Traveling West Virginia - Hawks Nest - New River Gorge Trail

We don't do as much traveling as we used to. But we recently took a day trip to southern West Virginia.

Our first stop was Hawks Nest State Park. If you have traveled there before, you know where they get the expression half the fun is getting there - that is unless you are prone to motion sickness. If you are, then I would advise you to sit in the front seat of the car.

We have been to Hawks Nest many times, but this is the first time we ever rode the tram down to the river.

We wanted to ride the jet boats, but they were all booked up.

 

 So we did the next item on our list. We went on a hike. My husband has a bad knee, so he didn't go with my son and me. He loves to talk, so he stayed and talked to the tram guys.

The hike was beautiful - a path filled with large rocks, rhododendron, foot bridges, caves, snakes . . .

Of course, my son had to climb up onto the first big rock we came to. Boys will be boys.

And speaking of snakes. This is where I encountered a baby snake wriggling under my shoe. I didn't stay long enough to see what kind he was, but he wasn't a black snake.

On the way back down the trail on this neat little foot bridge.

Our next stop was at a trail we had never walked on before. You drive over the New River Gorge Bridge, which is an experience I never tire of, and then travel a local road to a set of trails that take you to a great place for a photo op of the bridge.

I never took any pictures along the trail because we were in a hurry. We even sprinted in a few places. I never walked a trail so fast in my life. It was late and given the length of the trail we were going to be walking back in the dark. Thank goodness for cell phone flash lights!

The first mile and 3/4 was a fairly easy walk. But the last 1/4 mile was a heavy breather. This is approaching the end of the trail. And believe me when I tell you the view was well worth the huffing and puffing. 

This was as far out as I would venture. My son said that I couldn't fall off unless I just walked off the edge. I said different --- You could trip. You could slide. You could get woozy. So I played it safe.

We still got some great pictures. My son even took a few selfies.

After enjoying the view and taking a bunch of pictures, we started back. And yes, it was in the dark. I kept imagining encounters with wild animals, but none appeared.

My son said, "If we see Big Foot, shine the light while I take the picture."
I told him, "Please make it a clear picture."
For some reason all the pics people take of Big Foot are blurry. 😊

Press this link to a list of trails in the area. I would like to try them all out. The name of the trail we took is the Long Point Trail.

 Hope you enjoyed this Traveling West Virginia.

Have you ever been to either of these places?

If not, I hope you get to visit some day.

Road Trippin' in West Virginia

Charley and I and two of our sons took a little road trip on Saturday.

We drove along the Midland Trail. 

Our first stop was at Kanawha Falls.

This is where the New and Gauley rivers

converge to create the Kanawha River.

 Click here to read a little about the falls.

On up from Kanawha Falls this house sits out in the river on a rock.

 Up the road a little ways we reached Cathedral Falls. 

It sits back in a natural rock amphitheater.

 My boys taking in the view.

 

A lot of people visited the roadside park today.

There is a small parking lot 

and picnic tables.

You can hike a path that takes you to the top of the falls.

But, no I did not take that hike.

  

Click here for a few pics of the falls in winter.

After enjoying the falls, we drove up, up, up 

the winding Midland Trail

to Hawk's Nest State Park.

As always when you go road trippin', you sometimes

have to visit Ye Olde Bathroom.

Pretty cool bathroom, don't you think.

The familiar, breathtaking view of the New River Gorge 

from Hawk's Nest overlook.

On the way back, we drove through the small town 

of Montgomery, WV

and stopped at the local Dairy Queen. 

This was the view from their parking lot - 

an Osprey's nest on top of a cell phone tower.

We enjoyed our 7-hour trip up to Hawk's Nest and back.

Have you been road trippin' lately?

Ever been to wild, wonderful West Virginia?

America's Smallest Community Museum

It may be tiny, but Ripley has a museum! Ripley where, you say?

Ripley, WV! We are only a few miles away from other Ripley's in the world.

I love museums. I have often thought of how great it would be to work at a museum - or to even have one of my very own. So, when I found out we had one right here in our little town - no matter how small it was, I just had to have a look see.

Our town was named after Harry Ripley, a circuit riding minister who tragically died in 1830. Legend has it that he fell in love with a local girl, believed to be the daughter of Capt. William Parsons. He drowned days before the wedding while attempting to cross Mill Creek. Their wedding certificate was found in his coat pocket.

 

The picture above is of West Virginia's last public hanging. It occurred in Ripley, Thursday, December 16, 1897.  

There was a CCC Camp located in Ripley. 

I never knew that!

