Grandview North Overlook

The Grandview North Overlook sits at the rim of one of the deepest gorges in the eastern United States, where the New River has carved a 1,000-foot canyon through 300-million-year-old Pennsylvanian sandstone and shale. From the overlook platform, the river appears as a silver ribbon 1,200 feet below, and on weekends the bright jackets of rock climbers are visible on the vertical sandstone walls directly across the gorge. The Grandview Rim contains some of the finest climbing routes in West Virginia, including the celebrated Endless Wall, whose 200-foot faces are plainly visible from this vantage. The short, mostly level path from the parking area is accessible to a wide range of visitors and is particularly stunning in mid-October when the hardwood canopy reaches peak color. The canyon below functions as a natural wind tunnel, and updrafts carry turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks at eye level past the overlook throughout the day. Interpretive signs explain the geological history of the gorge and the coal-mining heritage that brought railroads through this remote canyon in the 1870s.