Sandstone Falls Overlook

Sandstone Falls Overlook is the roadside viewpoint on WV-20, about 600 feet above the New River. A gravel walkway descends from the parking lot to the lookout; it is just 0.1 mile one way, though the park rates it moderate. This is a quick stop for the broad view, not a substitute for walking among the falls.

The boardwalk and bridges are at the separate Sandstone Falls Day Use Area on the opposite side of the river, reached along River Road.

From here, the river spreads across rocky ledges and wooded islands. Trees and underbrush can partly hide the falls, and visitors often describe the water as distant, especially when foliage is out. Come for the elevated panorama rather than a close look. For a photo, include the riverbanks as well as the cascades; a tight crop loses the scale of this broad reach.

Sandstone Falls is the New River’s largest waterfall, stretching about 1,500 feet across the river and splitting around islands. The water drops roughly 10 to 25 feet, so the view is of a broad band of rapids and ledges rather than one tall plunge.

The falls formed as the river wore away softer conglomerate beneath a harder sandstone layer, leaving the ledge and boulders below. Erosion is still moving the falls upstream. They also mark a change in the river: broad bottomlands give way to the narrower, boulder-strewn mountain gorge downstream.