New River Gorge closes the roads to Glade Creek Campground and Cunard November 9 and 10. Grandview Sandbar stays reachable.

If you camp at New River Gorge this winter, you can’t drive to Glade Creek Campground, and you should plan on not reaching Brooklyn either. Cunard Road closes on November 9 and Glade Creek Road on November 10, both for Federal Highway road projects, and both run through March. Grandview Sandbar, next door to Glade Creek, stays reachable. We read the park’s pages on November 7, 2026.

What closes

The park’s road and trail closures page, last updated November 4, says:

• Glade Creek Road closes “from just past Grandview Sandbar Campground to Glade Creek,” starting November 10 and “expected to run through March.” The page says plainly: “There will be no access to Glade Creek Campground.” Glade Creek Trail stays open, but only from the upper end.
• Cunard Road closes November 9. From November through March the closure runs “from just past the Brooklyn Mine Trail to the river,” and the page lists the work as ongoing “through April 2027.” From April through October the road reopens with a one-lane section and a temporary light that can take up to 5 minutes to turn.

The closures page doesn’t name Brooklyn Campground. The park’s own campground record places Brooklyn “near the Cunard River Access point,” which is where the closed stretch ends. That’s our reading, not the park’s statement, so call before you count on it either way. Brooklyn is tent-only, so this doesn’t touch RV or car campers.

What the rest of the park allows

New River Gorge has 8 primitive campgrounds, and the camping page is clear about the terms: “There are no camping fees at park campgrounds.” No reservations. No drinking water, no hookups, no electricity. The stay limit is “a total of 14 days within a 28-day period within any park campground and camping area.” Vehicle camping is allowed only at drive-in sites, and camping in any day use, river access, trailhead or walk-in parking lot is prohibited. So the Cunard lot is not a fallback.

For a vehicle this winter, that leaves four, going by the park’s campground records:

• Grandview Sandbar: 10 drive-in sites. The park recommends small and medium rigs only (up to 31.5 feet) “due to the tight access road.”
• Army Camp: 11 drive-in sites, with the same size recommendation.
• War Ridge/Backus Mountain: 8 drive-in sites, under 25 feet recommended. The only campground off the river.
• Meadow Creek: 17 sites in a field. The park warns that its low railroad crossing isn’t suitable for motorhomes, fifth wheels or travel trailers.

Stone Cliff and Thayer are tent-only.

The catch

The park’s campground records still list Glade Creek as “open year round.” That is the campground’s normal season, not this winter’s access. The closures page is the newer word. It also says “all information and dates listed are subject to change,” so a March reopening is an estimate.

These are first-come sites with no reservation backstop, so have a second plan. The posted sign and the park’s current word beat any website, ours included.

What to do

• Call the park at 304-465-0508 before a winter trip, and ask about Brooklyn by name if you’re tenting.
• Size your rig to the road. The park recommends 31.5 feet or less at Grandview Sandbar and Army Camp, under 25 at War Ridge, and no long-wheelbase rigs at Meadow Creek.
• Bring all your water. The park says campgrounds are several miles from gas or groceries.

For the rest of the state, our West Virginia free camping page covers the Monongahela and Gauley River options. If you’re planning a longer stay, read the limit wording closely and ask the park how it counts moves between campgrounds. Our piece on how national park camping limits work explains why that question matters.