FALL COLOR AT BLACKWATER FALLS

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WEDNESDAY

TRAVEL DAY YEAR #3 - STOP #45

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The travel day today was fairly short and thankfully uneventful, considering ROVER's check engine light was still on for the entire move. We did end up increasing our elevation by about 1500 feet and are starting to see more and more fall colors in the trees and mountain sides.

The big story for today occurred when we arrived at our new campsite. Over the last 28 months we have set up in 162 different campsites (yes we keep track of that kind of information) and today's is by far the most unlevel site we have ever tried to set up in! Our Anderson Leveler Ramps are our standard way of leveling THE POD from left to right and are designed to adjust for up to a maximum 4" difference.

It sure looks unlevel, but I promise you it isn't!

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This campsite however is an unbelievable 8" out of level from left to right. In order to get THE POD even close to being level we had to use every single leveling tool we carry with us. Even so we are still a half inch to low on the patio side of the trailer. It will just have to do!

Looks more like a circus balancing act than anything else.

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I guess it could have been worse. The only other Airsteam (a 1969 model) in the park has a campsite that is three feet out of level from the front to the back of their trailer.

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So the lesson to be learned here is:
If you ever find yourself planning a camping trip to
Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia,
avoid campsites #17 (ours) and #26 (theirs).

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THURSDAY - We are forecast to have a couple days of wind and rain, courtesy of Tropical Depression Delta, as it passes through West Virginia this weekend. So we decided to do some sightseeing before that happens.

The main attraction in the park is of course Blackwater Falls. During this time of year however the Fall Colors also compete for that distinction.

The first five slideshow photos were taken on Tricia's early morning walk, while the rest were taken mid afternoon around the rest of the park.

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BLACKWATER FALLS STATE PARK

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These first two photos were taken early morning from very near our campsite.

These next three are photos of Blackwater River Canyon from three different overlooks found within the park.

The first of many stairs leading from the parking lot down to the Blackwater Falls viewing platforms.

The view from the first platform down to the second one and the falls.

The view from the second platform, or as I like to call it, Rest Area #2!

More stairs, over 200 in all, down until you reach the final platform.

The view from platform #3, below the top of the falls. This is as close as you can get.

Look! There is another viewing platform on the other side of the river. Let's Go!

This is the view from the other side of the river. See the people on the third and lowest platform over on the other side?

This was a roadside overlook on our way to hike the Lindy Point Trail.

Some spectacular fall color along the .5 mile Lindy Point Trail.

The view from the end of the trail at Lindy Point Overlook.

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WARNING!

TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME
BEFORE STARTING THIS VIDEO.

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WEDNESDAY - This is our final day in West Virginia so we decided to get as high as we could while still in this state.

We did that by driving some 55 miles south of the campground to Spruce Knob (elevation 4863 feet) and climbing to the top of the observation tower. This is as high as you can get in West Virginia.

The observation tower at the top of Spruce Knob.

The view from the top of West Virginia.

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On the drive back home our route took us through the small town of Seneca Rocks. It is named after the rock formation that towers over the entire town. It also appears to be a destination for avid rock climbers, you won't find any rookie climbers on that rock face.

The view of Seneca Rocks from our lunch spot on the patio of Yokum's General Store and Deli.

Yokum's General Store and Deli just so happens to be where we stopped for lunch, after touring nearby Seneca Caverns, back in April of 2019. We didn't stop here again because the food is so great, it's just the only place within 20 miles to get a bite to eat.

Last year I tried their special of the day, a Ramp Burger. If you remember, a ramp is a wild onion. This time of year the ramps aren't in season, so I ordered a simple cheeseburger instead and Tricia had a BLT.

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A final look at Blackwater Falls before we leave...

and one final comment too!

While our visit to Blackwater Falls State Park got off to a rather rocky and unlevel start, we would definitely recommend you visit here. Other than a few bad campsites the campground is above average and the scenery is outstanding if you get out and hike some of their trails.

And oh yeah, The Falls, simply amazing!

