I'm looking at our newest National Park for when we can travel again. It was previously a 'National River' recreation site but was expanded to National Park status just last December.
7 hours drive from here. No motel rooms (yet), but some towns nearby.
Plan Your Visit - New River Gorge
https://www.nps.gov/neri/planyourvisit/index.htm
Hadn't heard about the new status. It's a pretty area.
> new status
It was in the fine print of that stimulus package Congress sent to Trump ...the one he stalled on.
>pretty
I'd heard of New River kayaking in the North Carolina mountains and probably had it confused with New River Gorge in WV.
New River State Park | NC State Parks
https://www.ncparks.gov/new-river-state-park/home
I drove through that area a couple times on the way from Florida to Ohio (wife's family from Columbus). Very beautiful area. Wish we had more time to spend there.
Popular climbing area since maybe the late 1980s. Supposedly the first route led in the Gorge was Zag in 1975, so I think if it as a "new" area compared to, say, Seneca Rocks, WV, where the 10th Mt Division trained for the Normandy invasion or the Gunks where some of today's mega-classics were established in the 1930s. So as a kid learning to climb, it was never on the radar in the way Yosemite or El Dorado Canyon or the Tetons or the Gunks were.
https://vimeo.com/groups/113227/videos/53636034
https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105855991/the-new-river-gorge
https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/climbing/best-of-the-new-river-gorge/
New River Gorge reports 30 percent bump in visitors following National Park designation
https://www.wvva.com/2021/12/27/new-river-gorge-experiences-30-percent-bump-visitors-following-national-park-designation/