I am 90 years old. When the bridge was under Construction I took my mother and grandmother to see it. We stood on the rock outcrop which was what was the only overlook, and watched the men walk across the bridge on a one foot wide piece of the structure. My children and grandchildren still visit the bridge whenever possible. Many of us drive from Florida and one from Pennsylvania. I live in Florida but will take one more trip home to west va. And will see the bridge one last time. It brings memories.
Brave men buildin the bridge with hardly any safety gear if any, luggin around the pneumiac drills and hoisting reinforced steel. A true American landmark❤
So glad I found this video. We do mission work in Richwood so we cross this bridge a couple times a year. One of my partners can't even look out over the side of the bridge when we cross it. Now it'll be fun telling him that there aren't even any bolts holding it up, and that it's only supported by its own weight! haha
You are a brave guy!!! Hey come down to FL and see our high bridge, The Sunshine Skyway!! It was hit by a ship in the early 80', . the Sumimit Venture container ship...a Greyhound bus and many cars went over the edge that had fell into the bay..one man stopped inches before the edge in his car..Richard Horbuckle I think was his name..A new bridge was built and opened up about 1992? Not sure..
My wife and I did the Bridge Walk 6-15-16. We both loved it. I knew nothing of the bridge until I stumbled onto this video about a year or so ago & I have been wanting to go there since then. Thanks for posting.
I have been waiting to see and photograph this bridge in person for decades. When I found out I could drive to it in 5 hours..I started thinking about going. When I found out I could do this..it sealed the deal.
I done this as a kid. Teenager, we didn't pay to cross. We had to sneak, and climb up underneath. Remember it being really hard. No safety harness. And I will never forget the noise of the big trucks passing overhead. And the bridge sways. Not a lot , but she moves.
Was a member of a crazy group of whitewater kayakers from KY paddling New & Gauley Rivers and we watched this great bridge being built in the 1970’s. Trained as Army paratrooper and served in West VA National Guard’s 19th Special Forces located at Huntington airport. I LOVE West Virginia ! Unlike ‘normal’ people when I’m on a high scenic elevation, I want to jump off and fly (with a parachute)
I remember doing that BEFORE there were tours. No ropes, high on mushrooms, and having the time of our lives. We would lay in the expansion joints and watch cars and trucks pass inches over our heads, also climb into the steel beems and do a little industrial caving. Those were the days.
I drove across that a couple times and stopped at the rest area there walk down as close as I could but man you don't appreciate it to your under it like that great video thank you
I lived in Tampa,FL and have gone across this bridge many times as a kid going to Pipestem State Park..My father was from a small town in WV called Hinton..so we would go to Pipestem and Twin Falls twice a year and the GreenBrier at Christmas..family has property still in a very small town closwer to Twin Falls called Mullins...Wv is a beautiful state!! Would love to live there but no jobs that pay anything!!
I have rappelled this twice in 1983 and 84 during bridge day We also used the catwalk. I used a 16 inch rappel rack for variable friction, starting with 4 bars and ending up with 7 bars.
I saw this bridge from the bed of the river in 1982... Awesome sight... They said at that time people were "base jumping" from it... It was a great trip rafting on Gauley River...
Really enjoyed the video parts of the walk itself but almost gave me the heebie jeebies.. I want to know more about the building of the bridge and more about those expansion joints !
My younger brother used to climb out onto the catwalk until he got to the middle and then would leave the cat walk and go out to the edge of the bridge on a beam. From there he'd base jump.
I'm related to the mayor of this town. We have an annual family reunion there. James Akers is his name. I live in Charlotte now, and my parents live elsewhere in NC but my dad's family is all from West Virginia, though oddly none of them live there anymore, at least not his closest family obviously since James is the mayor. It's hard for blue collar workers in a state like West Virginia, but its a beautiful state nonetheless. Been to the bridge many times, never gets old.
Beautiful scenery. I can't stand heights. There is nothing that would get me to walk that bridge. It does not look safe to me. But I did like the scenery below.
I am thinking that while the bridge was being constructed in 1975, high winds blew down the temporary towers that were being used to suspend support cables across the gorge, The bridge project finished over budget and the necessary reconstruction of the cable towers probably was part of the cost overrun.
It's cool people get to do this. What's funny is when I was young I had a relative that lived very close and we would walk to the bridge and you could walk underneath on both sides. But we didn't walk across it.
