Not finding a lot of flowers at Canaan, we went to Blackwater Falls, in hopes some drier trails might have more wildflowers.
They didn’t, but it was a gorgeous day for a hike, so it’s still a win.
Location: Blackwater Falls
Trails: Elakala and Shay Trace Trails
Distance: 1.2 miles
Elevation: 3082-3228 feet (212 feet rise)
Temperature: 68F
Trails: Dobbins House and Pace Point Trails
Distance: 2.9 miles
Elevation: 2993-3160 feet (274 feet gain)
Temperature: 72F
We went out to Pace Point, in the hopes we’d see lots of flowers. Not many flowers, but still a lovely hike. Then we spent a bit of time at the top of Pendleton run.
And since we were on Elakala Trail, we of course scrambled down.
It was such a lovely day!
One of the reason I wanted to go hiking was because I finally replaced my GPS.
I’ve had the Oregon 550t since 2013, and it remains a workhorse. However, it’s accuracy was getting problematic. If we’re hiking a loop, our starting and ending elevations should be approximately the same.
The last loop we hiked our starting elevation was 1592 and the ending elevation was 1637. And our peak elevation was 1774 feet going out, and 1850 feet coming back. Those elevations should have been the same, not 45-76 feet different.
So after a lot of back and forth and a month of thinking about it I got a Garmin Oregon 700.
There have been a lot of improvements in the past six years, and although I liked the Orgeon 550t, I LOVE the 700.
The point of all this is what I wanted to use the new GPS.
So our first use was one of my favorite trails.
Location: Canaan Valley SP
Trail: Blackwater River Trail
Distance: 0.8 miles
Elevation: 3202-3261 (78 feet gain)
GPS was perfect, and the hike was lovely; Win win!
I wanted to get out of town this weekend, so we headed to Canaan / Blackwater Falls, because they’re so close.
I also wanted to see wild flowers; I should have suggested New River Gorge. Because there was not much in bloom. But there were some things.
I know the area is a couple weeks behind is, but I expected I might see bloodroot or spring beauties. Nope. I did see leaves for upcoming trout lilies.
Clubmoss!
Violets!
Bluets! (I adore bluets)
And OMG! Pixie cup lichens!
So! Adorable!
Trout lily Erythronium americanum
Dutchman’s Breeches Dicentra cucullaria
Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis
Bluebells Mertensia virginica
Finally! A Saturday without rain and mud!
After scanning the regional weather, we headed south towardsNew River Gorge, but as always happens, I said, “Oh! Can we stop by Babcock?”
Since there weren’t that many people, and since the day was beautiful, we decided to take the Lake View Trail, which we hadn’t hiked before.
It was gorgeous.
Location: Babcock State Park
Trail: Lake View Trail
Distance: 1.7 miles
Elevation: 2404-2596 ft
Of course I took a picture of the grist mill.
We went onto New River Gorge for a hike there, and decided to take the Bridge View Trail, which… was a view of the underside of the bridge. Which is fine, but not what I was thinking (I was thinking a view like Long Point, but from the other side.)
Location: New River Gorge
Trail: Bridge View Trail
Distance: 1.6 miles
Elevation: 1587-1852 feet (519 feet climb)
It was steep (with switchbacks) and rocky, with steps made from the area stones.
Not one of my favorite hikes, but I was outside in the woods, so that made it better than many other things.
Because I’m me, the other thing I paid a great deal of attention to in Fairbanks was the trees. The boreal forest (Taiga) is beautiful.The trees are very different from what I’m used to here, mostly being black spruce, white spruce, and birch, and all of them tall with thin trunks.
These last two are probably my favorite pictures of the trip.
I wish I’d been more acclimated to the cold, because I could have spent quite awhile wandering along this creek / stream and finding others like it. But hopefully we’ll get to visit again and I’ll be more prepared for the cold.
As I live along a river, I tend to orient myself to water. I found myself unable to do this in Fairbanks, possibly because much of the water was frozen. Also, because I didn’t walk as much as I normally do, because I wasn’t really acclimated to the temperatures during our short visit.
But I did get to walk along the river, which was good.
SO! MANY! DUCKS!
