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October 16, 2015 update

Good morning! It is currently 59 degrees in Buchanan, Virginia. Sunny today, looking for a high around 70 degrees. The weekend looks nice, but much cooler with the Blue Ridges of Virigina getting the first-wide spread frost this weekend. Limited color changing along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but down in the valleys is quite scenic.

Yesterday I drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway for 93 miles after leaving the southern end of Shenandoah National Park. The remaining portion of Shenandoah National Park was quite beautiful but after a while the overlooks all started to look the same. I was surprised that the speed limit was 45 miles per hour on the Blue Ridge Parkway, although in some of the valleys you could certainly do that speed easily. Other places were very steep and twisty. After crossing the James River, heading south, the parkway gets quite steep and twisty, but with some amazing views. Really quite beautiful country. My only regret is I didn’t get more pictures of the rolling farm country along one of the northern parts of the parkway, before it climbed back into the mountains. Almost had a heart attack this morning when I thought my photos from the Blue Ridge Parkway didn’t save. I quick fsck command on my laptop restored the media card and I’m back on my way. To be safe – and so I can quickly upload them on Instagram – I’ve also been copying the photos over to my phone.

As noted last night, I am now at the farthest south destination of my trip, camping at North Fork Campground in the Jefferson National Forest. There was the big developed campground at the Cliffs of Otter Creek but I passed on it because I wanted to camp some place with more solitude and more space to strech out. I would have preferred to camp out in the back country, but in this part of the Jefferson National Forest it wasn’t avaliable as an option, so I went to a lightly developed campground with pit privies and running water, but no other facilities. Showers are nice in the morning, but sometimes you don’t want to camp where it’s cramped. There were two other families at the campground, but things were spread out enough that they were pretty much out of earshot and eyeshot.

You know it’s been a good trip when you have a map of the South-Eastern States that you’ve marked with a highlighted in blue. While I haven’t completed my course, I am at the southern terminus of the trip and are starting back north today, heading up US 220. Will either stay in George Washington National Forest dispersed camping or maybe head back to that dispersed roadside site I really liked up off a back road in Thomas, WV. We will see depending on the weather, my mood, and what is ultimately nearby. Bought some gifts along the parkway and some post cards which I will mail home this morning.

Have a great day!

October 15, 2015 update

I decided to leave West Virgina on Tuesday, in part because I wanted to stay at a developed campground where I could get a shower, and because I was getting awful tired of the narrow, steep roads of West Virgina. I’m sure not every road is awful in West Virginia, but it sure seems like I have been driving up them – from Dolly Sods Road to Spruce Mountain Road – to say nothing of the somewhat larger but much heavier traffic of US 33 as it crosses Judy’s Pass to Franklinton then again over Shenandoah Mountain. I just hate the steep climbs, the descending in low gear, and the traffic wanting to blast pass.

Shenandoah National Park was on my list to see. I figured if I was going to be in West Virginia, I better also swing east to Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I was generally heading that way from Grandy Creek, the other alternative was to head south to WV 22 and out that way, but I wanted to see Spruce Mountain, which there is a road that takes you up 4,823 feet to the highest point in West Virginia. You certainly can’t drive that high anywhere in New York on a public road, and only the highest of high peaks take you up there. The summit of Spruce Mountain is remarkably beautiful and mostly undeveloped besides a narrow paved road that takes you to the top, a small picnic area and observation platform. The drive down Spruce Mountain was so steep though.

US 33 was quite the climb and descent over the two mountain ranges from where I was to Virginia. It was steep but once you reached the Shenandoah Valley, US 33 cuts through a beautiful section of the George Washington National Forest without a bend in miles. You quickly forget the awful drive you just made over Shenandoah Mountain. To make matters worst, US 33 was being repaved over Shenandoah Mountain, so I ended up getting stuck at the bottom weighting for the pilot car to bring me and a long line of traffic up the three miles up it on the West Virginia side. The Virginia side was just as as steep, but the lanes were wider and despite the hairpin turns,seemed much more navigable.

Harrisonburg, VA is a pretty large city. I had no idea until I arrived downtown and had to fight traffic on six lane roads. The Shenandoah Valley was pretty with a lot of chicken farms and some dairies, but this general area was also rapidly suburbanizing, with houses abutting farms. I’m sure that leads to a strained relationship at times between the farms and the suburbanites. Smelled somewhat like farm country, not unlike around Lowville or any of the great agricultural valleys in New York. Harrisonburg sucked to drive through, but once you got 5 miles out of town it was a four lane road with occasional traffic lights and a fairly heavily volume, but eventually it became open, rolling country. US 33 drops down to 2 lanes with occasional passing lanes as you entered the park. I would like to get down and see more of the Shenandoah Valley away from the city. Maybe tomorrow or Friday.