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CANAAN VALLEY RESORT STATE PARK (WV)

Arriving here at Canaan Valley I understand why West Virginia truly is the mountain state. Just getting to our campsite here we experienced roadways with 7-10% grades, over long distances of 4 to 5 miles, pretty damn steep. Top that off with snow flurries in the middle of April as we squeezed through nearly 5000 foot tall mountain passes and it makes for some interesting driving for this long time Florida resident.

But we made it and the truck performed admirably with the task we asked it to do today. When we arrived there was snow on the ground, but before noon the next day it was all gone, except for the nearby mountain tops.

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MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY YEAR #2 - STOP #24

Well today's drive was a little bit different! We woke up this morning a looked out the windows and saw snow flurries. Not enough that it stuck around once it hit the ground but enough that we considered it our second snowy day of our travels.

It temperature was in the mid-30s and we thought once it warmed up a bit the snow would stop, but that didn't happen. During our 225 mile move today we went up and down in elevation over 2000 feet and it was snowing the entire drive. At the higher mountain passes the snow was actually beginning to accumulate on the ground. When we arrived at our new campsite this is was we saw.

It's going to be a chilly night for us!

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TUESDAY

WORK DAY FROM THE LODGE 56 MILES DRIVEN TODAY

Last night we found out Tricia's Verizon cell phone and MiFi hot spot have no service at this location. My AT&T cell phone on the other hand has 2 bars of service, so Tricia used my phone to connect for work, which meant I wasn't able to do anything online or read my book.

This morning we both went up to the lodge to work, Tricia using my cell phone and me using the lodge's free WiFi. Tricia uses a Microsoft Surface Pro for work and while it's nice and portable it's more like a tablet in most respects. With limited inputs and outputs, you have to purchase what's called a Surface Dock ($200) to be able to connect anything to it. We have a dock, but it's semi-permanently mounted to the underside of the dinette table where Tricia usually does her work. So this morning I'm working from the lodge, using their free WiFi and Tricia is back at THE POD working with my cell phone and the docking station.

Right after lunch our mission was to get one of our two 30-lb. propane tanks refilled. One of them has been empty for a while now and we weren't sure how much was left in the second one. With the cold temperatures lately we've been using propane to run our furnace overnight to keep our holding tanks from freezing. Even if the second 30lb. tank was to go empty we also carry a 20-lb. (to run the generator) and a 5-lb. (to use with the BBQ grill) tank in the rear of the truck for backup, just in case!

Seneca Rocks from the parking lot below.

It proved to be a little bit of a task to find propane near here. We had to travel 23 miles to the small town of Seneca Rocks to find someone who could refill our tank. While there we were also able to purchase gasoline and view the amazing peaks of Seneca Rocks, which is a well known rock climbers paradise. There is not one, but two climbing schools located near the base of the 900 foot tall rocks, just in case you're interested in climbing to the top, not for us I'm afraid!

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UPDATE: We solved Tricia's computer limitations with a small 4-port USB hub I had on hand, so this afternoon we're working side by side up at the lodge. It's good to get away from THE POD every once in a while and how can you beat this office view?

Overlooking the Canaan Valley from my office for the day!

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WEDNESDAY

SIGHTSEEING DAY 65 MILES DRIVEN TODAY

Today we had to hang around THE POD until 10:00AM to make reservations for a campsite in October, that's right 6 months from now. That's the only way you can get a campsite at some of the more popular National Parks and Forest Service campgrounds. Anyway we secured our first pick of sites and we were off to go visit another cave near here.

Seneca Caverns is located in Riverton, WV about eight miles south of The Seneca Rocks we visited yesterday. The tour lasts about an hour, has 282 stairs and covers 3/4 mile underground and then 1/4 mile outside back to where we started. Every cave we visit has something unique about it and that's why we keep going to these out of the way places to see another cave.

The modest entrance to Seneca Caverns

Cave crickets are found throughout Seneca Caverns

The man-made walkway over one of the wetter areas of the cave

This formation has the nickname Cave Popcorn for obvious reasons

After our grueling cave tour we were hungry! Yesterday when we were at the base of Seneca Rocks, in the small community with the same name, we saw a place to eat. There is not much here, the two climbing schools I mentioned yesterday, Harper's Old Country Store where we purchased propane and gasoline yesterday, and Yokum's Grocery & Deli. We decided to have lunch at the deli instead of driving all the way back to THE POD for lunch.

