Email If one major travel trend has emerged over the tumultuous months of the pandemic, it’s been the public’s enormous appetite for getting outdoors. It’s good timing, then, that in December lawmakers added a new unit to the national park system. Buried under legislation for a federal omnibus spending bill was a law naming New River Gorge National Park and Preserve as the country’s 63rd national park. Spreading across more than 72,000 acres of wooded hills, deep ravines, and Appalachian plateau in rural West Virginia, New River Gorge offers sweeping views of centuries-old oak and maple forest that stretch for miles along steep sandstone cliffs. Along with its stunning topography, its vast array of socially distanced outdoor activities—rafting, rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking—make it a pandemic-era destination par excellence.