On our way back from Bridge Day we went through the Cranberry Wilderness and stopped at the Falls of Hills Creek.

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It was a gorgeous day–perfect for everything but jumping (because it was very windy), apparently.

Location: Dolly Sods National Wilderness
Trail: Rohrbaugh Trail (partial)
Distance: 3.0
Elevation: 3790 – 4120 feet

As is par for the course for every visit we’ve made to Dolly Sods, it was wet and muddy, which is part of the reason we only hiked a third of the Rohrbaugh trail (the other reason was that I’m still somewhat exhausted from this never-ending cold).

The trails are nowhere near as scenic as Bear Rocks, but it was still a gorgeous hike.

Saturday was unbelievably gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to be able to spend part of it at Dolly Sods–even if there were, like, a zillion people there. (But not as many people as we at Coopers Rock on Sunday.)

I hope you had just as much beauty in your weekend.

This was perhaps the slowest slide EVER. And the more you weighed, the slower you went.

If you want a flat place to hike, then Cathedral State Park is your best bet in WV. Which is why we took a meander despite the fact that I still feel pretty crappy from this cold.

Cathedral took a substantial amount of damage during hurricane Sandy, but the trails are all clear–and the uprooted trees are fascinating.

Location: Cathedral State Park
Trails: Cathedral, Giant Hemlock, Partridge Berry Trails
Distance: 1.8 miles
Elevation: 2438 – 2626 feet

If you’ve ever tried to photograph the woods, you know it’s pretty difficult to get a pictures from within the forest that shows the majesty of what you’re seeing. It’s that old–you can’t photograph the forest for the trees.

Doesn’t mean it isn’t worth visiting, it’s just very hard to photograph and give you an idea of what it’s like.

The WV leaf reports started this week, so since I am still tired and miserable from this stupid cold, we decided to take a scenic drive.

We had to stop at this bridge on our way back from Jackson’s Mill.

A little late, but here are the books of August. Some hot weather upped the numbers, bringing me to 12 books for the month.

The best book of the month was a re-read,
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. It had been years and years since I read it, but something about the story kept popping into my mind from time to time, so I decided it was long past time for a re-read.

It was just as marvelous as I remembered.

Comics

Fables
Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After (2015) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pepoy
Fables Vol. 22: Farewell (2015)
Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour (2015)
Ms Marvel
Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob (7/10)Wyatt
Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, Elmo Bondoc (7/10)

Fantasy

The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) Guy Gavriel Kay (9.5/10)

Audio Book

Bangkok 8 audible version (2003/2011) John Burdett narrated by Paul Boehmer (8.5/10)
Mercy Blade, Audible Version (2011/2011) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (8/10)
Moon Called, Audible Version (2006/2009) Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King (7/10)
Kitty Goes to Washington audible version (2006/2009) Carrie Vaughn narrated by Marguerite Gavin

Historical Mystery / Romance

A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (7.5/10)
London Interlude (2015) Tracy Grant (7/10)

And here’s the breakdown.

Lots of graphic novels lead to a higher than normal number of paper books read, and canning lead to a higher than normal number of audio book listened to. (I listen to about an audio book a month if it’s mostly lunch time walks. When I’m canning, audio books distract me from the heat and the sometimes monotonous tasks.)

Trade Paperback : 5
eBook : 3
Audio : 4
Multiple Formats : 5
Re-read : 5

The high number of re-reads and multiple formats were primarily due to audio books.

A bit of variety this month in the genres I read.

Fantasy : 5
Mystery : 4
Romance : 3
YA : 1
Comic : 5

And gender-wise, women remained in the lead:

Male : 2
Female : 7
Anthology : 3

That gives brings the yearly percentages as such:

Male : 34%
Female : 52%

Not a bad month, especially consider that I did manage to get out quite a bit.

One of my favorite parts of Jackson’s Mill is the mill itself, which is fully functioning and grinds wheat and corn that are available for sale in the mill and in the general store.

It’s a water powered mill, except that it doesn’t have the external paddle wheel often associated with mills (like the on at Babcock State Park). Instead, the water flows under the mill, powering the wheels and gears within.

Here’s where it all begins: the pond.

The water then turns this gear, which in turn…

Moves these wheels…

And when this gear is shifted over and engaged…

Turns the stone wheel which grinds the grain.

A wheel exactly like this one.

And here’s the original cabin:

And some farm tools:

Couple more pictures if you click through to Flickr.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

Chimney Sweeps

Textile Mills

Coal Mines

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there

You’ll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair

Today

Just a reminder what we’re celebrating today.

Every year on Labor Day weekend Jackson’s Mill has a Jubilee, with a craft fair and reenactors and live music and other stuff.

For awhile the size was really down, but it’s been slowly getting better, with more crafters and musicians this year than we’d seen in the past couple visits.

There are some other pictures if you click through the Flickr.

Here are some flowers we saw on our Saturday wander through multiple places in the state.

Plus! Bonus Dramatic Clouds!

We didn’t take a long hike at New River Gorge on Saturday, but the trails made up for that by being very steep.

Location: New River Gorge
Trail: Big Branch Trail
Distance: 1.5 miles
Elevation: 1256 – 1713

We hiked counter-clockwise, so for the first half of the trail we were gasping for breath and wondering why anyone wanted to hike this trail.

Then we started down, following the creek.