Chestnut Ridge Park & Campground, Morgantown, WV

It rained off & on all night as well as the morning while I hooked up. Matilda, the maid of the GPS suggested heading down PA 487 then west on 118. For those not familiar with Ricketts Glen, they have an advisory on their web page as well as most of their camping literature suggesting that all large trailers use the north entrance (PA 487). Of course that is difficult at present since a bridge on 487 is out just a few miles north of the campground and the alternative is Dutch Mountain road described yesterday. The reason for coming in from the north? PA 487 from Red Rock goes up a 2 mile 18% grade. I drove down it in 2nd & 3rd gear riding the brakes, but made it with no problems. Was tempted to turn around & go back up just to say I did, but thought again and kept going.

Red Rock is interesting. There is a corner grocery store that has your basic needs, including the least expensive gas in the area ($3.43). I also got my morning 2nd cup cup of coffee & headed south. Other than that, that seems to be all of Red Rock. I also never saw a red rock, a popular name for southwestern towns that actually have lots of red rocks.

The drive was in & out of rain the whole way to West Virginia. It also got colder as I went south! Not suppose to happen! I left Ricketts Glen at 55°F & hit Morgantown at 42°F at 3:00. Oh well, at least the campground has water & electric. I'm in site 50 at the Chestnut Ridge Park & Campground. Another rustic public park much like Evergreen Trails (my infamous first night), just the type I like. It would be nicer if the sun was out & it was 80°F, but it is October. I checked the predictions for Morgantown, VA (the closest city) and the overnight low is 40°F. Since it is already 41 at 4:30, I don't know how accurate that is but I did hook up to water. Hope I won't have a frozen hose in the morning!

I'm sitting in the trailer with the electric heater going waiting for it to get warm enough to slow down so I can start the toaster oven to cook a pot pie. My heater is an old (1986) Pelonis Disk Furnace. The reason I like it for camping is you can adjust the wattage. Most electric heaters give you a choice of 1500 or 750 watts (or close to that). The Pelonis has two modes. The first is automatic. It starts at full 1500 watts, and as the trailer warms up drops the wattage to what ever is necessary to maintain the set temperature. Much better than a on/off thermostat since it drops your power draw to the minimum necessary to maintain temperature. The second mode is useful on low power hookups. You dial the wattage. If you are on a 15 amp service you can set it as low as 300 watts. Although they still make Pelonis disk heaters, I don't think this design is still available.

Not much in the way of photos today. The leaf color was all over the place on the drive down, but in many places wonderful. Not all that photographic since the sides of the road usually have power lines and other junk in the way and there aren't many places to pull off, but I included a couple along US 220. I also included a photo of Site 50 at the campground.

I'll have to wait for a better internet connection to post this - although the Verizon connection is listed as 469.17 Kbps, it is too slow to post with either Dreamweaver (my Lakeshore Images pages) or Blogger (Jon's Journeys). Actually, I think my router lied to me - I just reconnected to the Verizon network & the data rate is now 78.73 Kbps , which explains why I'm having problems posting. It will just have to wait until tomorrow!


It's tomorrow & I'm posting from a rest stop on I 79 in WV.  So, Until Later!

Ricketts Glen, Day 2

Ricketts Glen State Park, PS
















I woke up to the patter of rain on the roof. Hard to describe it as rain, more like a heavy mist that turned to rain drops when it fell off the overhead trees. After breakfast I headed to a grocery store to pick up a steak for dinner. Not sure I'll cook it - if it is still raining I'll probably have soup cooked inside. I also uploaded yesterday's pages to my website & my Blogger site - Jon's Journeys.
It was still misting, but no serious rain so I decided I could shoot the other side of Ricketts Glen without worrying about shooting into the sun. I drove to the Rose Lake parking lot & started down the Ganoga Trail. I met one other photographer (he is in one of the photos below) and we did our best to keep out of each others way. Again many pretty cascades & small waterfalls. I did include one of the main waterfalls since they are what the park is known for.
On previous trips I started from the bottom by driving to the parking lot on PA 118 at the bottom of the stream. It is a much better way to do the falls trail since the return trip (when you are worn out) is all downhill. Still, I made it back to the top after hiking & shooting down to "Where Waters Meet". While there I met a mother & her daughter shooting Nikons. Talked a bit then headed back up the trail.
I was going to relax under the awning, cooling off after the hike, but the mist has turned to rain & the wind picked up enough that the rain was blowing under it. So, I'm sitting in the trailer putting together today's page. I'll probably read for awhile, hoping the rain will stop so I can cook my steak.
Here are a few photos from today, more at today's Lakeshore Images Post.

Current plans are to head south towards Babcock State Park in West Virginia. I doubt I'll get all the way there in one day, so I'll probably stop somewhere in northern WV.
Till Then!

Ricketts Glen State Park, PA

Ricketts Glen State Park, PA


















Well, I'm in a much better mood tonight. Maybe it is because I didn't break my trailer today! I even managed to bend the steps back in shape enough to get them out. I'll still need to replace them, but at least I don't have to hop over them to get in & out of the trailer.


Although the leaf color seems to be a bit past peak at Letchworth, the colors were beautiful along the drive to Ricketts Glen.


