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New River Gorge-ous LbNA #24471 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Big Beard
Plant date:Not specified
Location:
City:Fayetteville
County:Fayette
State:West Virginia
Boxes:1
Found by: Traveling Toad
Last found:Sep 9, 2008
Status:FFFFF
Last edited:Mar 18, 2023
The New River is the second oldest river in the world. It flows northward out of North Carolina into Virginia and West Virginia. At numerous spots along the way, bridges traverse the river, but no span is as spectacular as the New River Gorge Bridge at Fayetteville, West Virginia. This letterbox will acquaint you with the gorge and the bridge.

Located on Route 19 in Fayette County, the New River Gorge Bridge stands 876 feet above the New River. It is the longest single arch bridge in the western hemisphere, having relinquished the world title to a bridge in Shanghai early in 2006. On the north side of the bridge is the National Park Visitor Center. You will certainly want to stop there and see the exhibits about the river and watch the short film about the building of the bridge. It is an engineering marvel. There is a boardwalk and overlook where you can get a pretty good look at the bridge and the gorge, but the search for this letterbox will take you down under the bridge where you will see all sorts of views that you can never even imagine while staring at the deck of the bridge. For additional information on the bridge and the gorge, check out this web site:
http://www.nps.gov/neri/bridge.htm

To begin your search, from the National Park Visitor Center drive north on Route 19 to the next exit on the right: Lansing-Edmond Road. Turn right on to this road and travel just a short distance (less than a mile) to the Beauty Mountain Kayak building on your right. Turn right here on to Route 82 - Fayette Station Road. Immediately after turning on to Fayette Station Road, you will come to a fork. Take the left fork of the road. This will start your descent into the gorge. Now, please be cautious. This road is very narrow and twisty with some deep drop-offs along the way. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS FIND IF THERE IS ANY ICE OR SNOW ON THE ROADS. From a point not far from the fork it will be just one way, but you might meet some cars coming from the opposite direction until that point. Be careful!

As you drop down into the gorge, you will catch glimpses of the bridge, rock out-croppings, and the river. Whoever is driving should watch the road and not the views. Drive slowly, or stop at one of the pull-offs if you want to see the sights. The location spot for the box that you are looking for is a pull-off on the left side of the road just as you reach the bridge. As you approach the vertical supports of the bridge, there will be three pull-offs close together on the left right before you pass under the bridge. The middle pull-off has an informational plaque about the gorge and bridge. The third pull-off is the one you want for the box. If you miss it, there is a forth pull-off with a port-a-john just after you pass under the bridge. You can park there and walk back one pull-off if necessary. (It is just a few yards.)

At the third pull-off, find the trash can at the left end of the guard rail. Do you see all the big rocks along the perimeter of the pull-off? Count over three rocks to the left. Look behind the third rock to the rock behind it. Behind that rock under its edge and between the rock and the tree, you will find the letterbox. It should be covered with a smaller rock to help camouflage it. This area, especially on weekends, may be very busy with tourists, so be discreet and please re-hide the box better than you found it. You will need your own ink pad and pen to stamp and sign our logbook. The usual safety disclaimers apply.

After you have found the box, you must continue your trip down the gorge; remember that this is a one-way road. At the bottom of the gorge you will cross a Tunney Hunsaker Bridge. (If you found our Tour de` Fayetteville letterboxes, you will already know about Tunney, Cassius Clay’s first professional boxing opponent.) Once across the bridge, there is a parking area where you can stop and watch the white water rafters navigate the Fayette Station rapids. If you look up on the north side of the gorge, you might see some rock climbers on the rock face. Continue your trip up out of the gorge. There is a nice trail head and parking area on the right part way up the south side of the gorge. (You might want to park here and take the hike out into the forest.) On up the road, you will pass under the bridge again, this time on the south side. Imagine what it took to build this bridge! Even more amazing, imagine that before the bridge was here, this was the main vehicular route through this area. Traffic was two-way on this road and many people in the area can still recall traveling this way back and forth to work every day all year long.

Once back up on Route 19, you might want to try out one of Fayetteville’s fine restaurants. I recommend Pies and Pints, Gumbos, the Cathedral Café, and Sedona. All are outstanding places to enjoy a fine meal and cool drink. If you are coming here to letterbox, you will want to avoid this area on the third Saturday in October. Every year, Fayetteville is host to the largest gathering in the state; Bridge Day. On this day, for eight hours or so, the bridge is completely shut down and people can walk on the bridge. There are lots of food and craft booths set up along the bridge and BASE jumpers come from all over the world to legally jump off the bridge and plunge into the gorge. On Bridge Day, the little town of Fayetteville swells from it normal population of 2,700 to over 150, 000. Yes, that’s right … more than 150,000 people come to the bridge that day. You can come to visit the bridge, but letterboxing and travel under the bridge is impossible. You can find out more information on Bridge Day at this web site:
http://www.officialbridgeday.com/index.html


Please email me and let me know that you have found the letterbox and tell me if the clues are easy to follow. WVBigBeard@yahoo.com