west virginia

a few months ago mike was able to head up to new jersey to celebrate his sister's engagement.  pete proposed to jill at the peddie school chapel and the extended wojtowicz/guarracino family spent a celebratory weekend hunkered down during hurricane irene.

unfortunately, i did not have enough time to join the party.  the dogs and i decided to take the few days i had off and head to a part of the country i've always wanted to explore - west virginia.

quinn, beulah, and i started the trip in boone, nc - meeting up with our dear leadville friend, becky.  at the time, becky's adventures consisted of attending two gillian welch shows a week (ahh!! the good life) - so i joined her for the boone show.  gillian and david rawlings performed the new album in its entirety.  beautiful!  becky is a bit of a gillian welch encyclopedia so seeing the show with her adds a whole new level of understanding and appreciation to their songs and history.  we camped off the blue ridge parkway at moses cone.  a great start to the road trip!

 the dogs and i headed north to west va's allegheny mountains.  our first destination was spruce knob (4863 ft), the highest point in west virginia.  with hurricane irene moving up the coast we had bands of crazy wind and rain move through.  when the clouds cleared the view was lovely!

we set up camp just outside of seneca rocks.

 woke up to a beautiful, bluebird sky day.  the destination for the morning was the north end of spruce knob-seneca rocks national recreation area.  specifically, north fork mountain.  the dogs and i hiked up to the ridge line that contained the chimney rocks.  this part of the monongahela national forest is a really cool mix of southern and northern flora.  pines that reminded me of georgia and moss and firs that looked like maine.  

 

 

we headed back down the mountain to the north fork of the south branch of the potomac river.  i remembered being in awe of the potomac from mount vernon when i first saw it twenty years ago and its confluence with the shenandoah at harpers ferry must be one of my favorite confluences ever....loved being at the headwaters for a river seeped in american history.  

we made a short trip to the northwest to reach a place i have wanted to visit for years...dolly sods. 

we headed first to the small red creek campground to set up our home base.  the girls made themselves right at home.

 

historically this area was filled with red spruce and hemlocks (up to 12 ft in diameter) but was completely clear cut in the early 1900s. the protection of dolly sods was originally facilitated by the nature conservancy. after the north end of dolly sods was purchased the entire area was donated to the forest service and managed as wilderness. dollly sods is now 17,371 acres.  we spent most of our limited time in dolly sods north - the area charaterized by high grass balds and cranberry bogs.

bear rocks

it was late in the afternoon and we took a little cross-country adventure.  heading north (crossing just out of the wilderness boundary) to stack rocks - we were able to get amazing 360 views.

beulah loving the bogs

the charm of dolly sods for me is its resemblance to regions much farther north.  i couldnt help but be reminded of time spent exploring the alaskan tundra.  quinn felt right at home.

 headed back to the campsite, cooked up some dinner, and spent the rest of the evening reading.  the dogs were happily exhausted.

my 12 year old camps in comfort

classic beulah - sleeping on her back

the next day i planned a hike to the western boundary. 

this area was used as a mortar range during WWII - luckily the dogs did not detonate any bombs

red creek - its dark, red color comes from the tannic acid in hemlock and red spruce needles

photo for mike

the terminus of our hike was on cabin mountain - looking down to the canaan valley.  there are so many places in this corner of west virginia that i still want to explore - the canaan valley and blackwater canyon.   and of course the forests of the sourthern portion of dolly sods (i never could tear myself away from the amazing high plains of dolly sods north).  i am waiting for my west virginia friend, alycia (who knows every crook and cranny of tucker county), to be my tour guide...

i haven't fallen in love with an area like dolly sods in a while.  it was hard to turn the car south. 

the trip continued south through west virginia's tygart valley.  we took a little detour on the highland scenic parkway - west virginia's own little version of the blue ridge parkway.  it touched up to the eastern bounday of the cranberry wilderness in the yew mountains - a large (almost 48,000 acres) tract of wild land that completely took me by surprised.  i hadn't heard much about this area and was blown away by its wildness and beauty.  however, i was on a mission to the new river gorge.  definitely on my list of future adventures....

a quick hike under the new river gorge bridge     

 

  spent the last night of the trip next to the new river.  beulah and i just had to take a night swim in the second oldest river in the world.  

before heading home we stopped to visit the famous new river gorge bridge - one of the longest arch bridges in the world (3030 feet).  here is a photo of both the new and old bridge from the same vantage point -gives a good perspective to the height of the new bridge (876 feet).

it was a great trip and dolly sods stole my heart...but i was ready to go home, see mike, and hear all about the engagement!  congrats to jill & pete!