West Virginia Weekend - Final Post

On Sunday, I figured we’d be pretty tired from the hike in Dolly Sods. I thought there was a chance the guys would be up for a little bit of a hike after breakfast…but it was a small chance, so I also did some research on other attractions in the area, which is known as Canaan Valley. There’s a ski resort here, and a number of other natural features that are worth visiting.

The first one is Blackwater Falls, which is very close to the town of Davis, West Virginia. Since we were visiting in late summer, I figured the flows would be down, but it was still worthwhile for a visit.

The water is colored by tannins from the upstream evergreen forests, and the cascade tumbles over copper-colored sandstone to fall 62 feet into Blackwater Canyon. There is a rock abutment that divides the falls into two horizontal sections – we could see that during our visit, but apparently it’s more dramatic during times of higher water flow.

This is a state park, and they’ve built an extensive wooden staircase down to several viewpoints in the cabin. Not much of a leg stretcher on most days, but for us, it was enough to get the blood flowing.

We made a second stop after heading south out of the area, visiting Seneca Rocks. This formation is one of a series of what Wikipedia calls “razorback ridges” in West Virginia, and it is the furthest south on the ridge it occupies. In fact, this ridge borders the north fork of the Potomac River, which may place it in the western reaches of the original Fairfax land grant.

There is a great information center here operated by the Forest Service. I took the photo from the grounds, which also have this little monument to the 10th Mountain Division, which trained here before deploying to Europe, where they would fight in Italy.

Today the rocks are very popular with climbers, and there are a lot of mapped routes to the crest. At 900 feet tall, they are also easily reachable by a hiking trail to an observation point, but that is scheduled to close for maintenance in October, and may be closed through August 2011.

All in all, we had a great weekend out in West Virginia. Dolly Sods was every bit the great experience we expected it to be, and my hiking team is thinking of a repeat visit. Meanwhile, the other sights we were able to take in are worth another look as well. I may wait until next August for that, and take Mary out for the trip as well.

This is the last post for the week...we'll be back on Tuesday.