We’re getting our deck replaced.
Finally.
But that’s not really what this post is about.
When they tore off the old deck, they exposed the (pretty damaged) original house steps. And I noticed something bizarre: what looked like broken bottles embedded in the bottom step of each set of stairs.
Front door
Kitchen door
Upon closer inspection, they really do look like broken bottles.
That almost looks like a Pepsi logo to me.
And this one has writing.
This is the same picture in mirror image.
The lower part of the text there looks to be “BOTTLE OF MORGANTOWN” but I could be wrong.
So, why on earth were there bottles embedded into the cement stairs? Since there is no cement in the bottle, I am guessing the bottle was broken after the cement was poured. It’s a 1930s house, so is this some weird Great Depression thing?
This house just has so many surprises.
And one picture from Canaan Valley
“I don’t know where I want to go or even if I feel up to hiking.”
“Me either”
“So let’s just get in the car and see where we end up.
We ended up at Otter Creek!
I’d actually wanted to hike yesterday, but forgot there is always more snow at Coopers Rock than there is in Morgantown, so I didn’t think to grab snowshoes (in my defense, we haven’t been able to use them since we bought them).
We walked around for awhile, but walking through the deep snow ended up making my foot ache, so we left without a nice long hike, and went for a scenic drive instead, stopping at Valley Falls.
We did walk completely around the reservoir.
Valley Falls we just wandered around and avoided the three other small groups who were there (on group was a HS senior photo shoot, which: good for her!
Saturday we headed back to the Canaan area–mostly because it’s a relatively short drive with a ton of wilderness.
We went back up to Canaan Loop road and did a loop of Fire trails and the Plantation trail.
I did slide into a puddle, but not this one.
Luckily, although a little water got into my boots, my feet stayed dry.
These are actually from two weeks ago. I was just to lazy to post them.
We’d decided to hike around the Blackwater Canyon. Nothing strenuous, but I knew there would be some pretty views and that we would be unlike to see other people.
When they tell you the road isn’t suitable for passenger vehicles, they really do mean it.
We parked before the road completely degraded and walked to the Allegheny / Canyon Rim Trail.
Just past the Canyon Rim Trail, if you watch the side of the road you’ll find a short trail out to the overlook, where you can see into the Blackwater Canyon.
You can hear the creek running below, but even with the leaves fallen could not catch sight of it.
Between the overlook and Canyon Rim Trailhead you can look for another side trail to a waterfall.
This is a scramble and not recommended for all users.
But it is lovely.
The canyon rim trail itself has several creek crossings at the start, but is then wooded / rhododendron thickets.
It was chilly, but a gorgeous (and easy) hike.
Forgot to post these pictures from the first weekend we had our car back.
We went to Davis and decided to take the Blackwater River Trail at Canaan, and a trail we hadn’t walked before at Blackwater Falls.
Canaan Valley Start Park, Blackwater River Trail
Blackwater Falls State Park, River Road Trail, Yellow Birch Trail
We left town early (skipping the Farmers Market) to try and beat some of the crowds. We did ok at Babcock, since it wasn’t bad when we arrived but starting to get crazy by the time we left.
A debate was had over whether or not this was a beaver.
The water wheel was turning!
On the hope that there was still some color (there wasn’t) we headed south to New River Gorge.
We’d considered hiking Endless Wall trail–and then saw cars parked alongside the road. So after regrouping we headed to Nuttallburg, which we hadn’t done before.
Nuttallburg is an abandoned mining town, and was full of lots of abandoned equipment.
An accident led us to seek a detour which led us to drive past Stauffer’s Marsh Preserve. Since we were mostly wandering, we decided to stop.
Stauffer’s Marsh Preserve is a small preserve, but it was a nice walk.
They day was overcast and gray, which is why we didn’t have any specific hiking plans, so little color came out in the pictures.
With rain forecast across the state, we decided to head to the Eastern panhandle to hit an orchard, and then see where we ended up.
An accident that stopped traffic led us to seek an alternate route, and that led us to visit two new places.
We literally did a three-point turn in the road upon seeing the sign for Sleepy Creek Lake after we ended up driving through the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area.
We had no idea what to expect, and were quite shocked to discover that Sleepy Creek WMA is huge (22,928 acres). Despite the sky being overcast, it was a gorgeous drive.
Since it’s hunting season, we didn’t even attempt a hike (since we had no safety gear) but did walk across the dam.
