We didn’t tent camp at this beautiful park, but we did stay very close by. Click here to view campsite information and amenities. Some of their sites are “Paddle In Only,” which is pretty unique!
Over Fall Break, we stayed in a cozy A-frame cabin with a hot tub, space to spread out (three floors), a large table for games, extremely comfortable beds, and beautiful views near the NC/Virginia border. Click here to check out the listing! After packing & checking out around 10:20 a.m. on Sunday, we drove 9 minutes to New River State Park. I love how close we were!
We visited in mid-October, so the fall foliage was beautiful, and as first-time visitors, we parked at the Visitor’s Center. We stamped our NC Passport State Park books, plus checked out their nature center exhibits. Elias got to touch an opossum, duck foot, raccoon tail and fur, eastern cottontail rabbit fur, a muskrat, and more. He also played a matching game of the “Animals on the New River.” Such fun!
It was lightly sprinkling, but we wanted to stretch our legs before the drive home, so we set out on a short hike — Hickory Trail. I think we walked about 2 miles. Click here to view all trails available to take in the park.
The hellbender — the largest salamander in the U.S. — and 14 species of rare and threatened plant species inhabit the New River Valley, but we didn’t get to see the hellbender on this visit!
I appreciate that NC State Parks are FREE to visit (way better than SC in this department!) and they are huge! This park covers over 3,000 acres!! The woods were breathtaking, and the hike was perfect for our group.
The unique thing about our visit is that it was after a night of hard rain, so the river was rising and rising. We decided to take one short detour and instead of continuing the loop around and back to the Visitor’s Center, we took the trail down to the river.
You can see in the photo below that the trail to the left was completely flooded and the sign was almost completely submerged. Wild! It was neat to stand there and watch the river rush by before getting back to the loop trail.
The restrooms at the Visitor’s Center were very nice, so we made sure to use them before getting on the road. I packed sandwiches for us, so we all ate our lunch in the car on the way home. Elias has been playing “Visitor’s Center” ever since we returned home. He puts his insects and animals in different compartments of his car box & then asks us to come visit and view his specimens. What fun! Life is good.
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