We went inside and found the window at the back of the building where you order your food, pick out a beverage from the cooler, then go to the front of the building to the grocery store register to pay for your meal. They had a Special of the Day called a Ramp Burger, I just had to ask what it was. Turns out a ramp is a wild vegetable. It's kind of like an onion, or a scallion, or a leek, but it's none of these, it's a ramp. Ramps grow all over this area and they are harvested during the spring. It's a very short season so you have to be at the right place at the right time to enjoy one.

My Ramp Burger had chopped ramps mixed in with the ground beef. It tasted like I expected, a hamburger with a strong onion/garlic flavor, I liked it. Usually when it comes to food I'm willing to try just about anything once!

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• • • 100 MILE • • • HIKING CHALLENGE 15 MILES UNDER OUR BOOTS

Seneca Caverns cave tour is one mile long and that
brings our annual total up to 15 miles.

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PIPESTEM RESORT STATE PARK (WV)

Here at Pipestem Resort State Park they have it all! There is a nice campground with full hookup sites, electric only sites and primitive sites. You decide was level of comfort you desire and the price adjusts accordingly. There are two lodges with rooms for rent and several restaurants. There is an aerial tramway that will transport you to the lower lodge.

Outdoor activities include an 18 hole golf course, disc golf and miniature golf. They have fishing, paddleboat and canoe rentals, numerous hiking and biking trails, an outdoor swimming pool, fitness center and sauna. There are basketball and tennis courts, horseback riding, sledding and cross country skiing.

These are all of course seasonal activities so call ahead to see what is being offered during your stay. We were here in mid-April so we were too late for the snow and too early for the water activities. The good news is the campground was less than half full and we had our choice of most sites. I imagine come Memorial Day Weekend this place is completely full!

We chose Campsite #7 in the full hookup section and thought that Site #39 in the electric only section would have been just as nice. If primitive camping is what you desire we feel Campsite #68 is the best. All three were long back in sites with no one behind or to the awning side on either site.

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THURSDAY

TRAVEL DAY YEAR #2 - STOP #23

"The Mountain State" is our 12th visited state

Upon checking in at the campground we purchased two bags of firewood so we could enjoy our West Virginia campfire tonight. The weather is not supposed to be as nice for the next few nights while we are here. It was good that we have full hookups, complete with sewer, because when we left our last campsite the dump station was out of order and unusable, yet another ding against our Kentucky State Parks visits.

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FRIDAY

SIGHTSEEING DAY 208 MILES DRIVEN TODAY

We were up early at 6:30AM this morning to eat breakfast, make lunches to take with us and get cleaned up in the showers. By 8:00AM we were on the road to go visit the New River Gorge National River visitor center 65 miles north of here. We arrived at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center a little after 9:00AM right after they opened. As always the first order of business was to get my National Parks Passport Book stamped. Then we watched an 11 minute documentary film about the discovery, history, mining, development and finally preservation of this National River Gorge.

Just outside the visitor center is a boardwalk staircase that descends just below the roadway of the bridge that crosses the gorge here. The New River Gorge Bridge was completed in 1977 and for many years was the world's longest single span arch bridge, it is currently now the fourth longest. Not only did we view the bridge from here, we drove what used to be the only way to cross the river at this location.

We drove down the winding switchback roads of the Fayette Station Road Tour down into the gorge, crossed a bridge just a few feet above the river and then drove back up the 876 feet on the other side along even more switchback roads. It used to take drivers 45 minutes to do this. When we crossed the new 1977 bridge earlier, to get to the visitor center, it only took us 45 seconds to cross the same river.

After the road tour we went upriver to view Sandstone Falls both from the overlook and from ground level on the boardwalk.

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NEW RIVER GORGE BRIDGE

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A view of the New River Gorge from the Canyon Rim Visitor Center

A view of the bridge from just below the roadway level

Stairway with observation decks leading down below the bridge

Halfway down the gorge on the Fayette Station Road Tour

A closeup view of the structure holding up the bridge

A far away view of the bridge

Another section of the one-way road tour

Another view of the underside of the bridge

The view from the lower original bridge to the upper new bridge

The downstream view of the river

ROVER awaits the photographer to get back into her passenger seat!

