The New River also sometimes referred as the “not-so-new-river” is said to be one of the world’s oldest rivers. Beginning in the Blue Mountains near Boone, North Carolina, the water found in the river begins its approximately 2,000-mile trip. The trip itinerary includes flowing northwest into Virginia, into the heart of the Appalachians. From there the Little River joins the New River as it enters West Virginia. After it enters W.V., the Greenbrier River joins it and then it flows thru the amazing New River Gorge. Soon after flowing thru the gorge the River loses it’s identity and it become the Gauley, where it’s begins a cycle of flowing into the Ohio River, into the Mississippi from the Ohio and into the Gulf of Mexico from there. It is said this trip takes approximately 110 days to finish. This is an example of the age-old process of evaporation, transportation, precipitation, and run-off. Scientists have studied this river for decades, in order to find The New River’s age. Scientists have came to five conclusions: 320, 225, 65, 10, and 3 million years old.How could the conclusions vary so much? Well one fact the scientists do know is that the New River follows the path of an ancient river known as the Teays River. The Teays followed a very different path then the current New River’s path. Research has found the Teays didn’t attach to the Ohio like the New but past the Ohio and flowed into northern Ohio and westward into the Midwestern region of the US. They believe that Glaciers once covered the region. One of these glaciers migrated into the Teays path, and blocked its flow. The river to help itself began to change its course and eventually joined the Ohio. Knowing this, scientists turned to the Gorge that the river carved in WV. The New River Gorge consists of seven formations: Kanawha, New River, Pocahontas, Bluefield, Princeton, Hinton and Bluefield. They have found these fo...