When I first arrived at Shenandoah National Park I was under-impressed, as the section of Skyline Drive north of US 33 isn’t immediately impressive despite the overviews. The wonderful weather of Tuesday morning had turned to clouds as I headed east into the the front. It might have been sunny and beautiful in West Virginia, but by the time I was east in Shenandoah Valley it had gotten cloudy and hazy. The Shenandoah Valley also suffers from a major air pollution problem, which is somewhat less in West Virginia in the very rural area around Spruce Mountain. The wilderness area around Spruce Mountain and Dolly Sands is very impressive, some of the views at Shenandoah were less impressive.

I decided to camp at Matthew’s Arm Concentrated Camping Operation, the farthest north campground along the parkway – 21 miles from the northern start of Skyline Drive. It was a nice campground although it was fairly rustic. It has flush toilets and running water in the bathrooms, but it refill water containers, you had to drive to the trailer dump station and water filling area (separate faucets, obviously). One thing this campground lacked was showers, which was a disappointment. But they recommended you visit the pay showers 15 miles down the road at Big Meadows. This campground was $15 a night with no taxes or fees, it did not have electricity in the campground. They had heated bathrooms with running water. No hot water at Matthew’s Arm but they did have hot water at Loft Mountain. I had dinner and a few beers and was in bed by 9 PM. They openly allow (and sell alcohol) at the Shenandoah National Park campgrounds which is kind of nice. Still having neighbors and having to keep the music down and being brief with idling the engine to keep the batteries charged, is less nice.

I had to get up early to go to the bathroom, and ultimately decided to get up around 6:45 AM to drive over to one of the overlooks to watch the sun rise. While a somewhat cloudy morning, it was a beautiful start to the day. Broke camp around 9:30 AM and started south on the parkway, stopping at several of the overlooks, then when I got cellphone service, uploaded some photos to share with people, along with previous nights posts. Stopped at Big Meadows Visitors Center and also at the showers at Big Meadows around noontime.

In the nicer weather, spending more time on the parkway, showed how beautiful many of the views are along the parkway. The haze wasn’t as bad in the clear, drier weather, although still notable across the valley. Some of the overviews from Skyline Drive are remarkably beautiful, others less so. The leaves aren’t peak everywhere, but there is some nice colors showing up in various directions. Got a campsite at the Loft Mountain Concentrated Camping Operation. Picked a site high up on the hill, hoping to get cellphone reception and at least good radio reception. The cellphone reception was pretty marginal from camp, but I did have good radio reception for listening to any local radio station within reason. Watched the sun set from one of the overlooks. I retired to bed around 10 PM. Nice flush toilets, hot water, and heated bathrooms. Showers just down the road.

Today’s plan is to head further down Skyline Drive until I reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. I will probably go a ways down the Parkway, and hopefully find some place to camp at a campground along it. When I reach Interstate 64 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I will take that west back to West Virigina and on Friday night camp on at site along one of the roads in West Virigina. From there I will take I-99 in Pennsylvania to Wellsboro and the Grand Canyon Country, overnight there, and return to Albany on Sunday afternoon.

October 12, 2015 update

Monday, Columbus Day was my first full day in West Virginia. It was a beautiful day with deep blue skies throughout the day and pretty good colors, at least at the middle elevations. The valleys were still somewhat green and by the time I got up to Dolly Sods, it was well past peak – but still amazingly beautiful. Still no cellphone service, so all of the blog posts from my trip will be posted late. Made a good breakfast of scrambled eggs with Shantung (?) mushrooms that I bought on Saturday afternoon at the farm stand in Coudersport, PA. They were delicious. Sat back and enjoyed the beautiful morning up on the big open campsite at had on Forest Road 13.

I liked the campsite so much, I seriously thought about camping back up there again – although it was a bit far north from my tentatively planned route. I woke up early but didn’t really rush around. I probably should have stayed later in the bed, but I’ve gotten into the habit lately of getting up early. Which is not a good thing because at the same time I’ve been getting up early, I’ve been staying up late. So by evening I’ve been tired. But not having to travel a lot of miles today, I figured to take it easy.

West Virginia Roads are crazy. They are all so narrow, so steep, and so twisty. When people say roads in West Virginia wind and wind, it’s true. But it’s the with of the roads, the lack of guard rails, the speed of other local drivers, that make driving around here kind of hair raising. Most of the secondary roads are little more then a lane wide, and when two vehicles have to pass, they have to virtually come to a stop.

