Dunloup Falls

From Thurmond Depot, cross the New River on the one-lane bridge and continue 2.2 miles past Rend Trailhead. The pullout is unmarked, with a large rock; visitors say it’s easy to pass. There’s room for only a few cars. Thurmond Road is winding and narrow, and vehicles longer than 25 feet and trailers aren’t recommended.

The pullout gives you an elevated look at the falls. For a closer view, visitors scramble down to the creek bed; the descent is steep and uneven, with rocks and roots, so stick with the roadside view if that sounds like a bad fit. From below, you can take in the broad sandstone shelf and the water spilling across it.

Dunloup Creek runs beside active tracks before reaching the New River at Thurmond, and a coal train sometimes passes above the falls. In 1910, Thurmond was the C&O Railway’s leading revenue center, moving more freight tonnage than Cincinnati and Richmond combined, with about 75,000 passengers passing through. The town declined as nearby mines closed and the railway changed from steam to diesel in the 1950s.