The last part of the drive to Ricketts Glen was interesting. A bridge on PA Rt 487 was out about 15 miles from the park,and 487 is the only reasonable way into the place from the north. I stopped in a gas station in Dushore to ask how to get there since my GPS kept telling me to get me back on 487 before the missing bridge. Found a guy talking with a park ranger who gave me directions. He gave me directions to follow Dutch Mountain Road (Ct Rt 1002), mentioned it was a rough road, about 3 miles dirt, but he looked at my trailer and said it would be OK. He was right that it was rough - much of it at 20mph, even the paved parts, and my GPS still kept trying to get me off it & back on 487 before the bridge, but it saved going 50 miles out of the way to get there.



I stopped in the office at Ricketts Glen to get a site & since there were no reservations on hold, I was told to go find one I liked & come back. They are all primitive, back in sites (no water, sewer or electric) but many are very pretty. I picked site 105 because it had some sun (to recharge the batteries through the solar panel) and lots of beach trees that were still in color. 


I made a quick stir fried chicken & vegetable dinner over rice & headed out to the falls. I started around 3:30 - the light was just starting to warm up. Although the beach trees are in great yellow color, the reds & oranges of the maple trees seems to have past. Looking at the leaf drop on the ground, I'm a little late for the peak here at Ricketts Glen. Color change has been running late in the Oswego area, and I'm here a week earlier than last year, but it looks like a week earlier would have been better. Still, there is some areas of great color along the stream.


I've decided that I like taking pictures of cascades rather than the waterfalls. Not sure why, but they are more interesting. I hiked down Glen Leigh to Reynolds Falls taking photos of almost every foot of the stream. It was crowded - I often had to wait for people to get out of the way of the shot. Tomorrow I'll probably go down the other side (Ganoga Glen) around the same time. Early in the day the sun will be into the lens when aimed upstream, the direction I like to shoot.


Lots more photos at today's post to Lakeshore Images, although I probably won't be able to post either this or the Lakeshore page until tomorrow since there is no cell coverage in the park.


Till Tomorrow!

Fall Colors Trip

An old house along Allegany County Road 15 (Short Tract Road)














Well, even though the fall colors don't seem to be cooperating this year, I decided to give it a try.  I left Oswego this morning heading to Letchworth State Park.  The color change was just starting when I was there in September, and, unfortunately,  it really hasn't gotten any better.

I'm in site 11A at The Evergreen Trails Campground.  Although it is a full service site, since I'm only using electricity I was given the electric only price - $24.00.  Finding campgrounds that are still open is a pain, but this looks like a nice rustic place that would be great in the summer, and works fine for a cold weather visit to Letchworth (their campground has closed for the season).

It was an interesting start to the trip.  I drove past site 11A to check some of the others since the owners said take anything that doesn't have a RV on it.  It would have been a much better day if I didn't.  I used a pull through to turn around to get back to 11A, and managed to drop the trailer passenger side wheel in a ditch. There was a good sized rock on the forward edge that both kept me from pulling the trailer out (even in 4 wheel drive) and pretty much destroyed the steps.  I also managed to knock off the storage container for the drain hose.

After walking back to the office and explaining the problem, the owner got out his tractor, a bunch of boards, a jack, and a bunch of firewood to fill in under the tire as we lifted the trailer.  I did get it out thanks to lots of help, and, of course, a bunch of embarrassment! The owner & his helper both tried to make me feel better by telling me that it happens all the time, and I have to admit that they were very well prepared to get me out, but still, my Escape now needs a new set of steps!  When I think of some of the campsites I managed to get the trailer into without damage on the summer trip, I do feel a bit stupid! I did get the hose storage container back on.

After getting set up in Site 11A, I drove to Letchworth (about 20 miles away).  It rained all day yesterday, and the Genesee River looks like it.  Muddy color, and very large amounts of water going over the falls.  I also got there late enough that the sun is behind the falls (into the lens) making photographs difficult.  I did get a photo of the railroad trestle that I liked, but all those of the falls were not worth posting here.  Some other photos on my Lakeshore Images Page.

All in all, not the best start to a trip.  I hope it gets better or I'm going to cut it short and head back to Oswego!

Chittenango Falls State Park, NY

Chittenango Creek, Chittenango Falls State Park, NY

It's Fall, a beautiful time to visit Chittenango Falls, one of my favorite waterfalls. It may not be he highest, or have the most volume of water passing over it, but the beauty of the falls can't be beat. A close second is McArthur-Burney Falls in California, but that is thousands of miles away, and I'll bet it doesn't match the Fall colors here at Chittenango.

On the way to the falls we stopped at Fairhaven State Park to take a couple of photos of the swans on one of the ponds in the park. My friends Dick & Anne Dougherty saw over 20 gathered together last night but today they were broken up in small groups. Still, I managed to get a photo of one posing for the picture. I hope to get out for more on another day. 

After that it was off to Chittenango for the falls. Not the sunniest of days, but that usually helps for photos of waterfalls. Too much sun provides too much contrast. Soft, cloudy days work best, although they don't help with the color of the leaves. Almost Spring like conditions - lots of water going over the falls; too much for my taste - I like it with less. We have had lots of rain lately which has also held back the nornal leaf color change. Anyway, here are some images of the falls and Chittenango Creek:

A Swan at Fairhaven State Park, NY

Chittenango Falls

Chittenango Creek

More photos at Lakeshore Images.


Tomorrow I start packing up the trailer for a trip starting Monday following the Fall Colors.  First stop will probably be heading west to Letchworth State Park, then down to Ricketts Glen, PA.

Not sure this is going to be the best year for it - we are having lots of rain in the east & that tends to mute the color change, but I want to make at least one last trip before putting the trailer away for the winter.

Till Monday!