Starting from and returning to Appalachian Mountain city of Beckley, this route will give you a taste of the beautiful landscape of West Virginia.
Within 15 minutes from the start, you'll be crossing the New River which has lent it's name to the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Ironically, the New River is considered by some geologists to be one of the oldest rivers in the world and certainly one of the oldest rivers in North America!
Crossing New River takes you into Fayette County and immediately on your right you will see a historical Fayette County sign, claiming the Mississippi Valley (watershed) for Great Britain. On September 1, 1671, Thomas Batts, Thomas Wood, and Robert Fallam set out from Petersburg, Virginia, with First Nation guides to explore beyond the mountains. The colonists who had settled on the eastern seaboard knew very little about what was beyond the Appalachian Mountains. It was hoped a trade route across the continent could be discovered.
The route soon leaves the New River on county road 41 or Stanaford Road, passing Prince railway station and following Laurel Creek and then Chestnut Knob Fork along a tree lined valley road, with the occasional glimpses of the creeks and the now redundant railway line that used to serve the coal industry that this area is famous for.
6.5 miles past Prince Station, you can stop at a small pull-in on the side of the road to view and photograph Hemlock Hollow Falls. Don't expect to see Niagara Falls, but the easy access and short distance from the roadside makes this a must stop. Although small in stature, the woodland setting of these falls is very pleasing to the eye.
The former mining hamlet of Layland is next.
Laurel Creek and Layland in particular were heavily mined for coal, the powersource that drove the industrial revolution, everything from ocean liners, iron works and fuel to heat homes were demanding more coal.
Mining began at Layland in the late 1800s, several coal mines exploited the Fire Creek coal seam that averaged 4 feet thick along Laurel Creek, and by 1919 nine mines were reported to be operating along Laurel Creek. Most of these mines were worked out by the 1950's, but coal was mined at Layland until the 1980's. But it is the tragic mine disaster that Layland will always be remembered for:
The New River & Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company owned and operated a series of mines in Layland, Fayette County. On the morning of March 2nd, 1915, a massive explosion swept through Layland No. 3 mine. The blast killed 112 men inside of the mine. The explosion was so powerful that a grocery delivery man walking nearby was killed outside of the mine. Shortly after the blast, the first 7 survivors walked out of the mine. This gave hope to the crowds surrounding the mine, which was quickly lost as several bodies were recovered during the following days.
One of the greatest dangers to the rescue workers was the deadly gasses, called after-damp, which filled the mine after the explosion. In fact, many of the bodies recovered from the mine were found to have died of suffocation, not from impact of the explosion. Two groups of men inside of the mine barricaded themselves from the after-damp and survived for three days until the mine fan was turned on, allowing enough clean air for the men to escape.
On March 6th, the first group of five men walked out of the mine. On their way out they found a note from a group of 41 men who also barricaded themselves in the mine, and rescuers soon helped the second group out. These men survived by chewing on their shoe laces and eating bark from the mine props. Many of the survivors, fearing the worst, had written death notes to their loved ones during the time they were trapped. Their survival surprised the Layland community, who had prepared coffins and dug graves for the survivors, expecting the men to be found dead.

The explosion was found to be the result of ignition of methane spread by coal dust. Controversy surrounds the disaster. When the secretary of the interior wanted to recognise the efforts of the federal rescuers, many in the community argued that it was not the rescuers but the surviving miners’ ingenuity that saved them. Coal continued to be mined in Layland until the 1980s. The closure of the mines and the removal of the railroad caused the prosperity of Layland to diminish.
In 2014 a memorial was erected remembering the miners who lost their lives in the Layland Mine explosion and recognizing the 53 men who survived the disaster. The memorial was funded in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority and through funds raised by the Layland community. The organisers of the memorial said that the Layland mine incident had been forgotten. This memorial now remembers the sometimes forgotten and tragic history of West Virginia coal mining.
The old stone buildings of the mine's former powerhouse, can be seen on the right and some abandoned coal company houses on the left. The memorial sits alongside Layland Church.

A little short of 10 miles from Layland and you have the opportunity to turn left to visit Glade Creek Grist Mill.
You’ve seen it pictured on calendars, mugs and coffee table books. It’s the Glade Creek Grist Mill — one of the most photographed images in the world. Set on a boulder-strewn mountain stream at Babcock State Park, the weather-beaten mill offers a picturesque setting all four seasons for wedding photos and other memorable vacation shots. Built in 1976 it’s a replica of an original mill from the 1800s.

