"New"-est National Park!

West Virginia's New River Gorge has been named a new National Park! There's a great article in EOS about it: https://eos.org/features/the-new-river-gorge-ancient-river-old-mines-new-national-park?mkt_tok=OTg3LUlHVC01NzIAAAF76Opuy8-v-4FgLzEHFuZslg4h1REUlSlqIijyj_ZkGAQ1lw2mrYjb2GncgQQAMCwX7u3UATxo8o9mhXnZFaGaQt7YfELC2NbYWfllxK4

This is unique because it is one of (if not THE) oldest rivers in the world! The New River flows from S to N, which is itself unusual, but this is due to the uplift of the Appalachian Mountains (yep, the river's age is estimated at 300 Ma!) and the fact that the river was able to cut down (incise) as fast as the land was rising up. Today, the New River Gorge has local relief of about 400m.

Photo below from EOS article linked above: A rhododendron bush blooms on the edge of the Endless Wall Trail in West Virginia’s newly christened New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Credit: Mary Caperton Morton