If I’ve been quieter than normal recently, it’s because we were getting ready for our big trip–heading north to visit Tania in Alaska! HUZZAH!
My goals were simple: Spend time with Tania and see the aurora. Both goals were accomplished! Although all my pictures of the aurora were blurry and out of focus, I didn’t mind, since I actually got to see the aurora, and it was amazing.
If you’ve spent much time reading here, you know that we spend a lot of time driving WV roads. Which are pretty abysmal. So of course I was interested in the Fairbanks roads and how very different they were from WV roads. First, being covered in snow was normal. Second, the scenery was so different from what I’m used to, I kept starting at it in fascination.
The angle of the light also made things look even more gorgeous than they already were.
Here are some of the roads Tania drives regularly.
Even more exciting, I got to expand my skill set and drive Tania’s car for a bit!
This may seem a strange place to start with our trip, but in rural areas transportation is how communities survive (or not) so I can’t help but be fascinated.
Technically, this is in Maryland.
But it is labelled the Paw Paw tunnel, and Paw Paw is in WV.
I can’t believe we’d never been there before.
When building the C&O canal, they were in a race against the completion of rail lines, so they decided the it would be easier to build a tunnel than to follow the river (understandable really, because the river is really twisty and the riverbanks weren’t necessarily good for canal building).
It’s pretty impressive.
We totally counted all markers and found the four markers for shafts.
Oops.
After a long search, we found that there was a break in the rain on Saturday in the Berkeley Springs area. So that’s where we headed.
This is a beautiful, and we spent some time wandering around the town. I wouldn’t want to live on the main street, but it is a lovely little town.
The pools fed by the springs were quite high–higher than I ever remember seeing them.
They were also as pretty as they always are.
For something different, instead of going to Cacapon, went up to what used to be called Panorama Peak. Still not much color, but beautiful never-the-less.
Our friends ended up with two extra tickets for the Potomac Eagle in Saturday, and asked if we’d be able to go with them. A train ride AND time with two lovely small people (and their parents)? Of course!
Three of them rode in the gondola through the trough. Michael and I and one of the small people declined. I was more interested in the scenery than the eagles, and the small person thought the gondola would be too loud, since it was behind the engine.
It was a beautiful day, and there were actually eagles, but I enjoyed the view (even if there was almost no fall color).
Look an old house!
Look! A couple of walls that used to be a house!
Interesting rocks!
The river!
Fields and mountains!
An excellent day!
There was also a dearth of color at Canaan Valley (and Blackwater Falls).
Still pretty though.
Since the weather was forecast to be nice, and Michael had the day off, Saturday we decided to head down to Seneca Rocks, in hopes of catch some fall color.
The weather was lovely, but there was a distinct lack of fall color.
Location: Seneca Rocks
Trail: Seneca Rocks Trail
Distance: 3.7 miles
Elevation: 1573-2520 feet (1003 ft rise)
Hike Up
1.2 miles
1611-2446 feet
33 minutes
It doesn’t look like there’s that much water going over the bridge!
Guess who had wet feet for this hike?
One of the reasons I wanted to make this hike on a Friday and not Saturday is that it tends to be really busy on Saturdays, and I selfishly prefer solitude when at the top of the rocks.
After a week of rain, Saturday was clear, so we headed to the Cranberry Wilderness, which has become one of my favorite places, since it is far less visited that most other spots in WV.
We hiked two shorter trails, wanting the views as much as the hiking.
Location: Cranberry Wilderness
Trail: Red Spruce Trail
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation: 4386-4722 feet (420 ft gain)
Is that… a bear track? (Click through to Flickr for a comparison picture.)
The trail at the top of the mountain was unbelievably gorgeous. Look at that! So beautiful!
Because Red Spruce Knob is the highest peak in the area, there was a fire tower here at one point. That tower is long gone, and most of the overlook is overgrown.
Still worth the hike.
Trail: High Rocks Trail
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation: 4312-4507 feet (471 ft gain)
The trail to High Rocks was possibly one of the easiest we’ve ever hiked in the Mon Nat’l Forest. We kept waiting for it to get super muddy or terribly rocky or ridiculously steep; Nope. It was a very easy hike.
It was a ridiculously easy hike, for the view at the end.