This one road I was on, Virginia Route 32/2 in Lanesville, was a crazy 13-15 feet wide road (about the size of a typical interstate lane), except with two lane traffic sharing that one lane. Virigina 32/4 road was so narrow – that while it had a guard rail – the guard rail was hanging off the edge of the cliff. Lot of traffic too. Both cars had to basically stop to pass each time. I don’t think I have ever driven so many miles with my truck locked into first gear, or smelled my brakes burning a couple of times. After getting down one mountain pass, I felt like a could cook a turkey by placing it next to my wheel well. I tried not to ride the brakes, but I had to control my speed on these steep, twisty, narrow decent. Roads labeled Main_Route/SubRoute are scariest to drive in West Virigina by far. If you want white knuckle driving in West Virginia look for a route labeled like West Virigina 32/4.

Driving up to Dolly Sods is another crazy climb. Again, your 15 feet wide typical West Virginia Road, with no guard rail and steep descent off the side. At least the Dolly Sods road is relatively straight, with some long mile long climbs, where you go up 1,000 feet every mile or so. Dolly Sods is about 3,000 or so feet above the valley, so three miles of craziness. Fortunately, not a lot of people coming in the opposite direction. Still, I was happy enough to drive off the mountain later in the afternoon, again in low gear, then eventually down-shifting into 4×4 low, because I didn’t want to overheat the brakes. Maybe my fear of destroying the brakes on these hills is not rational – the brakes just passed inspection and aren’t making any unusual noises or have any problems that I know of – but brakes are something that scare me a lot on cars.

Brakes are designed to turn forward motion into heat to slow the vehicle. They are designed to have a lot of stopping power in their lifetimes, and modern brakes don’t fade severely until they get very, very hot. I’ve had too many brake problems on old junky cars and trucks, so using the brakes extensively puts a lot of fear in me. And I’ve watched too many Wiley Coyote and Road-Runner shows as a kid, and movies where cars drive off the shoulder, and roll dozens of times, not to be found deep in the hollow for month later. Or as usually happens in movies in California, a big truck rear-ends you, pushing you off the side of the hill, leaving you for death. I think that happened in the movie the China syndrome. Fortunately, I did not any roadrunners along the way, nor any coyotes. I did have a deer run out in front of me on one of those insane decent, but I applied the brakes firmly and aimed the wheels away from the edge of the cliff of death. Plus crazy locals racing past in opposite directions, because the traveled lane in West Virigina primarily exists for one vehicle going in one direction, and the other vehicle takes half of the shoulder where it exists. Even in the valleys, on major arterials, most roads are like 10 feet wide with a gravel shoulder that often ends for narrow culverts or other inconveniences that the DOT couldn’t be bothered to re-engineer for safety. Probably the widest, most modern arterials I’ve been on West Virginia – like parts of US 219 and WV 32 have no more then two 11 feet lanes and a foot shoulder. Certainly not the modern NYSDOT standard of 13-14 foot lanes and 8 foot shoulder.

Freaking insane driving down here.

Despite the awful drive, Dolly Sods is stunningly beautiful. That’s the only way you can describe it. In the autumn the vast, lush fields of blueberries mixed with occasional deciduous trees and surrounding mountains is nothing short of stunning. I hope the pictures I took today came out, because it was a stunning place, from the narrow dirt road to the beauty in all directions.

Looking down off Dolly Sands, you could see the various Blue Ridges, with some color still on them. Their is a campground on top of Dolly Sands and some roadside campsites about a 1 mile below Dolly Sods, but I didn’t want to spend the night up there, with potentially bad weather coming with a front coming through. Those roads are insane enough without them being muddy. Ankle hurt a little bit after stepping funny up there. I have my ankle brace I may put on tomorrow before hiking.

After I made it down from Dolly Sods, the drive on WV 55/4 wasn’t that bad. It was blacktop and had two lanes of at least 10 feet wide. Some crazy curbs and decents, and no place to pull off, but at least I wasn’t sharing a lane. WV 55/4 even had guard rails when it climbed down a mountain. And WV 55 running through the valley actually had nice big lanes and you could go in the straightaways 55 miles per hour. Of course, there was heavy truck traffic on it, and people weren’t happy that I was going cautiously around the curbs and only speeding up to 55 on the straightaways.

Eventually I found a place I could pull off and let traffic go by. Drove down to Seneca Rocks Visitor Center, hoping to find a payphone to call my folks to let them I doing okay, despite the white knuckle driving and no cell service up here, anywheres that I’ve been in West Virigina or Western Maryland. The Seneca Rocks Visitor Center is only open Wednesday through Saturday after September, so it was all closed up. Seneca Rocks was stunning. No payphone to be found here, but then I found a payphone at a general store that looked like a store out of Deliverance or maybe the Easy Rider.

