West Virginia

We were in West Virginia for the past two nights, which is only one day for sight-seeing. That's certainly not enough time for such a beautiful state with lovely cool temperatures and low humidity. Hopefully we'll see a bit more on our way back West.

After zipping out of Kentucky, we stayed overnight at the St. Albans Municipal City Park (freecampgrounds.com). It was a tiny park right along the Kanawha River and handy for an overnight stop. This was the view out the front of the rig. . .


And this was US60 out the back. As you can imagine it was pretty noisy during the day, but did quiet down at night. And like I said, it was handy, and even offered electric for a donation. (If it had been Monday, I could have walked across the street for a free iced mocha.)


On our way through Charleston, which as we all know from our 5th grade geography is the capital of West Virginia, I was impressed by the dome on the capitol building. (I almost wasn't quick enough to get this shot at 60mph.)


Our goal in WV was to see the New River Gorge National River. I checked on staying in the park, but eliminated it (although it's free) because it was the weekend and the campgrounds were too far off the main road. So thinking I was doing Ron a favor, I suggested we stay at Plum Orchard WMA which was $11 but only 5 miles off the Interstate. Smart, huh?

Well, what we didn't know was how the back roads are constructed in the area. They are basically one lane paved roads with 2-3 feet of gravel on each side for passing. Those five miles seemed like fifty. And we won't even talk about the overhanging trees.

Thankfully once we arrived at the WMA, the campground was fine and only 2/10 mile straight up a hill.

We got some tips on the shortest route to the New River Gorge from the ranger and off we went. Of course this did involve more of the same kind of road, but now we were in the car (and Ron was experienced.)

The sky had an unfriendly gray overcast look, so my pictures could be better, but here goes.

First we hit the north visitor center. I swear they always have the best view from the visitor center and this is it. That's the New River which is anything but new. The most-accepted estimate is that the river has been in its present course for at least 65 million years.


Near the visitor center is the New River Bridge, certainly one of the scariest bridges I've ever crossed. And we did it twice! Although it's plenty wide enough, just knowing that it's 876 feet above the river is enough to give me the chills. How about it, Brenda?

It's also the longest steel single-arch span bridge in the world!

Following the advice of the volunteer in the visitors center, we drove the narrow, twisty road with hairpin turns down into the gorge, across the original bridge and up the other side. Thankfully, somebody had the good sense to make most of it one way. Both of us really enjoyed the trip and watching all the rafters. The New River has rapids that range from class I to V on its way through the gorge.

I told Ron I wanted a shot of both bridges, so we made our way along the river until the bridges were in proper alignment. Then the trees were in the way, so Ron climbed a huge rock and took this for me. Like I always say - What a guy!

We barely had time to drive the loop road around the upper half of the park, including a stop at Babcock State Park to see the Glade Creek Grist Mill. The mill was constructed out of materials from three mills in the state - Stoney Creek, Spring Run, and Onego - and has been on this site since 1976.

The mill is fully operational and I would have loved to see it in action, but the water in Glade Creek was too low.