Wednesday, May 22 New River Gorge Nat'l Park, WV

 Wednesday, May 22

Anita fixes breakfast - toast topped with avocado, a fried egg and bacon.  Delicious!  

We set out to explore the area a bit.   First the New River Bridge and Visitor's Center.   Completed in 1977, it is 3,030 ft long and quite pretty. The National Park was established to protect 55 miles of the New River, which starts in North Carolina, runs through Virginia then into West Virginia.

It turns out that this park is several areas that are not adjacent, which is why, I guess, there is no entry fee - too many possible entries!   We had read about some things in the area and decide to head a little further north and check out Hawk's Nest State Park.  Some of the roads are pretty crazy - more like 1 1/2 lanes wide and all are full of hills and switchbacks. 

Here are some shots from Hawk's Nest, where the Mountain Laurel is beginning to bloom.

Anita at "Lover's Leap"

Greg

Next is Cathedral Falls near the town of Gauley Bridge.  It drops 60' over shale and sandstone and is quite beautiful!   

           

         

There is another falls, Kanawha, a few miles further, so we head there.  It is quite different - very wide and not very deep as it tumbles over a sandstone ledge.  15' at the highest point.    It is just past where the New and Gauley rivers converge to create the Kanawha River.  A hydropower facility is nearby.

Kevin spies Dixie's Drive-In in the little town of Ansted and stops, looking for some ice cream.  It looks closed, but the owner is there.  He says they open for the season in an hour or so, but since we just want ice cream he'll serve us (Cody too.)  He comes out and sits and chats with us for a while.  He is a local who built and opened this place when he got home from the military.  He thought someone would buy it, but no one did so he runs it seasonally, swearing that each season will be his last, but...... nice guy and good ice cream!

From here we head back to Babcock State Park and its famous Grist Mill.  Beautiful setting!  We walk around a bit, take photos and then head back to our campsite.

There is an old mining town, Thurmond,  and some other waterfalls, but everything seems to be a bit of a drive, so we call it a day.  Probably the biggest draw here is rafting or kayaking on the New River (Greg and I did it once eons ago) but the weather isn't THAT warm.....

Kevin cooks dinner over the fire again.  Tonight we share strawberries with the folks who are camping on the other side of Kevin and Anita.  It has been a good day!