by the New River and is home to the largest single-arch bridge in the northern hemisphere.
The journey from Shenandoah River State Park to Rifrafters Campground in Fayetteville, WV, took a little over four hours. Before leaving Shenandoah, we had trouble folding the camper steps. Ron managed to get them up but remained worried, so we kept an eye on them. About 30 miles into the trip, I noticed they had partially dropped down, forcing us to stop at the next rest area. Ron discovered a loose screw preventing the steps from locking in place. With an Allen wrench, he quickly tightened it, and we were back on the road.
We arrived at our campground, the Rifrafters, around 2:30 pm ET on Thursday, September 11, planning to leave on Saturday, September 13. It’s located just over three miles from the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, which we visited on Friday. The visitor center offers stunning views of the New River Gorge and its iconic bridge. There’s a bridge walk available beneath the bridge on a 24-inch platform. Participants are strapped in for the walk, which takes over an hour to complete. You have to sign a waiver beforehand, but I decided to opt out I’m not a fan of heights.
While at the Visitors Center, we followed a walkway that led to an amazing view of the bridge from the upper level and then took a 178-step wooden walkway down to an even better vantage point. Going down was easy, and coming back up was manageable. We captured some fantastic photos of the bridge and thoroughly enjoyed our walk.
The campground, unfortunately, was less than ideal, and we were eager to move on to our next site. While we can usually overlook minor details, the hosts were unfriendly and overly strict about parking our camper and staying off the grass. We understand the need to protect the grass, but our site was small, angled poorly for backing in, and left us with barely any space to park the truck. A little diplomacy and friendliness would have made a big difference in our stay.
Before leaving Ohio, I made nine sourdough pizza crusts, froze them, and brought them with us. On Friday evening, we decided to try making them in the Dutch oven with charcoal. We were thrilled with how well they turned out and are excited to try another variation sometime in the future.
Around dusk on Friday, gunshots were fired very close to, or possibly within, the campgrounds. It was an unnerving experience, something we had never encountered before while camping. The hosts were nowhere to be found during this incident, though they frequently sped up and down the road on their four-wheelers, kicking up dust at other times.
We were up early and on the road by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, heading to our next destination: Frankfort, Kentucky. As Kentucky’s capital city, it’s known for its rich history and its important role in the bourbon industry.
2025 Airstream Travels 