Tell Josh "THANK YOU" For Hanging The clear "Blue Moon Christmas Bulb with the fishing line" for his DAD "Father's Day is tomorrow & I think of him everyday ! " THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH
THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE, WOW WOW ! YOU JUST CANNOT FEEL THE HEIGHT AND MASSIVENESS OF THIS BRIDGE ON A FILM HOWEVER GOOD IT IS ! I WOULD RECOMMEND GOING IN WARM WEATHER, WE WERE THERE IN NOVEMBER, BOUT FROZE OUR BUNS OFF ! HAAAAA ! IT WAS LIKE 38° WITH WINDS GUSTING TO AROUND 25 30 MPH ! WOW WOW NOW THATS A THRILL ALSO ! IT IS VERY SAFE AND EASY WALK, I WAS EIGHTY AND DID JUST FINE ! OH YES,WEST VIRGINIA MY MOUNTAIN MOMMA ! YALL COME VISIT, BUT DON'T STAY TOO LONG, WE ARE JEALOUS OF OUR MOMMA !
this is a great video, but that boy leading the way made me a nervous wreck. You couldn't pay me enough to walk across this bridge.....even though this is my home sweet home.
This sure brings back memories from the early 80s when I was working as a river guide! Only difference being that we used to do this walk drunk without safety lines. Shortly after sunset in the heat of the summer is the most eerie time on the bridge. The sound of the steel contracting scraping and moving sounds like the bridge is ready to fall.
Great video. Personal note - I did this with a friend in 96 or 97 prior to there being a safety mechanism (young & dumb). It really is quite the experience. Half way out...you do bounce up and down a little with the bridge as traffic moves across. Between that and the height...it's intense. Again...great video. Thanks.
I am 90 years old. When the bridge was under Construction I took my mother and grandmother to see it. We stood on the rock outcrop which was what was the only overlook, and watched the men walk across the bridge on a one foot wide piece of the structure. My children and grandchildren still visit the bridge whenever possible. Many of us drive from Florida and one from Pennsylvania. I live in Florida but will take one more trip home to west va. And will see the bridge one last time. It brings memories.
Did you ever get a chance to go back to the bridge ??
90 years old commenting on RUclips
Brave men buildin the bridge with hardly any safety gear if any, luggin around the pneumiac drills and hoisting reinforced steel. A true American landmark❤
Awesome Video! This is me, your tour guide! Come back and see us soon! sure enough i'm still guiding trips lol. Hope you enjoyed it!
So glad I found this video. We do mission work in Richwood so we cross this bridge a couple times a year. One of my partners can't even look out over the side of the bridge when we cross it. Now it'll be fun telling him that there aren't even any bolts holding it up, and that it's only supported by its own weight! haha
Tylor Tabit
What do you do if you have to poop 💩
You are a brave guy!!! Hey come down to FL and see our high bridge, The Sunshine Skyway!! It was hit by a ship in the early 80', . the Sumimit Venture container ship...a Greyhound bus and many cars went over the edge that had fell into the bay..one man stopped inches before the edge in his car..Richard Horbuckle I think was his name..A new bridge was built and opened up about 1992? Not sure..
Do you still work there
my uncle was one of the workers who helped build this bridge
He had balls of steel.
An engineering marvel. And it looks like the guide enjoys his job!
I am terrified of heights but crossing New River Gorge in our semi few years ago was like being free as a bird....it was amazing for my vertigo
My wife and I did the Bridge Walk 6-15-16. We both loved it. I knew nothing of the bridge until I stumbled onto this video about a year or so ago & I have been wanting to go there since then. Thanks for posting.
No, don't say "stumbled"!
I have been waiting to see and photograph this bridge in person for decades. When I found out I could drive to it in 5 hours..I started thinking about going. When I found out I could do this..it sealed the deal.
I done this as a kid. Teenager, we didn't pay to cross. We had to sneak, and climb up underneath. Remember it being really hard. No safety harness. And I will never forget the noise of the big trucks passing overhead. And the bridge sways. Not a lot , but she moves.
I don't know how anyone did that without the safety harness... I'd have ended up crawling.. or something.. heh heh
Thats the fun way to cross it
Great video. Most of these channels want to film themselves instead of their surroundings, which is really what we want to see.