A look back from ground level at the lower bridge

An overlook view Sandstone Falls (30 miles upriver from the Gorge Bridge)

A ground level view of Sandstone Falls

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After exploring this area of the gorge we had something else planned to do, our new passion is cave exploration. Even before our visit to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky last week, we had visited several caves in Virginia and Tennessee. There is another cave tour near here and what really sounded interesting to us about this cave is that you are able to view the cave as a self-guided tour. That means no rushing through the cave at someone else's pace and being able to spend as much time as you want enjoying each formation. We weren't expecting much and man were we happily surprised.

Every cave is different and you can't really compare one to another to decide which one is better. Mammoth Cave is huge, that's what it has to offer that no other cave does. We hiked 9 miles on three different tours during our visit and we didn't even scratch the surface of the more than 400 miles of passageways that have been mapped there. But what Mammoth Cave doesn't have is a lot of formations, alive or dead, for you to view and photograph.

Lost World Caverns is just the opposite. The entire viewing section of the cave tour is only 1000 feet long. But in that 1000 feet are incredible formations of every kind everywhere you look. You can get up close and inspect each formation to see how they were formed. The other thing is that this cave is very much alive, water is dripping everywhere which means the formations are still growing and changing. Not that you'll notice any change, even if you visited here as a child, because it takes thousands of years for most formations to grow even an inch.

50 stairs to enter the cave and 50 stairs to exit the cave
300 stairs total on the half mile tour

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SATURDAY

WORK DAY FROM THE POD 38 MILES DRIVEN TODAY

35 miles were driven today to go get ROVER all filled up with gas and ready to tow THE POD to our next destination. The other 3 miles were all driven inside the park to go climb to the top of the Observation Tower and to go over to the aerial tram location to check it out. The tram ride is $7.00, but if you eat a $10.00 meal at the restaurant at the end of the ride the tram ride is free. Guess I know where we are having lunch tomorrow!

The view from the top of the Observation Tower at Pipestem Resort State Park, WV.

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SUNDAY

WORK DAY FROM THE POD 18 MILES DRIVEN TODAY

Got up early today and drove three miles down the street to a drive in movie theater, not to see a movie of course, but to check out the flea market they advertised out front on the marquee. The weather was a little damp but there were still a few vendors braving the rain. I didn't find anything I was looking for, so I went back home empty handed.

When I got back to the campsite Tricia had taken a load of laundry up to get washed. Mostly the clothes we had worn while sitting around the campfire Thursday night. While I was sitting there with Tricia waiting for the clothes to be dry I saw a few people gathering at the entrance to the campground. Always the curious type I went over to see what was up.

I was told that in about an hour they were going to be participating in a qualifying round of the state championship tournament for Irish Road Bowling. There were going to be about 25 men and women competing for a spot in the West Virginia State Tournament. The sport is simple, yeah just like golf is simple, all you have to do is roll a small round iron cannonball one mile down the road, fewest throws win.

The thing is the road here in the park is a winding twisting road with some steep up and down hills along the most of the entire length. I was talking to one of the players and he told me this course record is 14 throws set many years ago and last year one of the players came within 10 feet of setting a new record with a 13. He pointed out to me which player he was so I could watch him and then he also pointed out to me last years State Champion.

Before the tournament got under way it started to rain and I naively asked if the played rain or shine? He smiled and said it rains everyday in Ireland, so yes, as long as there is no thunder and lightening they will play. Today they played in groups of five and I watched all five group's first three throws before it starting raining really hard. I then walked back to the campground, it didn't look like anyone was going to be setting any records today.

We did, as I suspected we would, brave the rain and take the aerial tram down to the lower lodge's restaurant for a couple gourmet hamburgers, some creamy potato soup and chocolate key lime cheesecake. The whole bill was just over $40 but the tram ride and the food were a real nice experience.

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• • • 100 MILE • • • HIKING CHALLENGE 14 MILES UNDER OUR BOOTS

With a half mile of hiking inside of Lost World Caverns
and another half mile up to The Observation Tower in the park
it brings our annual total up to 14 miles.

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Who will be the first to correctly guess our next location? • • • PLEASE USE THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW TO MAKE YOUR GUESS! • • •

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