The Great American Road Trip ChallengeOne trip, ~2.5 years, 48 states
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Leg 14 · Late fall (closes the loop)

Appalachia & the Return

Ridge, gorge, and the road home

Appalachia & the Return

Tap a pin to open that stop's first day · numbers follow the driving order

Three rivers, a house over a waterfall, the New River Gorge, and Niagara — the road home.

Ridge-and-valley moss

Time it right

The last leg runs the ridges as the color drops, closing the loop in western New York before winter shuts the passes.

13

Stops

42

Days

25

Things to do

3

States

The colour key

25 things to do across 42 days

  • Museums & History8
  • Outdoor & Water Activities8
  • Landmarks & Monuments3
  • Food & Drink Trails3
  • National Parks & Forests1
  • State Capitols1
  • Sports & Gamedays1

And how much each one matters

  • AnchorAlways do — the reason this stop is on the map
  • Worth itDo most of these
  • BonusQuirky bonus, if it's happening while you're here

Jump to a day

Stops, in order

  1. Stop 1PittsburghPittsburgh, PADays 875–878

    The steel city reborn — three rivers, a fabled hilltop view up an incline, a city of bridges, and the world's biggest Warhol collection.

  2. Stop 2Fallingwater & the Laurel HighlandsFallingwater & the Laurel Highlands, PADays 879–881

    Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece cantilevered over a waterfall, in a mountain region of whitewater and forest.

  3. Stop 3CharlestonCharleston, WVDays 882–884

    West Virginia's capital on the Kanawha River, crowned by a gold-domed statehouse taller than the U.S. Capitol.

  4. Stop 4New River Gorge National ParkNew River Gorge National Park, WVDays 885–887

    America's newest national park — a deep, forested gorge spanned by one of the great bridges, with some of the best whitewater in the East.

  5. Stop 5Seneca Rocks & the MonongahelaSeneca Rocks & the Monongahela, WVDays 888–890

    A dramatic quartzite fin rising over a mountain valley — the East's great climbing crag — in a forest of the state's highest peaks and wild high plains.

  6. Stop 6Harpers FerryHarpers Ferry, WVDays 891–893

    A perfectly preserved historic town where two rivers and three states meet — the site of John Brown's raid and a spark of the Civil War.

  7. Stop 7Berkeley SpringsBerkeley Springs, WVDays 894–896

    America's first spa town, where George Washington himself once soaked in the warm mineral springs.

  8. Stop 8Niagara Falls & BuffaloNiagara Falls & Buffalo, NYDays 897–900

    One of the world's great waterfalls, and a resurgent lake city of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and the original Buffalo wing.

  9. Stop 9RochesterRochester, NYDays 901–903

    The Kodak city on the Erie Canal — the world's oldest photography museum and one of the great museums of play.

  10. Stop 11CorningCorning, NYDays 908–910

    A glassmaking town with one of the most dazzling museums anywhere — a whole world of glass, with the furnaces lit.

  11. Stop 13CooperstownCooperstown, NYDays 914–916

    A storybook village on Otsego Lake and the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame — the final stop before the long loop closes back in New England.