Finally! We found pawpaw!

The Arboretum is having pawpaw parties, where you can come and taste the fruit and–if you want–take seeds home to propagate.

Here are the fruits, plucked from trees in the Arboretum:

And here is what the insides look like. The pawpaw on the left is less ripe, the fruit on the right is more ripe.

The fruit really doesn’t taste like anything else grown in WV, and certainly not something growing wild.

If you have seeds, here is how to propagate pawpaw.

Less of a hike and more of a wander, but it was well-worth the drive (despite our forgetting on the way home that the GPS is trying to kill us, and taking a road that was just barely passable for cars (the people on 4-wheelers and jeeps kinda gave us a funny look as we passed in our Corolla).

This area belongs to the Nature Conservancy, and is open year-round, during day-light hours. The brochure recommended wearing boots, but it hasn’t rained in awhile, so we kept our feet dry. But we still wore gaiters, because: ticks.

The flora is similar to Cranberry Glades, for similar reasons.

Location: Cranesville Swamp
Trails: Blue, Orange, Yellow, White
Distance: 1.8 miles
Elevation: 2358-2678 feet

And lots of berries, including some out-of-season ones.

Cranberries:

Winterberries:

Perhaps Viburnum:

Wintergreen:

I HAVE NO IDEA AND IT BUGS ME:

I found a handful of blueberries and a single ripe blackberry. They were delicious.

Spiranthes cernua (Nodding ladies’ tresses orchid) (?)

The view of the swamp from the edge of the woods:

At the playground the other evening, I made a small pile of flat pebbles. (I just had to look up the definition of pebble: “a rock fragment larger than a sand grain or granule and smaller than a cobble, which has been rounded by the action of water wind or glacial ice. It is therefore between 4 mm (~0.15 in) and 64 mm (~2.5 in)”. Pettijohn, F. J., 1949, Sedimentary rocks: New York, Harper and Brothers, 526 p)

I then became fascinated by how the small pile looked in the evening light.

There is something pleasant about these pebbles–most small people I take to the playground want to take some home with them. I made an arbitrary determination of 2 pebbles per visit, lest we depebble the playground.

But they really are nice pebbles–and I love how they look different in different light.

We had a visitor!

So since it fit into other things we wanted to do, we took her to New River Gorge and hiked out to Longpoint for the view!

Location: New River Gorge
Trail: Longpoint Trail
Distance: 3.0 miles
Elevation: 1776-2049 feet

This is a nice hike because it’s not long, it’s not especially steep, and it has a gorgeous view for minimal effort.

Panther State Forest / WMA is kind of in the middle of nowhere (though not quite the middle of nowhere as Cabwaylingo which had multiple one-lane bridges on the route in and out), and the drive was all on windy rural roads (which made for a pleasant drive), but there were a surprising number of people there–mostly family reunion groups, but there were some teenagers playing in the creek.

Location: Panther State Forest / Wildlife Management Area
Trail: Buzzards Roost Overlook Trail
Distance: 1.9 miles
Elevation: 1227-1631 feet

Yes, we did hike three “overlook” trails this weekend. And none of the three overlooks were very impressive, but that’s okay. (I had to climb up on a cement piling that was the remainder of a wooden overlook for this picture.)

Like most parks, there were lots of playgrounds, but I can’t remember seeing swings like this in recent memory.

And the creek running through the park.

It was a lovely place to visit, despite the ridiculous heat. I think I’d like to visit again.

Beech Fork State Park is for boaters and fishermen, which is one of the reasons we weren’t in a rush to visit. It’s primarily a lake (like Bluestone and Moncove Lake) so there was little hiking, which is perfectly fine, because our state park system should be for all West Virginians–hunters, fishermen, kayakers, and hikers alike.

But it wasn’t any place I’m eager to revisit, since there wasn’t much hiking.

Location: Beech Fork State Park
Trail: Overlook Trail
Distance: 2.5 miles
Elevation: 601-920 feet

Here’s the view from the Overlook Trail.

It’s easy to overlook. (HA!)

There is a cemetery within Beech Fork, so as is my wont, we wandered around, considering the impermanence of life and memory.

There were a lot of WWI vets buried there–more WWI than WWII from a cursory wander. At some point, I’ll put all these cemetery photos up on Flickr.

Here’s the lake itself.

This weekend we finished up visiting all the major state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas in WV! HOORAH!

Location: Kanawha State Forest
Trail: Overlook Rock Trail
Distance: 1.7 miles
Elevation: 800-1360 feet

The view from overlook rock.