At the junction of county road 41 and US60, you can see a historical marker post that states:
"The nearby highway is part of route traversing W.Va. from Lewisburg to Point Pleasant memorialized by the state to commemorate the march of the American Colonial army of 1,200 men led by Andrew & Charles Lewis. After a month's march this army defeated a Shawnee Indian force led by Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the banks of the Ohio & Kanawha rivers, October 10, 1774."
You'll leave US60 after a couple of miles and rejoin county road 41 although it is now known as The Wilderness Highway. This is a great road to ride, especially when you reach Meadow River as the road follows the contours of the river offering up some long sweeping bends. Crossing the Meadow River at Nallen takes you out of Fayette County and into Nicholas County, when you reach Mt Nebo you can stop for a coffee at The Appalachian Coffee House.
Next to see is a bit of a folly, the Summersville Lake Lighthouse.
Usually lighthouses are reserved for helping boats navigate dangerous waters, avoid reefs or find entries to harbors. But, even without access to an ocean, West Virginia is home to one lighthouse. The lighthouse stands 104 feet tall with a top elevation of 2,164 feet above sea level. Visitors who climb the 122 steps to the gallery deck are rewarded with a magnificent 360-degree view of Summersville Lake and the Gauley Ridge National Recreation Area.
The idea for the lighthouse came about in 2009 as the result of a joke and a happy coincidence. The Summersville Lake Retreat owners were chatting with a guest who worked with a crew erecting wind towers nearby. If he wanted to divert one of the tower sections to the retreat, the retreat owners joked; they would keep it and disguise it as a lighthouse. It just so happened that the wind farm had a turbine tower to spare. It had rolled off a truck and sustained some damage that rendered it unsuitable for wind production, but it could be repurposed for other uses. Buoyed by this stroke of luck, the owners made plans to purchase the wind turbine and arrange for its delivery and stuck to their word and turned it into a lighthouse. The crown piece, a vintage Westinghouse rotational beacon that casts a beam of light that can be seen from 30 miles away was donated by Rader Airfield and restored by a local master electrician.
A little further on and you can stop at Summersville Dam viewpoint.
Construction on the Summersville Dam began in 1960 as a means to control flooding in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia. At 390 feet tall and 2,280 feet long, Summersville Dam is the second largest dam of its kind in the United States. It is such a feat of engineering that Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice president of the United States at the time the dam was opened, was present at the ribbon cutting ceremony in 1966 and officially dedicated the dam.
The lake is the largest lake in West Virginia, with 2,700 acres (1,100 ha) of water and over 60 miles (97 km) of shoreline at the summer pool water level. Its maximum depth is 327 feet.
From Summersville Lake the route heads west into the Allegheny Mountain range often referred to as The Birthplace of Rivers.
You'll join the Gauley River and follow it's twisting path for 10 miles to Gauley Bridge where it joins the New River and they then become the Kanawha River. The Kanawha flows for approximately 97 miles before joining the Ohio River which then eventually flows into the mighty Mississippi.
From Gauley Bridge, you turn left onto the Midland Trail or US60, a National Scenic Byway and a couple of miles upstream of the New River and you can stop for a photo of Cathedral Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in West Virginia. Here, the Cane Creek drops some 60 feet over a rocky ledge of sandstone and shale. There is a small parking area on the left with a short, easy trail leading up to the base of the falls.
Another place to stop is the bizarre attraction known as: Mystery Hole.
The Mystery Hole is an underground series of rooms where the walls and floors are built at angles to give the impression that there is something wrong with the gravity in the area. There is one section where water seemingly flows upwards and the tour guide sits on the chair with two legs floating in the air and other two legs supported by the wall.
Hawk's Nest Overlook is another must stop places. The overlook provides a bird’s eye view of the rugged New River Gorge National Park and Preserve below.
A hydro-electric project nearby became known as the Hawk's Nest Incident. During construction of a three-mile-long tunnel by Union Carbide beginning in 1927, the tunnel was filled with silica dust. Workers were not given masks for protection, even though management wore such masks during the short times they visited for inspection. As a result, thousands of workers, mostly poor and African American, died from silicosis, sometimes as quickly as within a single year.
The dam for the hydro-electric project can be seen from the overlook some 585 ft (178 m) above the New River.
You'll leave the Midland Trail at Ansted and head towards The New River Gorge Bridge, but instead of going over the bridge, this route will take you under it to marvel at the engineering.
At time of construction, the New River Gorge Bridge's arch made it the longest steel arch bridge in the world, a title it held until 2003 with the construction of China's Shanghai's Lupu Bridge. Completed in October 1977, a travel challenge was solved. The bridge reduced a 40-minute drive down narrow mountain roads and across one of North America's oldest rivers to less than a minute. When it comes to road construction, mountains can pose a challenge. In the case of the New River Gorge Bridge, the challenge was transformed into a work of structural art - the longest steel span in the western hemisphere and the third highest in the United States.
You'll pass under the bridge twice as you make your way down to the river, but the best view of all is from the old Tunney Hunsaker Bridge. This historic iron truss bridge with a timber deck is named after American boxer and former chief-of-police at Fayetteville. Construction of the bridge was completed in 1889 and the juxtaposition between old and relatively new shows the major advancement of engineering in just 90 years.
Leaving the river and climbing up the twisty road to Fayetteville, you can turn left to go over the New River Gorge Bridge then turn around and come back, a journey of less than ten minutes and one worth taking.
Fayetteville recently earned number two spot on Smithsonian Magazine’s list of the 15 best small towns to visit in America. It's not Fayetteville's first time garnering national attention. Coolest Small Town. Best River Town. These are all titles Fayetteville has earned (and deserved!) over the last decade. For these reasons I have suggested taking a lunch stop here.
After lunch you have a choice of returning back to Beckley via the US19, a journey of about 30 minutes or staying with the route and heading back into some mining country using very twisty roads and getting back to Beckley after about 1 hour 30 minutes.
The twisty route uses some small, tree-lined roads that are a joy to ride along, especially the very twisty section after you cross over Loop Creek and head towards Paint Creek.
Paint Creek is a tributary of the Kanawha River and is also part of the Mississippi watershed. It flows for 42 miles and you'll follow it's meandering, upstream course for 14 miles, crossing over it several times as you head back to Beckley.
Enjoy