Was a member of a crazy group of whitewater kayakers from KY paddling New & Gauley Rivers and we watched this great bridge being built in the 1970’s. Trained as Army paratrooper and served in West VA National Guard’s 19th Special Forces located at Huntington airport. I LOVE West Virginia ! Unlike ‘normal’ people when I’m on a high scenic elevation, I want to jump off and fly (with a parachute)
I remember doing that BEFORE there were tours. No ropes, high on mushrooms, and having the time of our lives. We would lay in the expansion joints and watch cars and trucks pass inches over our heads, also climb into the steel beems and do a little industrial caving. Those were the days.
Shit that sounds like something i would def do today if it wasnt for them damn bridge walk tours
I drove across that a couple times and stopped at the rest area there walk down as close as I could but man you don't appreciate it to your under it like that great video thank you
We did this back in the '80's without all the safety gear and "experts". The few times we did it where awesome!
Mike Mullins same, n4 people sued for everything
B4
Wow wish i was old enough
I lived in Tampa,FL and have gone across this bridge many times as a kid going to Pipestem State Park..My father was from a small town in WV called Hinton..so we would go to Pipestem and Twin Falls twice a year and the GreenBrier at Christmas..family has property still in a very small town closwer to Twin Falls called Mullins...Wv is a beautiful state!! Would love to live there but no jobs that pay anything!!
I have rappelled this twice in 1983 and 84 during bridge day We also used the catwalk. I used a 16 inch rappel rack for variable friction, starting with 4 bars and ending up with 7 bars.
I saw this bridge from the bed of the river in 1982... Awesome sight... They said at that time people were "base jumping" from it... It was a great trip rafting on Gauley River...
That is one of the highest bridges I ever seen
Congrats to the State of West Virginia for the new New River Gorge National Park!
Ya I'm supper excited to visit there tomorrow!!
Really enjoyed the video parts of the walk itself but almost gave me the heebie jeebies.. I want to know more about the building of the bridge and more about those expansion joints !
Beautiful place , really enjoyed it
I was down there yesterday. I saw that white van . Iam definitely doing that walk if I go down there again this year
Thanks for posting! Now I’ll share with some of my old buddies lol! Ironworkers don’t die, they get killed lol.
Sincerely, Ironworkers
We went White Water Rafting there in 2012. Saw this bridge. I didn't know this was available to do.
My younger brother used to climb out onto the catwalk until he got to the middle and then would leave the cat walk and go out to the edge of the bridge on a beam. From there he'd base jump.
7:57 keep your eye on the little person maning the head of the raft! They end up washed out/tapping out.
I'm related to the mayor of this town. We have an annual family reunion there. James Akers is his name. I live in Charlotte now, and my parents live elsewhere in NC but my dad's family is all from West Virginia, though oddly none of them live there anymore, at least not his closest family obviously since James is the mayor. It's hard for blue collar workers in a state like West Virginia, but its a beautiful state nonetheless. Been to the bridge many times, never gets old.
Beautiful scenery. I can't stand heights. There is nothing that would get me to walk that bridge. It does not look safe to me. But I did like the scenery below.
I am thinking that while the bridge was being constructed in 1975, high winds blew down the temporary towers that were being used to suspend support cables across the gorge, The bridge project finished over budget and the necessary reconstruction of the cable towers probably was part of the cost overrun.
i live right next to this bridge ive been across it milloins of times ive lived here my whole life
Thank you for this awesome video
6:07 peregrine falcon!
Thanks for the identification!
Lol that was kool!!!!
Ain't no way!!! You'd have to shoot me first!
That looks so fun I'm going to do it one day
It's cool people get to do this. What's funny is when I was young I had a relative that lived very close and we would walk to the bridge and you could walk underneath on both sides.
But we didn't walk across it.
O man I didn't know you could do that wow. It's making me dizzy
Tell Josh "THANK YOU" For Hanging The clear "Blue Moon Christmas Bulb with the fishing line" for his DAD "Father's Day is tomorrow & I think of him everyday ! " THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH
THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE, WOW WOW ! YOU JUST CANNOT FEEL THE HEIGHT AND MASSIVENESS OF THIS BRIDGE ON A FILM HOWEVER GOOD IT IS ! I WOULD RECOMMEND GOING IN WARM WEATHER, WE WERE THERE IN NOVEMBER, BOUT FROZE OUR BUNS OFF ! HAAAAA ! IT WAS LIKE 38° WITH WINDS GUSTING TO AROUND 25 30 MPH ! WOW WOW NOW THATS A THRILL ALSO ! IT IS VERY SAFE AND EASY WALK, I WAS EIGHTY AND DID JUST FINE ! OH YES,WEST VIRGINIA MY MOUNTAIN MOMMA ! YALL COME VISIT, BUT DON'T STAY TOO LONG, WE ARE JEALOUS OF OUR MOMMA !
great video, thanks for sharing, need to take a trip down there.
