USDA: Find Summer Meals in Your Community
Nutritious free meals are available for children and teens 18 and younger at many locations throughout the nation throughout the summer while school is out of session. Use the mapping tool below to find a site near you.
Mountaineer Food Bank
Mountaineer Food Bank is located in Gassaway, WV. Our organization provides food and other household items to our emergency food network in 48 counties including programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, Backpack programs, senior programs and mobile pantries.
MFB works with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture to distribute USDA commodities in 43 counties in West Virginia, almost 3.5 million pounds annually. The products are generally staple items such as green beans, corn, canned fruit, juices and proteins such as meat or peanut butter.
Sunday was our annual hike up Seneca Rocks in memory of my cousin Ben. Ben died in 2012, and every year since then we’ve hiked up Seneca Rocks on his birthday. And since we’re doing it in memory of Ben, we have to go all the way to the top without stopping.
—
I was chatting with Tania the night before, and she asked if I was still mad at Ben. I said much less than I had been.
I changed my mind about 2/3rds of the way up.
I’m not as mad at him as I used to be (once I catch my breath, that is) but it’s still hard for me to accept. And it most likely always will be.
—
Although there was rain throughout the day, it held off for our hike, as well as while we were enjoying the view.
Location: Seneca Rocks
Distance: 3.6 miles
Elevation: 1546-2407 feet (919)
Temperature: 75 F
Hike up:
Distance: 1.2 miles
Elevation: 1578 – 2319 feet (740); 11.6% grade
Time: 32 minutes
We’d hoped to spend some time hiking in the southern part of the state after I finished teaching in Charleston, but thunderstorms nixed that plan, so we came home, and had a day trip to Canaan.
This is one of the places we go frequently, because it’s relatively close to Morgantown, and there are SO MANY places to hike.
Location: Canaan Wilderness
Trail: Lindy Run, Plantation, Fire Trails
Distance: 4.0 miles
Elevation: 3459-3652 feet (397 feet gain)
Temperature: 82 F
Wet trail.
Wet crossing.
Dry trail.
Gorgeous creek.
Our original plans for the weekend were thrown into disarray, so we went to Canaan Valley on Saturday for a little hiking, and to see what spring wildflowers were out.
Answer: lots and lots.
I really want an app that gives me the forecast for the state and tells me where it will NOT be raining over the weekend. Is that really so much to ask?
The forecast looked least wet in the Berkeley Springs area, so we headed east to do some hiking at Cacapon.
Irises
Pink Lady Slipper
FUTURE SNACKS!!!!
The boardwalk is lovely, but .8 miles and flat is not a hike, so we decided to go out a bit on the Cow Pasture Trail, in the hopes there would be wildflowers.
There are LOTS of wildflowers.
We hiked parts of the other end of the trail, but hadn’t walked any of the western part of the trail.
It was gorgeous.
There are so many trails I want to hike in the Cranberry Wilderness, but most of them are long and would require an overnight stay–which we can do, but haven’t been able to do. (Because rain, work, reasons.)
Location: Cranberry Wilderness
Trail: Cow Pasture Trail
Distance: 4.9 miles
Elevation: 3347-3462 feet (364 feet rise)
Temperature: 59 F
If you haven’t been (and really, why haven’t you?), Cranberry Glades is an amazing area. It’s an area of bogs with plants typically found much farther to the north (like Canada).
It’s a very brief walk, and usually handicapped accessible, however, a section of boardwalk currently needs repaired, due to beaver activity.
It was a gorgeous day, and there were quite a few people on the boardwalk (by quite a few, I mean there there were about six cars in the parking lot).
If you have the chance, head there now, while the flowers are in bloom.
Location: Cranberry Glades
Trail: Cranberry Glades Boardwalk
Distance: 0.8 miles
Elevation: 3620-3659 feet (46 feet rise)
Temperature: 55 F
