Island in the Sky Trail

The Island in the Sky Trail delivers one of the most dramatic and genuinely thrilling hiking experiences in the New River Gorge region, traversing a knife-edge sandstone ridge that projects outward from the Allegheny Plateau like a ship's prow, hovering 200 feet above the New River Gorge's forested depths with sheer drops on both sides and panoramic views that encompass miles of the gorge. The ridge is formed of erosion-resistant Pottsville Conglomerate, a hard quartz-pebble sandstone that caps numerous ridges and buttes throughout the New River country and weathers into the spectacular cliff lines and overhangs visible throughout the gorge. The trail name is no exaggeration—the narrow crest feels genuinely isolated and airborne, with the surrounding forest canopy at eye level on both sides and the gorge floor visible far below through the tree branches. Clifftop views extend up and down the New River Gorge, with the New River itself visible as a silver ribbon threading through the dark forest. The approach and return sections of the loop move through more conventional mixed hardwood forest, but the ridge traverse rewards any amount of climbing investment. Rock outcrops along the ridge support specialized plant communities including Virginia pine and Table Mountain pine, with prickly pear cactus colonizing the sunniest south-facing ledges—an unexpected desert-adapted species thriving in the rain shadow of the plateau's edge.