Two Waterfalls at Camp Creek State Park

There are two fine waterfalls at Camp Creek State Park in Mercer County that are easy to get to. One is Campbell Falls, which is well known and often photographed. The other, Mash Fork Falls, is not as popular but to me is more interesting. To reach Camp Creek State Park take Interstate 77 to Exit 20, the Camp Creek exit. Turn right off the exit road onto US 19 South and then take the first right off US 19, which is the road to Camp Creek State Park. After less than two miles you’ll enter the park.

To reach Campbell Falls, drive to the Blue Jay Campground parking area. The road is gated beyond the campground, but it’s only 0.3 miles up the road to Campbell Falls. The falls descend about 15 feet in a series of four or five shelves, into an oval pool, which is a favorite fishing and swimming hole in the summer. This is a very picturesque waterfall and sports several good camera angles. 

  

Campbell Falls

Campbell Falls

To find Mash Fork Falls, take the road to the Mash Fork Campground. But instead of turning left to cross a bridge into the campground, continue on a gravel road that runs along the side of Mash Fork. After a quarter of a mile, you’ll reach a gated bridge, a parking area, and the falls of Mash Fork.

 Mash Fork Falls

To be sure, the falls are rather plain if there’s little water flowing, but after some summer rains it’s fine. Although the falls of Mash Fork only sit about six feet high, a couple of deeply undercut sandstone ledges make these falls really stand out. Attractive camera angles abound on both sides of the falls. Fortunately, a bridge across Mash Fork provides easy access to the opposite side of the creek. There’s much to explore here and plenty of opportunity for fine photographs and a good time.

Mash Fork Falls

Meadow Creek Falls: Hiding in Plain Sight

Searching for waterfalls in the New River Gorge, I’ve scoured mountainsides, bushwhacked rough trails, and scrambled over steep slopes to find them. Yet to my surprise, I’ve learned that some of the loveliest waterfalls in southern West Virginia are hiding in plain sight.

Meadow Creek Falls, also known as Claypool Falls, are a good example. They’re right off a hardtop road and no more than four miles from an interstate highway. Yet, they remain “off the radar” so to speak for most visitors to the Gorge. 

To find this not so elusive waterfall, take I-64 to the National Park Service Sandstone Visitor Center at Exit 139 (GPS: Lat. 37.78320, Long. -80.89778). Then take the road to the town of Meadow Creek, which is a little less than three miles from the visitor center. When you reach a junction in town with a sharp left turn, bear straight ahead onto Claypool Road. Claypool Road is a hardtop road that runs along Meadow Creek all the way to the Town of Meadow Bridge. About a mile and a half up Claypool Road, look for a wide spot in the road to your left and the falls on your right (GPS: Lat 37.8236, Long -80.9061). 

Meadow Creek Falls

The falls can be appreciated from the road, but for a closer look, there’s a trail down to creek level. It’s short, rocky, and steep, and I admit not for everyone. But if you’re sure-footed, it’s worth the scramble down. This is one truly beautiful waterfall. It spans the creek with about a 20-foot drop that is very photogenic. The falls present a multitude of camera angles and fascinating foreground. Flat, rock ledges are convenient for exploring the creek side, setting up a tripod, or just sitting and admiring the view.

Meadow Creek Falls

A little upstream from the main falls, there are small, but picturesque drops as well. This is truly a waterfall for all seasons. Having a large watershed, the creek maintains good flow year round. If you’re looking for some new places to explore in the New River Gorge, why not try Meadow Creek Falls? 

Upstream from Falls

Meadow Creek Falls

Flower Power on Charles Creek Trail: Cranberry Glades

If you like wildflowers, you’ll love the Charles Creek Loop Trail. It’s right next to the Cranberry Glades Boardwalk and supports wildflowers galore. Creek side, glade, meadow, forest, the trail slices through a diverse set of environments each with a unique charm. All this variety comes in just a round trip of 2 1/4 miles and an elevation change of just 100 feet. The best time to hike this loop is mid-July, and I will describe the flowers you’re likely to see at that time of year.

Start at the Cowpasture Trailhead (GPS: Lat. 38.195573, Long. -80.272579) on the Cranberry Glades Road about 750 feet before (south) of the Cranberry Glades Parking Lot. The trail begins in woods and is flat with a smooth tread. Great Rhododendron line both sides of the trail, and in mid-July the shrubs are loaded with blossoms. Hugging the ground, Heal-all plants abound as well. What I especially like about this section of trail are all the Bee balm flowers. In the wetter stretches of the trail, they are prolific brightening the trail with a natural reddish glow.