I should have gone in and bought some milk that couldn’t have been that old but I was cheesed off about a call being $1, so I decided to hold off on calling my parents. I would have been fascinated to hear the accents – would they be strong, would they be Mid-western or Southern Applachian sounding? They’ll be startled enough to get a call from me, rather then just seeing a Facebook update. Seneca Rocks is a stunning view, especially right now with color peaking around it. I almost want to hike up Seneca Rocks and look down from it, but I don’t know if I will be back up that way or if my ankle will tolerate it.

I decided in the evening to head over to Gandy River dispersed campsites as shown on the map. I decided to take Forest Route 7 over from WV Route 55. Forest Route 7 was a nice drive, actually fairly wide, following an old creek, until the valley got narrower and the road got steeper and started to drop down to 15 feet or less, with a steep embankment. But I made it up there.

Then to get to Gandy, I had to take WV 33/2, which much like it’s name suggested it was about 13-15 foot wide for both directions with a steep drop off and no guard rail. I think it only dropped 1,500 feet in a mile or so heading into Gandy. I didn’t realize I was in Gandy or the road to the campsites and ended up going north for 5 miles until I found a place to safely pull off of WV 33 and study the map.

When I realized from the map that the road to campsites was relatively flat, I figured I would turn around and drive 5 miles back south and eventually to the campsites. I don’t mind driving in the valleys – the roads tend to be somewhat wider and less scary there, even if they still have crazy curves that you have to watch out. The campsite I got on Gandy River looked pretty nice but once I started to set up the trees didn’t really work for a tarp, so I decided against setting up a tarp.

Rain is expected later tonight, but not until late, so I don’t really need the tarp. I’ll just make sure anything that could be damaged by getting wet is put away. And make sure to retire to bed before it the rain comes. Right now, it’s just starry out so the front must be a ways away. It’s supposed to be a quick clipper with a burst of rain over night with clearing out by afternoon.

Tomorrow morning ain’t supposed to be nice, but a good chance to catch up on sleep. The campsite is not totally out of ear shot of another campsite a ¼ mile down the road, so I’ve had to keep the music down. I like West Virginia just not the driving. The scenery is outstanding. But I’ve had an enough with the white knuckle driving. I need supplies and food, so I need to get to a city with a grocery store, if at all possible.

I’m seriously thinking of heading east tomorrow and if it’s decent getting out on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is no expressway but it’s at least two lanes wide and probably not nearly as steep or narrow as so many of the roads in West Virginia. The state of Virigina is much wealthier then West Virginia, so I suspect their roads are much wider and less scary to drive, even if some of them climb right up mountains. I was planning on spending one more day in West Virigina, but if the weather is decent, I could really get into checking out the Parkway – possibly heading farther south then expected.

Thursday and Friday, heading north to Shenandoah National Park to do Skyline Drive. That said, I’m still kind of disappointed that West Virginia isn’t as wild or backwards as I expected. Honestly, at least the part of West Virginia I’ve been in is no different then most of rural Upstate NY. If anything, the houses are somewhat nicer down here. Probably money goes farther down here, and people can afford nicer cars and yards.

There are some shacks, but nothing like what you see in Western NY and other chronically depressed parts of New York. Maybe I’m just not in the right part of West Virginia, despite this portion of the state not having much in the way of gas stations, stores, or businesses. I think a lot of the houses in this part of West Virginia are second homes, and it’s more tourists from Virginia then real Appalachia.

Maybe I need to go farther south in the National Forest to see real Appalachia. I think I’ve seen far more rural poverty in parts of Pennsylvania then down here.

Columbus Day 2015 morning

Good Morning! As I now have cellphone service, here is a brief update from Sunday. More updates latef.

As soon as I got into Maryland then West Virgina I lost cellphone service. I am surprised, as except for the Adirondacks and a few valleys in Western NY or the Catskills, I usually have good cell service. The same thing is true with the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, and heck I had good service most of the way down through Pennsylvania on US 219 until I entered Maryland. Then there was no service in Maryland and West Virgina, anywhere I went along US 219 and down through WV Route 32. This is why I haven’t posted a update since yesterday morning.

