Bridge Day

What the day is

Bridge Day is held on the third Saturday in October at the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The bridge closes to vehicles, tens of thousands of people walk out onto the deck, and BASE jumpers leap from it legally.

That legality is the point. BASE jumping from fixed structures is prohibited in most places in the United States, and this is among the very few sanctioned opportunities in the country.

Origin and background

The bridge opened in 1977 and was, at the time, the longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world. It carries the highway roughly 850 feet above the New River, and it cut a drive of about forty-five minutes down the gorge and back up to under a minute.

The first organized jump event followed in the late 1970s, and it grew into the festival that now brings in a very large crowd for a small town. Rappellers descend on ropes alongside the jumpers, and the walkway is lined with food and craft stalls, which makes the day an odd but genuine mix of extreme sport and county fair.

The drop gives jumpers only a handful of seconds before canopy deployment, and landing zones are on the riverbank below. It is a serious event with a safety organization around it, registration requirements and experience checks, and there have been fatalities over its history.

The surrounding area became New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in 2020, the newest national park in the United States.

How to take part

• Go and watch. Spectating is free, and the walk across the bridge deck is the draw for most attendees.
• Arrive early and expect shuttles. Local roads are closed and parking is remote.
• Dress for a mountain October. The gorge is cold and windy even on a bright day.
• Stay for the park. The gorge itself is worth the trip independently of the jumping.
• Do not consider jumping without serious skydiving experience and formal BASE instruction. This is not a beginner activity under any circumstances.