Rafting West Virginia

Date:July 10, 2014

I have lived in Ohio for six years now and have always wondered about the rafting in West Virginia. The other weekend we hopped in the car and headed east to find out! I took this trip with my boyfriend and several of his friends, this was a perfect way to visit the new River, with a large enough group to fill out a cabin, but small enough to fit in one raft privately.

EXPERIENCE

We started our drive east after work and made it to The New River Gorge in West Virginia just after nightfall. We stopped along the way for pizza and local brews in a small town. We got to our cabin and had an early start the next morning for rafting the New River. We ended up being pleased we took the earliest time slot since this allowed us to avoid much of the traffic on the river. There are several rafting companies all which offer pretty much the same half day rafting packages. Each include lunch, a raft, a guide and a trip back to your car when it’s all said and done. We were really pleased with the company we chose and had an amazing day on the river. The water was very warm and we were able to swim, cliff jump, swim down a few rapids and even perform a rescue! The day was very exciting, just long enough and we got to enjoy the scenery of the gorge as well as the New River Bridge, which is the largest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

We had an awesome time and look forward to hopefully visiting again in the fall when the Gauley River is open for rafting. This river is dry until the dam lets out and the river becomes one of the top whitewater rafting destinations in the country, boasting many 5+ category rapids.

STAY

While here we decided to go the easy route and get a cabin rather than camp. We chose a cute cabin slightly out of the way. I won’t go on to recommend this place, as many in the area look suitable and similarly priced. Look online for what suits your groups needs, a hot tub is always a nice amenity after a long day on the river.

EAT

The options were pretty dismal as far as restaurant options go in this neck of the wood, I’d suggest buying or bringing groceries and cooking on your own. A grill may be another good feature to look for in a cabin, it came in handy for our group.