[GaliWalker]

Located in southern West Virginia, New River Gorge National Park, America's 63rd and newest National Park, is centered around one of the world's oldest rivers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/01/22/new-river-gorge-national-park/

Here are some shots of mine from two trips I've made to the region, when it had National River status:

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'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker
bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!"
Photography: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani/albums

[zephyr]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[GaliWalker]

You know, that didn’t even occur to me. 

By the way, the 7th photo in my initial post is of the New River Gorge Bridge, which is the longest steel span bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and America’s 3rd highest (876ft).

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'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker
bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!"
Photography: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani/albums

[Songs2]

Ridin' on that New River train
Ridin' on that New River train
Same ol' train that brought me here
Gonna take me back again.

Expect certain accoutrements to follow, some by federal regulation.
Chiefly, a lot more visitors.
Campgrounds and RV parks to accommodate same (possibly outside park boundaries; depends on NPS rules).
Information kiosks, entrance fees. More "Stay Off" and "Don't" signage.
Gradual domestication and homogenization.

I live an hour from Indiana Dunes National Park (61st NP, Feb 15, 2019) and certainly wish it had escaped that fate.

[monorail]

I was traveling through there a few years ago, and discovered an interesting feature I had not been aware of: on the east side of the river south of the US-19 bridge, there is a network of impressive ladders installed in the cliffs, to provide climbing access. For the non-climber, the ladders provide a really interesting way to experience the cliffs. From the "Endless Wall" trail, look for a side trail marked "climbing access", which leads to the first ladder. From there you can climb down, make your way along the base of the cliffs, and you'll find more ladders farther along.

I'm not really in favor of ladder installations of this kind, but as long as they're there, might as well take advantage! And it may be that the ladders were environmentally a better alternative to erosion-prone paths down steep slopes, which would have inevitably developed otherwise.

Great photos, as always!

[GaliWalker]

[Joey]

Here is the boundary of this new national park.
https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?center=37.858334,-81.044704&zoom=12&basemap=ESRI_scanned_topo_USA&overlay=nps_boundary&inline=overlay^name=nps_boundary^url=https://services1.arcgis.com/fBc8EJBxQRMcHlei/ArcGIS/rest/services/NPS_Land_Resources_Division_Boundary_and_Tract_Data_Service/FeatureServer/2^layers=2

I am in the process of creating one GISsurfer map for each national park.  Goal is to get done by end of March or so.

[GaliWalker]

Thanks! I was trying to find a good map showing the boundaries of the new park. Yours is great, and much appreciated!

Based on the map, looks like my 3rd and 5th photos are just outside the park boundary.

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'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker
bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!"
Photography: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani/albums