Great Rhododendron

Bee Balm

Heal-All

After about 0.6 mile, the trail bursts out of the woods and into a glade. At this point look for some blue plastic flagging hanging from a tree limb on the left side of the trail. The flag marks a bushwhacked trail into the woods and leads towards a couple of Turks cap lily plants next to Charles Creek. Although the way is awkward and difficult to follow, the Turk’s cap lily blooms are worth the extra effort. The blossoms are numerous, and in the sun, glow a dazzling bright orange.

Turk's Cap Lily

As the trail progresses through the glade, milkweed abounds. At 0.9 mile, the trail crosses a little bridge over Charles Creek. Around the bridge and a little beyond, Black-eyed Susans are common.

Black-eyed Susan

Common Milkweed

At the 1 mile mark, the Charles Creek Trail is picked up, and you are plunged into dark woods for a bit. The trail winds through some tall grass and thistle, which blooms in late August. In the wooded portions of the trail, ferns are thick and lush. After 0.5 mile you emerge at the Cranberry Glades Road.

Turn right on the road and take it for 0.75 mile to loop back to the starting point. Lots of flowers line the road on the way back. Evening primrose is common, as is bee balm and St. John’s wort. Since it’s practically all downhill, you’ll be back at the start in no time with a camera full of flower photos and a pack of fond memories. 

St. John's Wort 

Evening Primrose

Getting the Most From a Trip to Sandstone Falls

According to a database of waterfalls world-wide, Sandstone Falls ranks 19th by width and 33rd by volume. In southern West Virginia we’re lucky to have this world class waterfall in our backyard. Here are some tips to get the most out of a trip to Sandstone Falls. You might want to begin your trip at the National Park Service’s (NPS) Sandstone Visitor Center at the intersection of State Route 20 and I-64 (exit 139). According to the NPS, “the Visitor Center has excellent exhibits on the New River watershed, water resources, and natural and cultural history of the upper New River Gorge, plus park maps and information.”

Sandstone Falls

From the Visitor Center take State Route 20 south into Hinton. On the way to Hinton, you’ll want to stop at two overlooks. The Sandstone Falls Overlook (GPS: Lat. 37.752460, Long. -80.903900) provides an aerial view of the falls from 600 feet above the river, while the Brooks Overlook looks down on the mile-long Brooks Island, where bald eagles nest. In Hinton at the end of the bridge crossing the New River, turn right and take the River Road for 9 miles to Sandstone Falls. There are plenty of good viewpoints of the New River along the way, including a roadside picnic area at Brooks Falls, about half way along the road to Sandstone Falls.

Sandstone Falls

Supported by an elaborate ¼ mile structure of boardwalks and bridges, the NPS Sandstone Falls Day Use Area (GPS: Lat. 37.75935, Long. -80.90498) makes access to the falls easy. The first bridge crosses a man-made channel once used to power a gristmill for local farmers. The boardwalk leads to an overlook of the lower falls, which has about a ten-foot drop. The ½ mile Island Loop Trail strays from the boardwalk to explore a unique botanical ecosystem in West Virginia--the Appalachian riverside flat rock plant community. The second bridge spans a wide, natural channel where swimmers and fishermen congregate. The boardwalk ends at the main overlook where the falls are 20 to 25 feet high.

Sandstone Falls

For a closer peek at the falls, look for a path leading to the right just a few feet before the end of the boardwalk. It leads to a shallow water crossing and onto an island. After crossing, bear a little to the left and head toward the river bank. After crossing two more small water courses, you’ll be on an island that sits at the brink of Sandstone Falls. You can stand in front of and no more than a stone’s throw from the surging waters of the New River. Here volumes of water that dams are built to hold back rush toward you, leap over a stony ledge only to turn aside at the last second, and flow harmlessly beneath your feet. This is one of the most magnificent views in all of West Virginia. 

Sandstone Falls

A Stroll Back in Time: Cathedral State Park

by Mike Powell and Ed Rehbein

Around 1600, in London, England, Shakespeare’s Hamlet was performed for the first time. In that same era, Capt. John Smith established a settlement called Jamestown in what is now Virginia, and the Pilgrims, after a three-month voyage on the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth Rock. And in the remote mountains of what would become Preston County, West Virginia, a plot of hemlock seedlings began to sprout.

Shakespeare, Capt. Smith, and the Pilgrims have long since passed from this earth. But 400 years later, those hemlock seedlings are still alive, having grown to be trees of great size. Today, walking through the ancient, storied halls of what is now Cathedral State Park is like taking a stroll back in time.

