Bluestone SP West Virginia

This was the start of our trip to West Virginia.  We drove to Bristol Virginia and stayed at their City Park, Sugar Hollow Campground. It is a beautiful park up in the woods with a bit of space between campers. All electric sites and clean. Lot's of bike trails as well as walking trails. After we got set up we visited with the host who was very informative and talkative. We hiked the Wetlands Trail before dinner and saw baby ducks swimming the creek.The next morning we hiked the Rocky Top trail before heading North. We got to see deer.

Day two: We left Bristol Virginia stopping in Princeton City Park, West Virginia for lunch. From there we continued to Bluestone SP where we had reservations for three nights at the Meador campground. After we set up camp we drove around the park to familiar ourselves with it. Then we attended a spoon carving demostration by Jonathan an Interpretive Ranger. We took a dinner break, hiked the Riverview Trail to the two waterfalls and back, then we joined Jonathan again for the campfire. The Riverview Trail was overgrown, but the falls were pretty and we saw a raccoon. Jonathan had a lot of knowledge to share and was fun to talk to.

Day Three: We drove to Pipestem Resort State Park. First stop was the Bolar Lookout Tower right at the enterance. There is a paved road for you to walk to the top of the hill and then climb the tower for some good views of the surrounding mountains. From there we went to the Nature Center for a map. The Ranger there, Julie, was extremely friendly and helpful. Lora loved her because they both got so excited about flowers. From there we went to the McKeever Lodge for a overlook of the gorge.

We headed to Brush Creek Falls State Park and hiked the three and three quarter miles to Brush Creek Falls and White Oak Creek Falls and back. Lora was blessed to see a black snake. We had lunch at  White Oak Creek Falls. There were quite a few people hiking today.

We headed to Camp Creek State Park and Forest. We drove to see Mash Fork Falls and Campbell Falls and got some play time in the creek.

Day Four: We drove to Cascades National Recreation trail in Pembroke VA for a four mile hike which we extended for another mile to see the upper falls as well. There was some beautiful stone work done by the CCC on the lower trail. We took it on the way up to the 66 foot falls. We ate lunch at the falls and then climbed to the upper trail. There was a split where the trail continues at the top. I guy was coming down so I asked what we were missing. Well a half mile up was the upper falls and if you continued a mile further it went to an overlook of the gorge called Barney's Wall. We hiked to the upper falls which was really pretty. We found some ground bees which we had to avoid to get to the bottom of the falls.

On the way back to camp we stopped in Narrows at the Mill Creek Nature Park. There was another hike to a couple of water falls, but we were done for the day. Back to camp we went. 

Monday we headed home..

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Sugar Hollow Campground

This was the start of our trip to West Virginia.  We drove to Bristol Virginia and stayed at their City Park, Sugar Hollow Campground. It is a beautiful park up in the woods with a bit of space between campers. All electric sites and clean. Lot's of bike trails as well as walking trails. After we got set up we visited with the host who was very informative and talkative. We hiked the Wetlands Trail before dinner and saw baby ducks swimming the creek.The next morning we hiked the Rocky Top trail before heading North. We got to see deer.

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Savage Gulf

So Lora said that she would hike with me, but it had to be atleast 10 miles. We headed over to the Savage Gulf and hiked in from Greeter Falls, headed to Stone Door doing the loop and back. After getting in her miles, we added another one going to the Blue Hole and back to get a swim in.

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Graysville Segment of the Cumberland Trail

Lora and I hiked the Graysville segment of the Cumberland Trail. We started at the climbers parking and headed North to the overlook. We picked up a couple of dogs to walk with us on the trail.

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Ft Mountain TTA

 Dave led a great hike with 13 hikers at one of the beautiful Georgia State Parks. We started at the Cool Springs Overlook. As we continued on our fearless leader found a rattlesnake resting in the road bed. I was just behind him, then suddenly 20 feet away... As we walked on we say pretty flame azelea, rhododendren, Fire Pinks, milkweed blooming. We hiked the West Overlook, part of the campers loop, the Gahuti, and Bike/multi use trail to make a loop. GPS All Trails was spotty, so we back tracked a little adding to our miles. 

Back at the parking lot, I got out my Wilflower Book to show some descriptions of a few of the things we saw. A couple was in the parking lot and they had the same book so we chatted for alittle while about the wonders of God's great creation.  

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Laurel Falls

 

A morning hike to Laurel Falls

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Walls of Jericho TTA

 

Sara Pollard led 5 hikers on a beautiful trip to the Walls of Jericho. Two new hikers joined our hike -  Tammy & Jamie. There was an abundance of wildflowers and shallow streams. The hike started on the Tennessee side with a side trip to see the Blow Hole. The water was gushing out of the cave, and we enjoyed a snack break. The hike down to the Blow Hole is narrow and steep. Lora pointed out the names of wildflowers and we saw quite a few varieties. The water was deep at the "walls" creek crossing,  so Lora and Jamie were the only ones to venture across to the end. The others enjoyed lunch and watching everyone else cross the creek to the "walls". We hiked out to the Alabama trailhead. We saw lots of hikers, campers and dogs along the trail. It was a warm and beautiful day for a hike. Hikers were Jamie Madson, Lora McBride, Jane Reyling, Georganne Ross, Sara Pollard and Tammy Pomeroy.

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Big Ridge State Park

We left the New River Gorge SP West Virginia and snow to head South to Tennessee. We camped at Big Ridge SP for the night. We hiked over to see the the Gristmill that night.

The next morning we hiked the Lake View trail before heading home.

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New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

We left Restrite campground and drove 250 S. Not long after getting on 250 S we came across a detour because the road was flooded. It took us down a narrow road with water and debris all over it. We were squeezing by folks going the other way. One got close enough to rub mirrors. Because of all the rain that went through, we called back to Bear Creek campground and found that they had evacuated the campers next to the creek as the water came up. They were calling for snow in the mountains so we were glad to be heading to lower ground. We cut across and took some bigger roads.

We stopped at the visitor center for the New River Gorge NP. We did the walk to the bridge overlook and then we drove across the bridge. We set up camp at Little Beaver SP and took a hike around their lake. They have a pretty spillway at the bottom. Then we drove over to the New River Gorge NP Sandstone Area. We saw the Sandstone Falls overlook which is really cool as the falls is across the whole river. We stopped at the Brooks overlook and the historic town of Hinton by the river. Got some snow overnight.

Thursday we headed over the park again at the Grandview area. We saw the Grandview overlook and then hiked the Castle Rock trail. From there we headed to the Thurmond Historic District. There is a bunch of old buildings there to look at plus the bonus of a few waterfalls along the drive. We had a couple of trains come through while we were there. From there we headed to Babcock SP where we hiked the Island in the Sky trail, saw the natural arch, gristmill, and lake. We then took the Scenic Drive from Lansing down the gorge under the big bridge across the river and up the other side. More waterfalls. Snow falling most of the day.

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Black Water Falls West Virginia

We left Bear Creek Campground and headed South on Scenic Hwy 50 through Virginia and back into West Virginia. We set up camp at Restrite Campground just outside of Blackwater Falls SP. Nice little campground for less money. 

After setting up and eating lunch we headed to the State Park. We hiked Blackwater Falls trail, Elakala trail to the falls, and Lindy Point trail to the overlook. Lindy Point was extremely muddy and we had gale force winds at the overlook. We saw the beautiful Pendleton Falls at the Pendleton Falls Overlook. Then we went to the lake to check it out as well. Saw deer on the way out.

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