Saturday was crisp and clear. The sky was dark blue and the temperature overnight dropped to 40. We headed out early for us to sample the great outdoors. For those new readers, you may have noticed that the last post had West Virginia as state 28. Back in 2017 I decided to land in all of the lower 48 states. I reset my total to 48 and have been counting down since.
We had sampled some small roads on Friday. I am used to driving through the rural Southeast but generally you get a line on the road. On Friday we had a few places with no line. Today we would take this up a notch as we wound our way across North Eastern West Virginia and Maryland.
Rachel and Sam have Switches and we have been playing family Mario Cart as part of our quarantine activities. Nothing builds family bonds like knocking a member off the track or zapping them with a power up. I found that this was good training for the roads we drove. We went from 2 lane winding, to blank pavement, to not wide enough for two cars. This theme was present Sunday as well.
Our first stop was at historic Philippi to see the covered bridge. We did more than see it though, we drove through it. When we stopped, there was a memorial at the bridge. It was to the coal miners that lost their lives. A reminder that this is a coal state and mining is a dangerous business. The mines are not visible but you do see random piles of coal lying around.
After enjoying the Bridge views, we headed off to Douglas falls. Douglas falls are just outside Thomas, WV. The main attraction is Blackwater falls but that was next. Passing through Douglas, it reminded us of Jerome, AZ. Both had mining connections and both built on a hill with two main streets, both one way with quaint shops. We avoided the shops this trip but normally would have been a fun stroll.
At the end of the dirt road there was a sort of parking area and a gate saying no motorized traffic. We parked and started walking down the path. We ran into a group of hunters. We had seen a lot of them on the way. Big trucks, groups of dogs, guns, and orange vests. They confirmed we were indeed walking the correct direction and the rushing water gave us confidence.
Getting down to the falls was a short but it was a steep and rocky 40 foot descent. It was well worth it, they are some nice looking falls and there were just a handful of people around the entire visit so distance was not an issue.
We worked our way back to the car and then headed off to Blackwater Falls. The car was undamaged but it did have a thick coat of dirt. Somehow our adventures always end with dusty rental cars. Blackwater falls are just a few miles away on the other side of town so it was a quick trip. This is a proper state park and it was much busier. This was probably the most trouble we had staying away from people.
Blackwater is an impressive fall and they have very nice stairs, walkways and viewing platforms. We enjoyed the views while shifting as needed to stay distant and then headed off. I had read that there was a second view from the opposite side of the river so we went in search because water looks different from the other side.
After a short drive we found a parking lot and figured we were at least close to the right place. After we were parked we saw a sign that was visible when travelling the other way that said we had found the overlook. This one was made for people who needed a flat surface to access the falls. We walked a short path and got another nice view of the falls.
Our stops so far had been fun but were not strenuous, our step count was till low. We decided to head back to Douglas and take a walk on the Blackwater Canyon trail by the river. I took the drone with me and got some nice shots of the town and dam. I had flown it Friday at a park in the town but they are generally not allowed in state and federal parks so it had stayed in the car all morning.
We were getting hungry so we packed up and drove up to Oakland, Maryland. It was on the way to Swallow Creek State Park and had lots of choices yet we settled on DQ and ate lunch as we approached the park. As we entered the Park we found our first traffic jam. There were about 20-30 cars ahead of us.
We were a bit concerned it would be crowded but we patiently waited and soon were paying the ranger. As we waited a good many cars left and when we entered there was no issue scoring a prime spot by the trail head.
This park has three waterfalls but the first (Toliver) is more of a dribble. The Swallow Creek falls both Upper and Lower are nice as are the Muddy Creek falls. The trails were pretty busy and you do have moments when you get closer to people but generally we were able to do our own thing and enjoy the trail and the water.
When it was time to leave, there wasn't a car heading in. In fact I think we must have hit a weird rush as the park was busy but not full. The park does have a camping section so maybe everyone was heading there. Camping is not our thing so we were definitely not competing with them.
On the way back I had to choose between the scenic route and the fastest route. I chose scenic and it paid off. coming down a small road we saw 3 deer grazing and got some nice pictures. Deer are not an odd site but mid afternoon in the open and unafraid of us seemed odd. We did all our pictures from the car lest they decided to come have a conversation with us.
Our Dinner was KFC which while tasty annoyed me. First they tried to give us someone else's order and then they shorted my 3 piece chicken and gave me a 2 piece. Luckily I believe this is the worst tragedy the we personally faced on the trip.
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