Coopers Rock State Park, WV, Day 2

Henry Clay Furnace, Coopers Rock State Park, WV

Wednesday, September 5 - Coopers Rock State Park, WV Day 2 - 0 Miles Today, 15,079.7 For the Trip

It rained off and on overnight, but cleared during the morning. Around 1:00 I got tired of reading & sitting around so I hiked to the Henry Clay Furnace, an iron smelter built around 1835. The trail is really a road, although one that needs more clearance than my RAV4 provides. I'm also including a photo of the trees along the road to the parking lot to show that there is already a bit of color in the trees, particularly the maples. That & more photos of the furnace are on today's LakeshoreImages Page.

Dinner tonight will be a couple of hot dogs, and Dole Coleslaw. I managed to find a bag at Krogers yesterday - the version that includes the dressing is hard to find and I really like it.

I'm not sure I will be able to post tomorrow or the next day - if I remember correctly, there is no air card service (or cell phone) at Ricketts Glen.

Until Tomorrow or whenever -

Coopers Rock State Park, WV

The Giant - At Coopers Rock State Park, WV

Tuesday, September 4 - Coopers Rock State Park, WV, -200.1 Miles Today, 15,079.7 For the Trip

Most of the drive today was spent on US 19, and a couple of Interstates, finishing on I 68 and Coopers Rock State Park. Another mostly empty campground when I arrived, although now at 8:00 there are about 6 tents & trailers here, and reservation signs for most of the sites for the coming weekend.

Another West Virginia park filled with Rhododendron. There is an overlook a couple of miles from the campground that has a pretty view that I suspect will be better during the Fall color change (which isn't all that far away - I saw many trees already coloring up both at Babcock & along the drive here. I'll bet the dry summer will make the change weeks early this year.

I'm in site 17 for two days. The original plan was to go to Ricketts Glen Thursday through the weekend, then head to Letchworth for four days. I have reservations on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls for the Escape Wire Tour, a fiberglass rally I have attended for the last two years starting the 14th. Unfortunately, Ricketts Glen doesn't have any open sites on Saturday, so I only booked two days. On Saturday I'm heading to Letchworth for six days, a bit longer than planned. I'd rather spend more time hiking the waterfalls at Ricketts Glen, but I'll take what I can get. It is interesting that I've been able to camp all over the west in some of the most popular parks, rarely having the need for a reservation, but here in my home area even after Labor Day, the sites are booked & I spent the afternoon making reservations. I'm glad I could find open sites at Letchworth. After the weekend in Canada for the rally, it is home to Oswego.

I thought the internet connection through Verizon was slow at Babcock, but compared to here at Coopers Rock it was lightning fast. It takes a couple of minutes just to upload a page & over 1/2 hour for today's photos.

Dinner was spaghetti & sausage.

Until Tomorrow -

Babcock State Park, WV - Day 6

Skyline Trail

Monday, September 3 - Babcock State Park, WV, Day 6 -14 Miles Today, 14,879.6 For the Trip

Happy Labor Day to all who still labor - retirement is great! The campground emptied out today, and by empty, I mean empty - I'm the only camper in the place. I decided it would be a good day to hike one of the many trails here in the park. I decided to try Skyline Trail which follows ridge lines in the park. Great views, although the more overgrown parts made better photographs. I would love to see the Rhododendron in bloom... More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

After I got back I decided to do some laundry. It wasn't really necessary, however the price was right ($1.00 to wash & $.75 to dry) so I did one load. Other than that I sat around ducking bursts of rain. We are having one now, but I ate early so dinner didn't get rained out.

Today is the last day here at Babcock. I'm heading to Morgantown, WV tomorrow. Not sure which campground I'll stop at - there are a few, including another WV State Park.

Until Tomorrow -

Babcock State Park, WV - Day 5

Glade Creek Through a Condensation Covered Lens

Sunday, September 2 - Babcock State Park, WV, Day 5 - 0 Miles Today, 14,865.6 For the Trip

Another day without any new photographs. We did get some rain after dinner last night until around 11:00. Nothing too heavy. I didn't do much today besides read, cook meals, and walk around the campground. Dinner was the rest of yesterday's pizza. I did order a song from iTunes - the connection was so slow that the download failed. While iTunes showed the song downloaded (after 16 minutes) only the first 23 seconds plays. I hope I'll be able to redownload the file when I get to a place with faster internet.

Until Tomorrow -

Babcock State Park, WV, Day 4

Glade Creek Waterfall

Saturday, September 1 - Babcock State Park, WV, Day 4 - 28.6 Miles Today, 14,865.6 For the Trip

No photographs for today so I used one from yesterday. In fact, pretty much no nothing for the day. So far very little rain from the hurricane, but while it is only in the 80's, it is very muggy. I didn't do anything other than walk a couple of laps around the campground. With the exception of a few that left today, the campground is full. The sites include everything from a single in a small trailer (guess who) to a group of 2 tents & a pop up along with 5 cars & I can't guess how many people. A very different attitude with a full campground. People tend to keep to themselves, where when there were only 3 occupied sites we all talked with each other.

I decided to make a pizza for dinner & discovered that I forgot the mozzarella cheese. Kind of hard to make a pizza without it so I drove to Rainelle (about 13 miles away on US 60). I think it is actually easier & quicker to go 20 miles to the Walmart on US 19 rather than the hills & switchbacks on US 60. Of course I also found a bunch of other stuff to buy. While the pizza was great I have to admit it is probably the most expensive I've ever had. It doesn't help that I'm making it for one. You can't buy a 1/4 pepper (actually 3 1/4 peppers since I like to use a red, orange & green) or onion, or a 1/4lb of mozzarella cheese and they don't keep all that well, at least until the next time I want pizza. I even had to buy a small jar of mushrooms since they didn't have any fresh available. As I said, expensive, but good!

Until Tomorrow -