We visited Fayetteville in September 2023, as part of our Five Days in the Mountains trip. Read about our previous visits here: Fall 2019, Spring 2021, and late Summer 2022.

We spent the first night of a whirlwind Airstream tour through the mountains near home in Fayetteville, WV, home of New River Gorge National Park. Fayetteville is a neat little town with an outdoorsy vibe–thanks to the gorge, the New River, and Gauley River, it’s a climbing, rafting, and mountain biking mecca. By our fourth visit, we definitely know our favorite spots, but we mixed things up a little by staying in a different campground, and exploring a different section of the national park.

Campground

We’ve previously stayed at Rifrafters Campground, and we’ve always had positive experiences there. But last time in Fayetteville, as we sat at our favorite beer garden, we spotted RV campsites on the property. Clearly we needed to park the Airstream at Arrowhead Bike Farm!

Arrowhead has six water/power RV spots lining the edge of the pump track, which we enjoyed but Bugsy did not. Fortunately for her, there wasn’t much activity at the Bike Farm on Labor Day–apparently, the day before had been bananas.

We loved staying at Arrowhead and we’ll return. It’s such a fun and laid-back scene, and it was so quiet when we visited, but it probably gets really busy on summer weekends.

Hiking

As a reminder, dogs are allowed on the trails in New River Gorge National Park! Hooray!!

See our NRGNP post for more about activities in the national park.

Grandview

In our previous visits to New River Gorge National Park, somehow we’d never registered that there’s a detached section of the park forty-five minutes south of Fayetteville. This time, looking for somewhere to hike on the drive from VA to Fayetteville, we spotted a cluster of trails on the map which turned out to be in the Grandview section of the park. It’s a nice little park, with a few gorge overlooks, several hiking trails, a big picnic/playground area, and lots of parking, making it a great place to take a break if you’re towing a trailer. Here’s the Grandview RV info page for details.

We chose to hike the Rim Trail to Turkey Spur Rock, returning on Castle Rock Trail. The Rim Trail parallels the road, and in some places is adjacent to the road, so it’s not always the most scenic hike, but it was pleasant. The views into the gorge were better along the trail than at Turkey Spur Rock. Castle Rock Trail was much more technical than the Rim Trail. We ended up walking 4.5 miles and were pleased by how peaceful Grandview was.

Long Point Trail

Long Point is our perpetual #1 trail in New River Gorge. It’s so pretty, quick, and easy; our favorite way to enjoy it is with a breakfast biscuit at the turnaround overlooking the bridge. For maximum solitude at the point, go early!

Eating and drinking

All our eating and drinking occurred at old favorites:

Dinner at The Burrito Bar at Breeze Hill, with a local beer on the deck.

Beers with Bugsy in the garden at Handle Bar, a short stroll from our Airstream. It’s just the coolest spot.

Coffee for the drive to our next stop from Range Finder downtown. Delicious espresso drinks and matcha in a sunny cafe perfect for working or relaxing.

Requisite breakfast biscuit from Biscuit World… not quite as good as Biscuitville in our humble opinions, but still a required stop.

To do

While sipping beer at a mountain bike-themed bar, at a farm dedicated to mountain biking trails, overlooking a pump track, we decided that next visit we’ll rent mountain bikes and be full participants in the Arrowhead scene. And we need to try the fish tacos at Handle Bar!!!

Next stop, Boone!