Weekend with 4 kids at the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

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We spent a weekend exploring New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia. Our plan was to get a good mix of hiking, overlook, and time by the river, while staying somewhere that worked well for all six of us.

Taken before sunset from the Concho Rim Overlook

The New River Gorge in West Virginia is a whitewater river and is considered one of the oldest ones on Earth (this is not a mistake!), that flows north and is responsible for carving the deepest and longest river gorge in the Appalachian Mountains.

The park has a unique cultural history that contributes to its importance, including old coal mining towns and 19th century railroad tracks that broke the isolation of this land to the outside world (read further at the National Parks website).

The park offers many recreational activities, including whitewater rafting, biking and so much more.

There are a few coal-mining sites you can visit, and many hiking areas, including Fayetteville, Nuttallburg and others. Limited in time, and hiking with our 4 kids (who were 2-12yo at the time), we chose a family-friendly trail - through Glade Creek, leading to Kate's falls.

Hiking to Kate’s Falls

We decided to check out Kate’s Falls, beautiful waterfalls inside the preserve. There are actually two ways to reach it, and knowing the difference makes planning a lot easier:

• Option 1: Long Route (Glade Creek Trail)

  If you start from the Glade Creek Campground trailhead near Prince, you can hike the full Glade Creek (out and back) trail. It follows the creek for nearly 5 miles one way, which makes it 9.4 miles round trip. This is considered a moderate hike on AllTrails, with over 760ft elevation, so best if considered when your group is used to such long/challenging hikes.

• Option 2: Short Route (Glade Creek Road access) This is the shorter option, where you drive down Glade Creek road (a gravel road) to a pull-off trailhead that’s much closer to the waterfall. From there it’s about 1 mile round trip to reach Upper Kate’s Falls. This makes it accessible if you don’t want to commit to a long day hike but still want to see the waterfall.

We made it to the upper section of Kate’s Falls. The trail leads right to the drop where the water spills down into the gorge. You can continue farther to the lower section where the water flows into the creek itself, but even with the short hike, you still get to see the upper cascade without needing hours on the trail.

Concho Rim Overlook

We also visited Concho Rim overlook, which turned out to be the most scenic stops of the weekend. The overlook gives a wide view across the gorge and down toward the historic town of Thurmond. It’s easy to reach by car and doesn’t require a hike, so it worked well to fit in alongside our longer outing to the falls.

View across the gorge

At the Base of the New River Gorge Bridge

Another highlight was heading down near the ACE rafting exit point to see the New River Gorge Bridge from below. From the riverbank you get a sense of just how huge the structure is, and it’s a completely different experience from viewing it at the official overlooks. Being at river level also connected the two big pieces of the park: the water that built the gorge and the bridge that spans it.

For the kids, this stop worked well too. There’s space along the riverbank to climb around on rocks, explore the shoreline, and stay busy while we took in the view of the bridge

Trip Takeaways

🗓️ Trip Length: 2-3 nights

🚶 Main Hike: Kate’s Falls via Glade Creek Road (~1 mi loop). Longer option: full Glade Creek Trail (~9.4 mi out and back).

👀 Other Stops: Concho Rim Overlook, the base of the New River Gorge Bridge, and the Bridge walk.

🌦️ Weather: We came in April — cool and comfortable for hiking, but too early for water activities.

🧒 Kid-Friendly? Yes. The short hike to Kate’s Falls and Concho Rim are easy with kids. At the bridge base, ours enjoyed climbing rocks and exploring the riverbank.

🏡 Where to Stay: This time we rented out a cabin at ACE Adventure Resort — that's equipped with kitchens and space for families. The inflatable water park on the lake is open in summer but was closed during our April visit.

If you're interested in renting an RV and staying at a campground, but aren't sure where and how to start - visit My First Time RV rental guide that will walk you step-by-step through rentals, hookups, budgeting, packing, and what first-time renters usually miss.

Our RV Planning Calculator (downloadable xls file for free!) is an excellent way to explore the costs of your next RV family adventure!

📦 Want to skip the “what did we forget?” moment? My RV packing list covers the essentials, the comfort upgrades, and the small items that make daily life on the road smoother. Another super helpful tool is our Vegan RV Pantry Checklist, that walks you through the staples and basics in a moving vegan kitchen, to make sure you're covered for your next RV adventure!

🏓If you're looking to keep your kids entertained with something other than screens, on long road trips or on downtime, read through our Road Trips Games for Kids article, to find experience-based hand-picked games that truly worked for us!

FAQ

What worked better than expected with kids?

Short, unstructured exploration. Areas where the kids could move, get wet, climb a bit, and look around without a fixed trail length worked far better than destination-focused stops.

What planning detail mattered more than expected?

Season - we came in the spring time, and many activities in ACE park were still closed, including their water activities and elevated obstacle course, which our kids were upset to miss.

Who is this weekend trip best suited for?

All ages! At the time of our visit, our kids were 2, 5, 8, and 11yo. Our parents joined for the ride, and enjoyed the very manageable walks and scenery. For older teens and young adults, activities such as whitewater rafting and ACE various attractions. Also, a highlight activity we haven't tried, but will hopefully on our next visit, is the bridge walk, which is so recommended but didn't fit our youngers' ages at the time.