Sarah's Appalachian Adventures: Hawk's Nest State Park

I spent the last week at a work related training in Anstead, West Virginia--more specifically at Hawk's Nest State Park. The training was boring, but the scenery was amazing. We spent the evenings exploring and sight-seeing.

Hawk's Nest State Park is 276 acres that border the rugged ridges of the New River Gorge. The lodge of Hawk's Nest is on built on to the side of the mountain, surrounded by miles and miles of river, cliffs, and trees. The views were absolutely stunning.

The first night that we were there, we went to see some of the falls of Hawk's Nest.

Our first stop were the Cathedral Falls. It is named Cathedral Falls, because the falls are so tall and they run into an amphitheater at the bottom. Its hard to describe, but the base is like a big bowl shape.

There wasn't too much water flowing over the edge of the rocks this day, so we were able to climb pretty close up to the top.

They were pretty cool none the less.

Our second stop of the day was the Kanawha Falls of the Kanawha River. They are on the southern edge of the gorge, near the Gauley Bridge. The Kanawha Falls are only 15 feet tall, but are really wide. In addition, the water is pretty intense on this end of the gorge, so the falls are really loud.

On the left side of the photo you can see just how powerful the water on this end of the gorge is.

Our final stop of the day was the New River Gorge Bridge. It was amazing! I have been wanting to check it out for a while now, and i am so glad that i did.

First we drove over the bridge, then we stopped at the lookout to see the bridge from up high. We actually had to walk down about 120 steps to get to the lookout.

It was so amazing to see in person, the photos don't really do it justice. It is enormous, and spans the entire gorge.

We then went down "stupid's hollar" also known as Fayette Station Road--to see the bridge from below. These views were even better than the views from the top.

This viewpoint offered a unique perspective on the bridge. The New River Gorge Bridge was completed in 1977 and is the World's largest single span steel bridge. It is 876 feet above the water below, making it America's 2nd highest bridge. The bridge dramatically changed travel patterns in the area-- the Fayette Station Road was at one time the only way to cross the water. The bridge turned the over 40 minute drive up and down a hollar into a quick drive straight across the gorge.

Then we went back to the lodge and headed out a trail to "Lover's Leap"

This is a photo from the edge of the cliff at Lover's Leap. The gorge curves right at the edge of Lover's Leap--these are photos of each side.

The next day, after training--we headed out the Cliff's Side Trail. The brochure described it as a rugged trail with spectacular views. It was supposed to have two overlooks and one view of Turkey Falls. It was supposed to be about 2 miles long, and then you would return back on the service road. As you can tell from the photos, it was not really so much a trail as it was a rock climb. It was intense and at times scary. There were a few times that i would put my foot down, and the ground would crumble away--almost causing me to fall down the side of the mountain cliffs. It was really cool, but i was glad when we reached the end.

This is looking up--overhead, much of the trail passed under the edges of higher cliffs.

Here on the trail you had to climb part of the rock to make it between the edge and the tree. Just on the left side of the tree was the edge of the mountain.

This is also looking up and into a cavern on the underside of a cliff. The marbling of the rock colors is absolutely amazing in real life.

In this section, the trail passed underneath that overhang. It is hard to tell, but there was not much space there--we had to crouch down pretty far to make it under that rock.

On this section the trail passed really close there next to the rocks. It was pretty intense at times--definitely not a beginner trail. We also saw some cool plants--and bugs. There were so many bugs.

I almost walked into an enormous spider! it was disgusting.

On the way back we stopped at the overlook from the road. It offered some pretty amazing views.