We stopped at several state parks on Friday, two of which have some lovely river views.

We were a tad bit late for good light at Carnifex Ferry, but none-the-less it’s a lovely view of the Gauley River.

There was a bit of color, but nowhere near as much as there should have been for mid-October.

We stopped by Hawk’s Nest earlier in the day, and saw a different portion of the New River.

We also went down into the New River Gorge. They were getting ready for Bridge Day, and there wasn’t very much color, even if it was a lovely view.

I taught in Charleston on Friday, so we decided to take the super scenic route home, and ended up on a road we hadn’t taken before, and got to visit two new neat places!

Kanawha Falls

Cathedral Falls

There are people in this picture, for perspective.

Saturday was supposed to rain, plus my aunt was coming in, so we did our hiking on Friday, which turned out to be a perfect choice.

Checked what the leaf color was supposed to be, so headed back down to the Canaan / Blackwater Falls area.

Canaan Valley State Park: Blackwater River Trail

Blackwater Falls

Table Rock

You’ll have to forgive me that these are not actually flower pictures, but rather pictures that happen to contain colorful leaves.

A burden I’m sure, but you’ll have to live with it.

We went to Canaan Valley State Park, the Blackwater Canyon, and Blackwater Falls State Park. We didn’t do any serious hiking, because I wanted to see what fall color there was. (Not a whole lot, but there was some.)

Blackwater River Rail Trail

Douglas Falls

Pendleton Creek

Blackwater River Trail (Canaan)

Not a lot of flowers to be found at Spruce Knob and Seneca Rocks, but these were pretty.

On the 7th of September we headed south towards Spruce Knob and decided to hike at Seneca Creek Backcountry, which I love but don’t hike enough.

I really have no sense of self-preservation. I was startled by a falling leaf and by a butterfly, but noticed the noise of a rattlesnake only when Michael started freaking out behind me. Seriously, he’s hyperventilating and I’m all, “What? What?”

But leaves? Those will totally startle me.

Location: Seneca Creek Backcountry
Trail: Horton Trail
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation: 2955-4154 feet (1229 feet gain)

Aside from the hike being straight up the ridge, it was a lovely day and I really do need to hike there more often.

Location: Cranberry Wilderness
Trail: Blue Knob Trail
Distance: 2.0 miles
Elevation: 3742-4161 feet (423 feet gain)

Oh look! If I stand on this log and peer carefully, I can see the Highland Scenic Highway!

If you remember way back into the spring, beavers had flooded the boardwalk over the winter. Last visit the walk was dry, but still not repaired.

Now, they’ve fixed this section of boardwalk (but others are problematic) but the pond is almost gone.

Also, please enjoy these views:

Late September is when the earliest leaves change color in areas like Cranberry Glades and Dolly Sods and Canaan Valley. Since I love Cranberry Glades best that’s where we went.

Not much in the way of leaf color, but a beautiful day nevertheless.

Went south yesterday for the Jackson’s Mill Jubilee. As noted in previous years, there are fewer crafters each time we visit. But lots of live music–and I saw quite a few younger musicians alongside the old bearded dudes.

Since we were wasting time waiting for the start of the game so we could go home, I spent lots of time wandering around the mill.

I love that place So. Much.

As I mentioned previously, the monitor on my Asus laptop died, so although we did take a lovely hike a couple weeks ago at the Cranberry Wilderness, I did not manage to write about it or post any pictures.

This weekend Michael was still recovering from the start of school (couple weeks of 10-12 hours days. Ugh.) so we didn’t want to go far, so the Blackwater Falls / Canaan Valley area it was.

I remembered that it’d been a couple years since I’d taken any pictures of Douglas Falls, so that’s where we headed, and then continued out the defunct rail trail (it’s private property, so the trail is not maintained for 5 1/2 miles, but it was perfectly fine to hike).

The fun part was our argument as to whether Michael has seen Pace Point or not. I’m pretty sure he didn’t. We did definitely see Lindy Point though. (We’ve argued for years as to whether you can see Lindy Point from Pase Point. I say definitely not.)

