Back to the Blackwater River Trail: Canaan Valley

Where to you go hiking in Canaan Valley if you only have half a day? That was the question facing Phyllis and me last Thursday (Aug. 18, 2016). The answer was easy: the Blackwater River Trail of Canaan Valley State Park. As I wrote in an earlier post (Aug. 4^th), in my opinion this is the most scenic trail in Canaan Valley.

Instead of parking at the trailhead, we drove beyond it on a gravel road leading out of the golf course parking lot. The gravel road took us to a filtration plant and the location of our first photo op (GPS: Lat. 39.038629, Long. -79.456564). Here the Blackwater makes a lazy meander through the valley. Some teasel grows along the bank of the river making some lovely foreground for a landscape photo.

Blackwater Teasel

Blackwater Teasel

Next, we hiked west to join the trail. After hiking on the trail about 30 yards, we took a side trail down to the river’s edge. Here the Blackwater makes a sweeping “S” turn just about where a lone tree stands in stark contrast to flat, grassy meadows. It’s a picturesque scene worthy of many photos.

Blackwater River

Then we hiked about 1000 feet on a relatively straight stretch of river until we came to another sweeping bend. On this day we were fortunate; wildflowers were blooming in abundance along the river bank. Vervain, sneezeweed, St. John’s wort, and butterfly bush added colorful foreground accents to all the river shots.

 Blackwater in Bloom

Sneezeweed

To add to the beauty the cloud action was brilliant. All in all the Blackwater River Trail did not disappoint.