If you don’t want to zoom in, the view is power lines on the far mountain ridge.

We went with my aunt and uncle on a “hike” to view Pendleton Run Falls.

I use the term hike very loosely, because as the book I have on waterfalls puts it “cuss, fall, root grab, and butt slide your way down to the creek” and they are totally serious. The park actually removed the warning sign from the top of the trail, perhaps realizing that its existence pointed out this “path” to people who were badly prepared for the risks.

Here’s the path of 0.45 mile hike we took with three kids 6 and under, so there was a fair amount of wandering back and forth.

Here is the path going down to Pendelton Run Falls #4

I’m pretty sure the GPS lost signal more than once.

The average grade was 23% and there were a couple places that were very exciting. On the way back up I folded up my hiking stick, stuck it in my bag, and scrambled grabbing rocks and roots since that felt a whole lot more secure.

Seriously, don’t attempt this unless you are in good shape and unafraid of doing foolish things.

Location: Blackwater Falls
Trail: Pendleton Run Falls #4
Distance: 0.8 miles (down and back up)
Elevation: 2763-3132 feet

Here’s what you get for all that work.

Pretty, but to be honest, Elakala Falls is prettier with less danger.

Since we spent so much time with small people, we ended up driving out Canaan Loop Road to hike Table Rock Trail (we’d looked into hiking it from Lindy Point, but didn’t have enough time for a long hike).

Table Rock is very muddy, but the view is gorgeous.

Location: Canaan Mountain Backcountry
Trail: Table Rock Trail
Distance: 2.3 miles (out and back)
Elevation: 3391-3497 feet

Note, it hadn’t rained in awhile; when it’s been wet, these are generally giant muddy puddles.

Here’s a panorama for you!

And a look at one part of the view.

We hiked three places in the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge: The Freeland Boardwalk, The Beall Trail South, and what I think was the Camp 70 loop

The Freeland Boardwalk is highly recommend for kids–there is a brochure that tells you about different areas on the boardwalk. A pretty good diversity of habitats, including and attempt to regrow Balsam Fir.

Location: Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Trails: Freeland Boardwalk, Beall Trail South, Camp 70 Trail (?)
Distance: 0.45, 2.2, ?
Elevation: 3243-3262, 3217-3421, ?

Freeland Boardwalk

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge

We hiked / walked a lot around Blackwater Falls, and there were lots of areas that were great for kids–rocks to climb and leap off and lots of water to play in.

The best places to play in the water were Elekala Falls (the water was low–higher water with a faster flow might not be recommended for smaller kids), and a stream just past Lindy Point–park at the Lindy Point trail head, and continue down the road that says it’s for 4×4 vehicles only. You’ll soon come to a stream.

Stop and play.

Location: Blackwater Falls State Park
Trails: Elekala Falls, Cannan Loop “Road”, Balanced Rock Trail

We took some of the kids up to Dolly Sods, where the blueberries were in fruit.

We didn’t hike much, and blueberry pancakes were made for breakfast the next day (I didn’t get any!)

I just got back from a lovely vacation with extended family–and as many as 14 kids under 9. Which was AWESOME. Because none of those kids belong to me!

I encouraged the kids of hike, and we had two lovely hikes at Canaan Valley SP. These trails were chosen specifically because they were friendly for younger kids–the youngest hiker was 4 1/2, but an under 3 walked a good deal of these trails as well.

Location: Canaan Valley SP
Trails: Blackwater Trail, Deer & Abe Run Trails
Distance: 0.8, 1.7 miles
Elevation: 3265-3307, 3260-3363 feet

I didn’t take a lot of pictures, since I was enjoying hiking with the kids.

In addition to seeing how high the lake was, we took the opportunity to do some hiking in the Summersville Lake WMA. I don’t have a link to a trail map, because I can’t find one. The only reason I knew about it at all is because one of my hiking books mentioned trails there, and had directions how to get there.

It’s a relatively easy hike, and the the view at the end is gorgeous.

Location: Summersville Lake WMA
Trail: Long Point Trail
Distance: 4.0 miles
Elevation: 1797-1991 feet

To get there, head towards Summersville Airport. The Long Point trailhead is just past the airport.

Here is the gpx map of the Long Point trail hike at Summersville Lake WMA.

We had lunch at Fran’s Family Restaurant and Cafe, which was as delicious as it was inexpensive. (607 Main St, Summersville, WV 26651)