Scott W.
Yelp
By far the cheapest lodging in New River Gorge country. It kinda shocks me that there's no yelp review of the place, but better now than never.
This is a hostel indeed, $22.50/night all-inclusive. You book it via paypal after checking the online calendar. In my experience, I didn't see my reservation updated, so I called the listed number to confirm. You should know it's not your typical hostel in that there's not a "lobby" or typical reception area - it's more like a big guest-house - so it took a day or two for them to call me back and let me know that my reservation was confirmed.
I arrived late on a Friday night - thankfully they gave me a passcode to get in the door, so there's no such thing as a late arrival cutoff. That said, I pulled up after 11pm to this dark, quiet space, no cars parked there, but a couple of guys across the street outside a building talking a little loudly to each other. The circumstances made me think for a moment, "Did I make the right move coming here?", but I had nothing to worry about. The hostel is huge, a living space that you walk into, with downstairs leading to a couple of shared bunk rooms and bathrooms. It turned out I wasn't alone, as there was one other guest who didn't have a car, but she stayed in one room and I the other, so we had our own rooms for our stay.
The bunks are pretty small - if I was laying on my back and lifted my knees I'd hit the bottom of the top mattress - but it was comfortable and I slept well.
The upstairs living space has some games and a kitchen with a stocked fridge, to the point that it looks like it may be the owner's personal fridge. I used it to store my water bottles, which was hopefully okay.
Incidentally, you can see the whole breakdown of the place via a YouTube video the owner made. It's pretty much as advertised.
I really didn't spend much time here beyond sleep, though - there's a veritable bounty of outdoor riches in this land, so I was out the door at 7am both mornings I was here. You can't get much more convenient than here - just north of the bridge.
It was interesting that I never met the owner, but I did keep pretty odd hours and she did leave a friendly note for me at the door. I loved my whole weekend in the area, and of course I loved paying $45 for two nights - should I return to this area in the future, I'll stay here without question.
