Road Trip Tally

States: WV
Miles: 900
Total_Miles: 4,600
MPG: 20.5
Keeper Photos: 175
Total: 1,259
New Species Added: 6
Total Road Trip Bird List: 100

This was a single campground trip, as opposed to my two previous “two campgrounds with a hotel stay in between” trips. Canaan Resort Campground is small, one comfort station to serve all the campers. But is is a beautiful area, and a great base from which to explore a number of other sites known for their unique beauty.

Since these are road trips, it occurred to me that I could compile some brief dash cam footage to show some of the roads, you know, from the road trip. What I didn’t realize was that my dash cam overwrites video constantly, every time I drive, deleting the older videos. Since I had driven around Glen Rock for a couple of days after the trip, I lost all but the last day of West Virginia. I went on some of the most harrowing white-knuckle one-lane roads I have ever been on while doing this trip. None of those roads are on the video, which is a shame, because there were plenty of out-loud holy f-bomb moments that might have made for entertaining video. Instead, you get some gentle twisting highways with pretty scenery. For future road trips, if I want to include these little on-the-road montages, I will have to remember to get those more interesting videos off the dash cam SD card before they are overwritten. Anyway, here is my first on-the-road montage… not terribly exciting, but there is a really nice sunset at the end.

Here we go with the food again! I cannot resist a local restaurant like this one. Even though I brought food to cook while camping, I won’t pass up a chance to stop into a tiny family diner that is full of cars with local license plates. The Allegheny Restaurant checked all the boxes.

Since I was a lone traveler, the owner, Shelby, took it upon herself to sit at my table. She reminded me of as cross between my mother and the Kathy Bates character from The Office, utterly engaging. She has been at the restaurant since around 1960 and was a teacher for 30 years besides, so we had some things to chat about. I noticed a sign insisting that parents supervise their children in the restaurant, and “no spinning on the bar seats.”

I could imagine the kind of teacher she might have been.

We chatted about her internet-free flip phone, cursive writing, and the lost discipline of social studies, and how that might have been partially responsible for the state of modern Americans as critical thinkers in the political realm.

“I taught kids cursive, history, and I taught the manners. My kids had manners,” she told me with a proud and polished accent.

We talked about the time she had to leave West Virginia for a time in the early sixties because they were afraid the Russians would try to nuke D.C. and miss. So they went a little further inland to wait out what I assume was the Cuban Missile Crisis. This colorful meandering was how the next 90 minutes went, in many ways, the highlight of my day, if not my trip.

As I was leaving, I learned that credit cards were not accepted. I had 2 dollars on me. I asked whether I could wash some dishes, but she declined my offer and sent me on a wild goose chase for an ATM. “Go that way. Turn at the flag poles by the fire station, and you’ll see a bank.” I asked if I could leave her something to make sure I didn’t take off without paying. “You wouldn’t do that, I can tell,” she told me firmly. Well, I saw neither flagpoles, nor fire stations, and wound my way up and down a couple of mountains, lost GPS signal, etc., before retracing my path back to town. Just as I was about to pull in the restaurant, I saw three flagpoles right at the edge of the parking lot. I could’ve walked to the ATM. I withdrew the cash and headed back in to see Shelby sitting right where she was when I left. “See, I knew you’d be back. Are you doin’ some hiking in those hills? Well, if you are, take water with you…a couple of bottles.”

I could tell that my difficulty in finding the bank had left her wondering whether I would end up hopelessly wandering in the woods.

Sight Seeing

Lindy Point is at the end of a wet Rhododendron-lined trail near Blackwater Falls. The view of the gorge is spectacular and well worth the puddle-hopping mile trek through the damp woods.

Elakala Falls is within the boundaries of Blackwater Falls State Park. It is one of many falls that result from streams pouring over the cliff faces into Blackwater Gorge. A short trail takes you to the bridge at the top of the falls, which is a pleasant view, but you can’t really see the waterfall very well. I worked my way down into the gorge a bit to get some photos from the first tier of falls. Since it had just rained, it was a tricky climb-and-crawl with camera equipment, sliding along rock faces while holding on to exposed roots to reach the first pools about 40 feet down. This was where I took my photos. The second tier was another quarter mile hike down another “non-trail” that was less suited to photos.

Click any waterfall image to enter gallery.

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Seneca Rocks is an iconic West Virginia landmark that is popular among rock climbers from around the world. I did not climb any rocks given that hoisting my 200 pounds up a cliff face would probably require a crane. I saw not one, but two Cerulean Warblers on this trail, a bird I haven’t seen in a few years.

Dolly Sods: Barns and Such

Click any image below to enter a gallery.

West Virginia Sky Celebration

The weather was strange on this trip… 90 degrees at times, 70 at others, daily isolated thunderstorms, a few ridiculously starry nights, and frequent tall cumulonimbus cloud towers. I couldn’t always stop to photograph the sky, especially with a trailer attached, but I did get a couple of opportunities.

Click any image below to enter the sky gallery.

NEW ROAD TRIP BIRD SPECIES

I hit 100 Road Trip bird species this trip, with the 100th species being that elusive Cerulean Warbler that I have missed over the past 3 or 4 years. I found it by ear while hiking at the base of Seneca Rocks, and finally saw a pair after 10 minutes or so of looking. Had the male not been singing at this late point in the year, I would never have found it. (singing usually drops off once territories are established and nesting underway). I am glad the 100th species wasn’t the Rock Pigeon!

Location Spruce Knob-Seneca Creek Trail

49 Species observed 109 individuals

New Species Added to the Road Trip List on This Trip

1. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)Number observed: 6DetailsSeneca Rocks
2. Belted KingfisherNumber observed: 1
3. Cedar WaxwingNumber observed: 3
4. Dark-eyed JuncoNumber observed: 4
5. Eastern MeadowlarkNumber observed: 2DetailsCanaan Valley
6. Cerulean WarblerNumber observed: 2DetailsSeneca Rocks area