Location: Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail
Distance: 6.2 miles (partial, out and back)
Elevation: 2755-2918 feet (410 feet gain)

Definitely Lindy Point, as seen from across the river.

This is what Michael says is Pase Point. I say NOPE.

The old coke ovens along the trail are AMAZING.

It’s actually a lovely trail.

Douglas Falls

Lovely!

The monitor on my Asus laptop died, and although I did use my desktop computer for processing images, if I’m going to spend lots of time on the computer, I’d rather do so upstairs on a laptop, so Michael and I can be in the same room ignoring each other.

Saturday we hiked the rail trail along the Blackwater Canyon, and we did manage to see wildflowers (even if there were (sadly) no snacks along the trail).

Not *quite* UF, but definitely not high fantasy, I do recommend Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. I’ve fallen off keeping up with the series, because there were a LOT of delays for about a decade, but I need to pick it back up.

Orchids were in bloom at Cranberry Glades.

Also in bloom:

It was a LOVELY day to be in the Cranberry Wilderness and walk the Cranberry Glades boardwalk.

I’ve been sickly for about two weeks, getting over some kind of cold/respiratory thingy. So yesterday we wanted to hike somewhere close, and take a hike that wasn’t too strenuous.

Apparently, we have a strange definition of strenuous.

We ended up going to Thomas/Davis because it’s a short-ish drive, and there are tons of places to hike. We were considering the Canaan Wilderness, but I looked through the hiking books on the way down, and decided we should try some more hiking in the Blackwater Canyon (across the gorge from Blackwater Falls State Park).

Location: Blackwater Canyon
Trails: Allegheny and Limerock Trails
Distance: 8.2 miles
Elevation: 2863-3118 feet (590 feet rise)

It seems that for us, 8.2 miles turned out to be taking it easy. We did have a much slower pace than we normally hike (30 min mile vs 20 min mile) and the majority of the hike was on a railroad grade trail, so it was a slower elevation rise. Essentially, we parked, and hikeed out until we decided we were ready to turn around.

The temperatures were perfect for hiking, the weather was lovely, and aside from one dirt biker on the RR grade trail, we didn’t see anyone else while we were out.

So: a good day.

I’ve talked about WV roads before, and I truly don’t think most people really get it.

US Route 50 stretches from the east coast to the west coast. It was constructed in the mid 1920s. So it’s been around for awhile and used to be a major thoroughfare.

West of I79, US 50 in WV is relatively straight, and for the most part a divided highway. East of I79 it is two lanes, 7-11% grades, and hairpin turns. The GPS often loses signal along the more winding stretches and has us either inside the mountain or floating above the gorge. (“Damnit! You’re off-roading again!”)

When I talk about reasons why WV has trouble getting jobs because of lack of infrastructure, US 50 East of I79 immediately comes to mind. No one in the right mind would bring production into an area where you cannot drive large trucks.

So in an effort to try and explain WV roads, here is a small section of US 50, taken over approximately 5 minutes, up to and then down one of my least favorite stretches of US 50. (This is NOT the section with the switch backs.) I named the pictures with the date and time, and all should have GPS coordinates.

Ready? Here we go!

18-55-00. Coming up to the top of the mountain, there are multiple signs warning trucks about the hill. “Trucks must stop 1/4 mile”

18-55-16. “Trucks must stop 1000 FT”

18-55-27. “ALL TRUCKS”

18-55-39. “Trucks. 20 MPH Curve Bottom of Grade.”

Oh yeah, this section of downhill ends in a sharp curve.

18-56-03. Here we go!

18-56-20. “Rough Road”

Because of course the road is subsiding.

18-56-55

18-57-12.

18-57-15. “9%”

18-57-27.

18-58-46. “30 MPH”

18-59-12.

18-59-23. “9%”

18-59-45.

19-00-13. “9%. 1/2 MILE”

19-00-39. “20 MPH”

That’s the final turn and now you’re down in the valley.

Five minutes. 9% grade. And it you mess up you’re smashed into the side of the mountain or plunging into the gorge.

These is a US route, not a county road. THIS is why we can’t get jobs in WV. Not because the people are unwilling to work, but because businesses can’t GET to the areas where jobs are needed.