Tuesday, 7/8/97
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We did choose to go to Dolly Sods, taking a two hour drive south over many mountains with several route number changes. We found the North end of Jordan Run Road. We normally had approached
Dolly Sods from the South end of this narrow twisting two lane country road. There
are two Forest Service dirt roads ten miles apart from each other that go up the mountain to Dolly Sods, with a gain of 3000
feet elevation in just a dozen miles or so. We had always gone up the southern
FS Rt. 19 and often come down on the northern road at Bear Rocks that I think is FS Rt. 75.
So we planned to go up FS Rt. 75 this time. We missed the turn for FS
Rt. 75, although later when we came back down, we found there was a sign there. So
we found ourselves going up the same old way.
The property 2/3rds of the way up with the beautiful log cabin looking out over the valley was still for sale after
three years. Some day, I'll get up the nerve to call and ask how much.
We have been to Dolly Sods so many times before that we decided to leave the cameras in the car. We hiked the Blackbird Knob Trail from Red Creek Campground as far as the crossing at Alder Creek. We did this with out any real planning. We
just started walking from the trail head without packs or water or food or anything.
That is not our usual mode of operation in a wilderness like this. We
are accustomed to lots of running and standing water and mud along this stretch of trail, making it impossible to complete
with clean footwear. But this time there had been so little rain that there was
no place that required us to get any mud on our boots.
When we got crossed Alder Run after the mile or so of down hill trekking, and thought about how we usually take a water
and snack break here, it seemed like a good idea to turn around before we got hungry for lunch. On the way back I contemplated how this is still one of the most mentally relaxing places I know. As you take in the scenery and the feel of the breeze and the aroma of the wilds,
you tend to mellow out and feel like you are a part of the Earth.
When we got back to the car, we drove on to Bear Rocks and had lunch sitting on boulders beside the parking lot. We again took off on a hike with out packs or anything, this time along the tops of
the rock cliffs and continued North past "The Stack" and "Chimney Rock" and on until we could not find many traces of trails
anymore. That little stroll was the furthest North I have ever hiked in Dolly
Sods before, but still not far enough to see Mt. Storm Lake.
eventually thirst won and we turned back to the car.
Observation: The fir trees that seem to only grow branches on the leeward
side actually do start branches out all sides and the ones on the windward side bend around the trunk and then point away
from the fierce North West Wind that prevails here.
Observation: The same fir trees that are not able to grow tall because
of the wind, make up for it by growing their lowest branches hugging the ground for great distances out from the tree, so
that, tip to tip, the tree is more that twice as wide at the bottom as it is tall, but from a distance the arrow straight
trunk shooting directly toward the sky for a measly half dozen feet or so looks slender with all the branches sticking out
about a foot down wind. They would be very difficult trees to decorate for Christmas....
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We drove down from Bear Rocks to Jordan Run Road and since it was still early in the afternoon, decided to drive over to Canaan Valley to the West and visit Black
Water Falls State
Park. Of course we had just put the Allegheny Front Mountain Range in between us and Canaan Valley... Dumb! So, instead of going back up either of the dirt roads
again, we chose to go South on Rt. 28 to Seneca Rocks where we would be able
to take paved Rt. 55 West.
On the way down Rt. 28, we discovered an interesting paved road that looked like it lead up into the mountain in a
place we had never gone before, so there was no choice but to explore it to see if it cut all the way over to Canaan Valley. It didn't, but gave some great high views of the razor back ridges to the East including
Seneca Rocks before dumping us back onto Rt. 28.
We proceeded to Rt. 55 and followed it West to Rt. 32 which we followed North toward Black Water
Falls, our supposed destination. But before we got there, up popped Bob's memories of old spelunking days (early 60's), and the annual Thanksgiving
weekend trip to Cave Hollow Cave on Shaver's Mountain.
That trip passed through the quaint little country town of Red Creek with it's 1930's style General Store. It used to have a single wood burning potbelly stove in the middle, and a couple of wooden chairs facing
it, and dark shelves around the walls with blue jeans and cans of beans and Kerosene Lanterns next to each other, and a half
dozen washboards propped in the corner. Out front it had hand-crank gas pumps
with clear glass inverted bowls on top to hold a gallon of gas you had cranked up then let gravity feed into your car. Of course, that was a long time ago, and nothing stays the same forever, except the
memories of past adventures. The only change that happens to those adventures
occurs each time you tell them around a campfire.