Cathedral State Park

The opportunity to walk among trees that were living before European settlement is a rare experience in the eastern United States. Old-growth, or virgin, forests are perhaps the rarest forest type in the region. Even in West Virginia, a state more forested than many eastern states, virgin forests are rare, since much of the land here was cleared by logging in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are probably less than 1,000 acres in the state that can be considered old-growth forest. Of these, Cathedral State Park is the largest and most unique.

Cathedral State Park

Today, hikers in Cathedral State Park enjoy cool, shady trails bordered by the towering spires of hemlocks. As its name suggests, you can’t help but feel that you’ve entered an outdoor cathedral. Hushed tones and soft steps seem fitting. The trees inspire awe, and so they should. The park was long known for the Centennial Hemlock, which fell due to a lightning strike in November 2004. This tree had a circumference of 185 inches, was 94 feet tall, and had a crown spread of 49 feet, giving it a total score of 291 points in the West Virginia Big Tree Program. While there are other large hemlocks and deciduous trees in the park, none have achieved the recognition of the Centennial Hemlock. Though yet to be established, Cathedral State Park probably still holds the record for the largest hemlock in West Virginia.

Cathedral State Park

Five Facts about the Mill at Babcock State Park

1)   The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park is one of the most photographed sights in West Virginia. You’ll find pictures of the mill on calendars and postcards, in magazines and travel brochures. The grist mill is a great ambassador of travel and tourism for southern West Virginia. Indeed more than 200,000 people visit Babcock every year.

Babcock State Park

2)   The grist mill at Babcock is really three mills in one, which were salvaged from around the State. The Stoney Creek Grist Mill, dating back to the 1890s, near Campbelltown in Pocahontas County and the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County supplied the main building and stone floor. The giant overshot water wheel was salvaged from the Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg in Grant County after the remainder of the mill was destroyed by fire. Portions of each mill were disassembled piece-by-piece and reassembled on Glade Creek in Babcock. The reconstruction was completed in 1976.

Stoney Creek Mill

Onego Grist Mill

3)   As mentioned in the Babcock State Park Brochure, the mill is a “living monument to the over 500 mills which thrived in West Virginia at the turn of the century.” It replaces a mill which “once ground grain on Glade Creek long before Babcock became a state park. Known as Cooper's Mill, it stood on the present location of the park's administration building parking lot” and served the area around the turn of the century. http://www.babcocksp.com/gristmill.html  

4)   The mill is fully operational and even has two “different sets of stones . . . the heavier (1200 lbs) for grinding wheat, and the other (1000 lbs) for grinding corn and buckwheat” (John Northeimer). Visitors can purchase freshly ground yellow corn, white corn, buckwheat, and prairie wheat prepared right at the mill.

Grist Mill in Summer

5)   The best times of the year to photograph the mill are May and October. About the third weekend in May the Catawba Rhododendron reach their peak and provide beautiful foreground for the mill. Gorgeous autumn foliage peaks at Babcock on average around the middle of October—from the 15^th to the 18^th. This is around the same time that Bridge Day is scheduled.

Grist Mill in Autumn

For more about exploring Babcock see my new book at this link Exploring the Wilds of West Virginia.

Beauty Beside the Road: Orchids on the Highland Scenic Highway

John Muir once wrote: "To the sane and free, it will hardly seem necessary to cross the continent in search of wild beauty, however easy the way, for they find it in abundance wherever they chance to be." Guided by the words of Muir, my wife and I are always on the lookout for “Wild Beauty.” It seems Wild Beauty comes naturally to West Virginia where nature is always at work casting beauty in unlikely places.

For instance, last Tuesday (August 9, 2016), we went in search of a purple fringeless orchid that had been spotted on the Highland Scenic Highway by a member of the staff at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center. Having a rough idea of where the orchids were located, we slowly drove the Highway looking for them. On our second pass, we caught sight of them. Growing on a tall central stalk they stood out from the grasses and ferns growing by the side of the road.

Purple Fringeless Orchid

Purple Fringeless Orchid

That’s what amazes me about Wild Beauty. Like gold, it’s where you find it. In this case a perfectly beautiful and relatively uncommon orchid was just growing beside the road not more than 20 feet from the pavement. You just never know where and what you’ll find when you go searching. What’s more even common flowers can appear uncommonly beautiful. For example, we found some field thistle growing in the berm of the road, too. It was beautiful in its own right. So was some St. John’s wort.

Thistle

Thistle

There’s just so much beauty scattered about we could easily trip over it. More about the beauty at our feet and by the roadside in future blogs. 

St. John's Wort