--- description: Find out why New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia is on TIME’s 2021 list of the World’s 100 Greatest Places. title: New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia: The World’s 100 Greatest Places of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd11110551fc9d0f7/698a1e11656a3f59a9bdbbf9/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-New-River-Gorge-National-Park-and-Preserve-West-Virginia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 20, 2021 # New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia Active nature by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Kayakers under the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Kayakers under the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, West Virginia.Tony Cenicola—The New York Times/Redux West Virginia’s New River Gorge, encompassing more than 70,000 acres, became the country’s newest national park and preserve in December. The main artery of the park is New River, which—despite its moniker—is one of the oldest rivers in the world, with 53 miles of free-flowing white water. Towering above the river is New River Gorge Bridge, which hosts its annual BASE jumping “Bridge Day” in October—making this the only national park where that daredevil activity is legal. Climbers come for the sandstone cliffs, some 1,200 ft. high, with 1,400 climbing routes, and there are also more than 21 miles for mountain biking. _—Aniesia Williams_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079280/new-river-gorge-national-park-and-preserve-west-virginia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079280/new-river-gorge-national-park-and-preserve-west-virginia/"},"headline":"New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia","datePublished":"2021-07-20T10:33:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:50:49.923Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079280/new-river-gorge-national-park-and-preserve-west-virginia/","keywords":["franchise","Magazine","World's Greatest Places"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd11110551fc9d0f7/698a1e11656a3f59a9bdbbf9/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-New-River-Gorge-National-Park-and-Preserve-West-Virginia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd11110551fc9d0f7/698a1e11656a3f59a9bdbbf9/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-New-River-Gorge-National-Park-and-Preserve-West-Virginia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079280/new-river-gorge-national-park-and-preserve-west-virginia/","name":"New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia"}}]}] ```