The General Store now looks like a private residence of some yuppie, but there is a telltale patch of grass out front
where the gas pump island used to be. So we kept going past the former General
Store toward the mountain top farm that included Cave Hollow Cave as Bob tried to recall the events and directions from thirty-five years ago.
I know which intersection was where I guessed wrong, but it did not matter, because we instead stayed on State Rt.
72 which is a delightfully twisty-turny, upsy-downsy, narrow country road. There
were construction crews laying a guard rail on the downhill side. At some places
along the way, their work caused them to completely block the road with trucks and stuff.
Observation: One of the most interesting events was to be stuck in one spot watching how the operator of the post driver
could drive and steer the huge truck from his swing-arm seat off the side of the truck.
He would move one of the dozens of levers in front of him and the steering wheel in the empty truck cab would turn
and the front wheels would turn and then he would move another lever and the truck would drive forward until he moved some
more levers and stopped and drove another post into the ground like sticking a hot knife into butter.
Eventually we reached the intersection with US Rt. 219 at the entrance to Fernow Experimental Forest. What is that, you ask?
That's what we wondered, too. So we found the entrance road and followed
it back to the Office and walked inside. To start the conversation off, Bob asked
if they knew anything about Cave Hollow Cave, which he used to visit each Thanksgiving weekend back in the early '60s. He
described a cave on top of Shaver's Mountain on a farm where the owner raised horses; a cave with two entrances and fifteen
miles of known passages; one of the entrances was a big hole in the ground big
enough to drive a dump truck into; a cave with some passages forty feet high and four feet wide. He described how the group of spelunkers always placed all the leftover food on the front porch of the
farmhouse as they left for home, and that they were always welcomed back each year.
The Ranger said she thought she knew what cave I was describing. Old Mrs.
Shaver was still living in the farmhouse, but the rest of the property had been turned over to the National Forest Service. The cave itself has been closed to the public and gated to protect endangered bats. My response, "Sorry to hear that the cave is closed, but happy for the bats being
protected."
From there we drove north to the town of Thomas,
then through Davis and into Blackwater Falls State Park. We walked down the wide path to the famous falls with Brennan
carefully counting each stair step to see of the notice at the top was correct, "214 STEPS TO FALLS OVERLOOK".
He counted 212 on the way down and 212 on
the way up. Shame on them; making it seem further than it actually was. The falls themselves are worth the visit, but the walkway is so contained with railings
and signs prohibiting wandering, that it does not seem like an adventure. So
we needed a hike to Pendleton Falls to add some excitement.
We drove over to the picnic parking lot and started walking to the right along the top of the canyon abyss. Soon a non-trail lead into the woods, no sign of any maintained trail.
In fact there was a confusing array of tracks, paths, traces that meandered all over the steep side of the ravine. Eventually, we got there and discovered that it had been a dry summer. There was not much water coming over the falls, but still enough to echo off the rocks in a way that seemed
to enhance the solitude. We would have stayed longer, but the Kuhns family hunger
gauge turned on so we headed back up the hill with dinner in mind.
We ate at "Tom's Kitchen" just outside the park in Davis. It was good inexpensive food with down home style service. For example: a family at another table had a toddler who had been given an ice cream cone with pretty colored
sprinkles on it and he had consumed all the sprinkles and was losing interest in the remaining mush of cone and ice cream. When the waitress heard that, she took the remaining part of cone back to the counter,
added more sprinkles and gave it back to the kid. The cone got finished.
On the long drive back to camp, we stopped at two of the least important points of interest in West Virginia. First, we stopped at the Fairfax
Stone which marks the source of the Potomac
River and therefore the extent
of land granted to Lord Fairfax by the English Crown. The result is that it marks
and important survey point for the boundaries of West Virginia and Virginia. But it
also gives silly tourists like us a chance to straddle the Potomac River,
or walk up the middle of the Potomac
River (Bob and Brennan respectively).
The other oddity was further north along US Route 219. It was labeled
as the "Smallest Church in 48 States." We stopped and looked, even got the camera
out and took a picture because the late evening sunlight was interesting. We
discussed the significance of "... in 48 States". Did that mean that there were
two states somewhere with smaller churches, or was it an old sign, or did it mean the 48 contiguous states?
Finally, back in camp. and ready for bed.
p. s. Over
700 miles on the rental car since we picked it up on the July 3rd, five and a half days ago.
p. p. s. We might have The
Beast back tomorrow. 