It was a lot of fun. Even on really hot days, it is much cooler under the bridge!
I do t think I could walk that. I did see this years ago when they did the first span. We had to drive the old way when I grew up.
Thanks! It was a lot of fun!
I've been to this bridge and seen it from the visitors center. There's NO WAY that I would do this. The bridge is gorgeous though.
Awesome!!!
Nice video, that is on my to do list.
Did you ever do it?! You only live once!
@@lynnepaulocsak122 Yes, hope to go again someday.
Awesome I can’t do that I’m soo afraid the heights
I did this in 2019 and it was SO AMAZING! It's up to $72 a person if anyone is wondering.
@Dmac 740 just think we just saved 72 bucks
Try 161.00 plus tax
@@markbeck3489 seriously is that how much it cost now?
@@Toyeboy89 we were there last weekend and that's what it was
@@markbeck3489 holy shit. Greed
this is a great video, but that boy leading the way made me a nervous wreck. You couldn't pay me enough to walk across this bridge.....even though this is my home sweet home.
I've got a video on this tour also....what a fun time.
yes that boy made me a nervous wreck also, he's my grandson.If I were there I'd be having a fit when he sat down especially LOL
Just watching this gave me anxiety. Yikes!
I would love to do this bridge walk, hey you only live once!
Carpe diem
No soy was used in the building of this bridge.
my parents were from white sulphur springs.
Cool Video
I have acrophobia, and honestly this would scare the shit out of me
Ive rafted down the upper and lower gully River just going under it seemed high
I just went over this bridge
I live less than 15 miles from this bridge and have driven over it many times. Somebody told me that the cost of taking the bridge walk was $73.00.
Bill Bergendahl
$73 💰💰💰😳😳😳
They're crazy I'm not paying that
Thanks!
Wow. They should redo that with a glass bottom all the way across.
I'm doing this in September.
very cool
This sure brings back memories from the early 80s when I was working as a river guide! Only difference being that we used to do this walk drunk without safety lines. Shortly after sunset in the heat of the summer is the most eerie time on the bridge. The sound of the steel contracting scraping and moving sounds like the bridge is ready to fall.
nice & really old video !!
Awesome
Would love to do this how do you get a tour like this?
There’s a visitor center right by the bridge and the building next to it is where you sign uo
How much does it cost? And how loud is the road noise
would you be willing to share/allow me to download your footage from this for a presentation?
My hometown
I already Been on it. It was kinda scary
Great video. Personal note - I did this with a friend in 96 or 97 prior to there being a safety mechanism (young & dumb). It really is quite the experience. Half way out...you do bounce up and down a little with the bridge as traffic moves across. Between that and the height...it's intense. Again...great video. Thanks.
I walk on that all the time
I found out about this bridge on Fallout 76.
Hell no....to the no no no , hell to the noooooo!.
#goals
no way, looks super scary lol.
I've walked it a couple times
Fuck that lmfao! I don't do heights If I did this I bet you anything id freeze before even getting a quarter of the way across haha :P
Here in FO76 right now
Looks scary 😬
Being from West 'BY GOD' Virginia (Clarksburg/West Milford/Jane Lew area) We've NEVER seen/ been a percipient in this!
nope not in a million years
uhmmm...whats on top of the bridge? why can't they walk ON TOP of the bridge, rather just below the top of the bridge?
Traffic
the loud noise's alone I could not do this
Would not walk out there for a billion dollars ! Don't know why they would build something like that.
Me and my friends to do this all the time, no harnesses or guide tho. It's illegal.
I did this and witnessed a guy commit suicide off the bridge he made eye contact with us
God that looks so incredibly boring and annoying. Guys, it's a solid structure with guard rails. You don't need harness.
Not funny at all to cross it with these many ropes‼🤷🏼♂
Thanks!