“We take you through that cave where everyone takes the normal tour, and then we jump the railing and we go back even farther where there’s no lights, there’s no trails,” Charlton explains.
The other option is a Wild Cave Tour, which delves deeper and provides an experience not for the faint of heart. “It’s a real pretty cavern,” says Steve Charlton, co-owner of Lost World Caverns. This tour, which usually lasts around 45 minutes to an hour, follows a large loop and features the main cave, which is 1,000 feet long and 12 stories tall. There is the popular self-guided tour through the main cavern in which explorers navigate the roped paths at their own pace, taking photos and gazing at their leisure. Lost World Caverns provides visitors two experiences from which to choose. From its discovery in 1942 to this day, Lost World Caverns, located just outside of Lewisburg, has offered the promise of a subterranean adventure. “I don’t want this to discourage from having anyone come up,” Hutchens says, “ carpooling is strongly advised.” Limestone Hill Road, north of Waiteville, West Virginia 24984, ĭeep below Greenbrier County lies a cavern system filled with cool air and incredible rock formations. Hutchens suggests sharing rides to the trailhead as the road leading to it can get congested and parking spaces can be scarce on busy days. “There’s not a lot of fire lookouts left in this part of the country,” Hutchens says. There can be an 8-to-10-degree drop in temperature from the bottom of the trail to the top. Its perch high above the rest of the forest means there’s wind even in the hottest of summer months. The tower, which was built in the 1930s and then abandoned during the 1970s, opened to the public in 1996. “If you go up in the fall time, you get to see the changing of the leaves you get to see some of the migratory birds coming through.” “The Raptor Observatory offers a great panoramic, 360-degree view of both West Virginia and Virginia,” explains Toby Hutchens, a forestry technician for Jefferson National Forest. Located around 3,812 feet above sea level, the spot is a great place to watch hawks, eagles, falcons and osprey as they soar above the lush trees below during the mid-to-late September migration season. “After all the rivers have basically shut down, we still have the Gauley in the fall.” River Expeditions, 900 Broadway Ave., Oak Hill, West Virginia 25901, 800/463-9873, Ī short-but-steep, mile-long hike in Jefferson National Forest leads to a ridge where an old fire tower now serves as the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory. “You have paddlers from all over the world, literally, coming to southern West Virginia to experience this river run in such a short amount of time,” Johnson says. With Gauley Season lasting just six weekends, Johnson says you’ll find whitewater fans from near and far visiting this time of year. Those on the Upper Gauley outing enjoy the meal while overlooking the Class V rapids they just navigated. Along with time on the water, a key feature of the guided tour is a riverside lunch. River Expeditions offers a full-day trip that lasts around seven hours total, including orientation and transportation. The Lower Gauley consists of 12 miles of whitewater appropriate for first time rafters, while the Upper Gauley is best for advanced and experienced paddlers due to its intense whitewater. The 105-mile-long river runs from the Gauley Mountain in Pocahontas County to the Kanawha River in Fayette County. “It’s one of the Top 5, single-day commercial trips in the world at fall flows,” explains Heather Johnson, co-owner of River Expeditions. Army Corps of Engineers has 22 controlled releases on the river that lead to major whitewater perfect for rafting - a time known throughout West Virginia as Gauley Season. Over six weekends starting the Friday after Labor Day, the U.S. When most other rivers have closed for the season, the Gauley River is at its peak.
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