It does live up to its claim - it is small. At 7-feet, 7-inches wide and 15-feet, 7-inches long, the new museum at the Ripley Convention & Visitors Bureau measures approximately 120-square feet. But, no matter how small, I love  museums. If you are ever in our neck of the woods, check it out. It is located at the corner of North and Church Streets.

Want to read about another small museum in West Virginia. Go here to another post and read about Shoney's Big Boy.

Traveling West Virginia - Cathedral Falls

You can't drive the Midland Trail without stopping and taking snapshots of Cathedral Falls. I have heard that the locals sometimes call it "The Washing Machine."

Charley worded it a different way, he said "we're taking pictures of the hard water in Fayette County."

Before we reached the falls, I took a picture of the Three Crosses out in the middle of the river. Last year, I posted here about these crosses. Every time I see them, I take a picture.

The falls are beautiful whether you see them in the summer or in the winter. I have taken many pictures of them during the summer, however this is the first time I have taken a picture of them in the winter.

We had to hop scotch across the ice and rocks to get close to the falls. It's not often Charley moves this fast, so I just had to take a picture.

Aren't they beautiful?

I also took a few close ups. . .

 

A parting shot. . .

Now you know why we took the scenic route. More pictures later.

Traveling West Virginia - Pt Pleasant

A few weeks ago we went to Pt. Pleasant for business and ended up sight seeing.

It's a beautiful little town to visit. Find you a place to park and take a little stroll.

You will find Mothman!

Chief Cornstalk and Gen. Andrew Lewis.

Don't forget to visit the southside of the flood wall. There is a painted mural 150' long and 15-18' high. The scenes depict the Battle of Pt. Pleasant fought on October 10, 1774.

the Silver Bridge collapsed here on December 15, 1967.

We went to Tu-Endie-Wei State Park. It is only 4 acres in size.

There is a Mansion House Museum in the park. It is the oldest log hewn structure in the Kanawha Valley.

This obelisk was erected in honor of the Battle of Pt. Pleasant. It was the first battle of the American Revolution.

Here is a plaque on the side of the obelisk. It is in memory of Revolutionary soldiers buried in Mason County, WV. See any of your ancestors listed here?

And this was erected in honor of Chief Cornstalk. His remains are buried inside.

Here is the story of the famous chief.

For more of the sad story of Chief Cornstalk go here.

Pt. Pleasant is located on the Ohio River. It is a quaint little town. If you are ever in the area, slow down and visit for a while. You won't be sorry.

I love barns. On the way there I took a picture of this one:

Traveling WV - Part Three

I'm back from vacation. Sorry it took so long to get the last post up about it.
Even when you're gone for just 3 1/2 days, there's a lot of catching up to do when you get back.

On Wednesday we went down to the bottom of the gorge on the tramway.


The river flows below. . .


. . . in front of the lodge. We've stayed in these rooms before. The only way to get to them is riding the tram. It's a fun place to stay, the only drawback is loading all your luggage and stuff into the tramcar for the trip to the bottom.


We also went on a trail walk on Wednesday and I made a friend with this little box turtle. He was so cute and he let me pet him.


On Thursday, before leaving, we met our friend, Jim Phillips. I took a picture of him with Charley on the porch of the old homestead down at the Nature Center. He's been the Park Naturalist for years and still remembers when my oldest son (who is now 29 yrs. old) went for the river walk with us. My son was only around 3 years old, it was very hot and the trail was long and he stated to everyone, "I'm tired, I got a headache and I need a Tylenol."



We had a great trip and look forward to returning next year. We celebrated our Anniversary on Wednesday at Pipestem. It was 31 years ago that we stayed there on our honeymoon.

As soon as we got home on Thursday, I headed for the garden. . . and picked beans again.
Yesterday and today we canned a total of 28 quarts. I picked squash and cucumbers. My son forgot to go to the garden while we were gone and one of the squash could have been registered as a lethal weapon it grew so big!

Hope you enjoyed traveling WV with me this week. If you ever get the chance I would recommend Pipestem for a vacation destination.

You'll have fun!

Traveling in West Virginia - Part II

This is just a quickie to show you the views we woke up to this morning from our room on the 7th floor.


This is one of the reasons I love the 7th floor rooms.


You are up above the clouds in the morning. Below those clouds is a gorge where the Bluestone River flows through. There is also another lodge down there that is only accessible by tramway.



Later in the day we went past Hinton about 9 miles to Sandstone Falls. You walk out onto the board walk and view the falls. It is beautiful and worth the trip.


More views of the falls.



One more view.


Do any of you know what kind of fungus growth this is? We came upon this on a trail walk today. It sure is weird looking, isn't it.



I will try to catch up on my blog visiting when we get back home on Thursday.

Thanks for all your comments.