Saturday night was a pleasant night up on Loleta Grade Road at the Allegheny National Forest. I had previously camped on Loleta Grade Road, but never took the part of Loleta Grade beyond where it leaves the East Branch of the Millstone Creek. Loleta Grade Road (FR 133) gets a lot narrower and somewhat narrower past the Millstone Creek and passes several marshlands and has a handful of campsites on it. It turns out the portion of Loleta Grade Road by East Millstone Creek is closed for reconstruction. They have a done such a nice job at building and improving roadside campsites throughout the Allegheny National Forest, while adding earthen barriers or rock barriers to protect forest resources from people driving past the campsites. Each campsite has a natural stone fire ring and many of them hardened with gravel. Loleta Grade was pretty with the fall colors. I took several pictures and will be uploading them as Internet or cellphone data service becomes available. The sun didn’t rise above the horizon of the forest until well after 8 AM this morning, although first light came a little before 7 AM. The campsite I was at was Forest Road 777, which I knew was a sign of good luck for the day.

Drove Along PA 3002 along the Clarion River to Ridgeway. That’s another part of the Allegheny National Forest I had never explored before. The Clarion River was pretty with the leaves turning, and looks like a lot of fun to paddle at least downstream. It has a good current but is deep and flat enough that it’s not white water by any means. I stopped along one of the State Game Lands where a creek – which I don’t know the name of – cross through a hollow in peak colors. It was beautiful. Eventually I made it to Ridgeway, and much like you would expect from that town, the approach into the city was a steep drive down. Ridgeway stunk of the hydrogen sulfide from paper manufacturing.

Then it was down US 219 all the way down to West Virigina. It’s a beautiful drive, but oh my gosh, does US 219 wind and have some steep descents and climbs. It also hits a lot of hick towns – some quite pretty and others dying coal mining towns – that are mostly sustained these days by government services and healthcare. Some nice farm lands and great sweeping vistas along the way, but not a lot of places to pull over and take pictures. To make matters worst I drank a lot of coffee this morning, and after a piss break at McDonalds bought more coffee and spent have the afternoon looking for places to take piss breaks. US 219 certainly winds a lot. The locals were blowing past me whenever they could pass me or whenever I would pull over. I don’t consider myself to be a slow driver, but with those narrow lanes and windy roads, I certainly had to hold back my speed a bit especially with my big lifted truck.

US 219 becomes an expressway after Clariton and the first ten miles of it is spectacularly beautiful. It reminds me a lot of the Taconic Parkway, only more modern and wider but with many of the same sweeping views of farm country and color packed hills. Some of the steepest hills I’ve ever driven on an expressway. Eventually the terrain becomes more rolling, with some larger farms. I ended up getting off a few different exits looking for a place to piss, and then got back on not finding one. I didn’t stop for a badly needed piss break until I reached a fast-food place just over the line in Maryland, where US 219 joins I-69 for a brief concurrency. The clerk at Burger King in Maryland there had a strong Southern Accent, but strangely enough when I got into West Virgina, the clerk at the gas station sounded modestly Appalachian but without much of a noticeable accent – even less then the Midwestern/Appalachian accent what I heard in Northern Pennsylvania. Being that I was in a hurry to get to West Virgina to figure out where I would camp and realizing that the Flight 92 memorial was 9 miles from US 219, I decided against visiting the memorial. It’s possible it was closed on Sunday. I got off US 219 at this one exit and drove through this large, old coal mining town with narrow roads and houses on the edge of a cliff, facing a mountain whose top had been blown off years ago to produce bituminous coal. At the bottom of the mountain was a vast tank that was being used to collect and treat acid mining discharge. Kind of sad to be driving past a place that time in many ways had left behind with nothing but a toxic legacy. Pennsylvania has a lot of old, small towns that were heavily built up during the industrializing era of America but seem to have little purpose today besides cheap housing and traditional communities.

South of the Pennsylvania Turnpike US 219 suddenly becomes a two lane road. You have to exit the expressway and then drive on another pokey local part of US 219 then you get diverted on a completed section of US 219. It’s obvious from the construction that Pennsylvania plans to continue the US 219 expressway all the way to Maryland border – a project that is requiring the blasting away of whole mountains and building massive bridges through the steep terrain of the Laurel Highlands. After driving a few miles on the congested highway, you get back on the expressway for a few miles before it drops back down two lanes, and your in Maryland.

It’s pretty wild driving I-69 in Maryland with it’s steep hills and the 70 MPH speed limit. At times I was pushing Big Red almost to the floor climbing over the mountains at the speed. I-69 is very twisty and steep. By interstate standards it seems to be sub-prime in design, but that may have to do more with the steep Appalachian terrain then the engineering that had to blast a 70 MPH expressway through. Heading west on I-69 traffic was fairly light. Stopped at a nice overlook on US 219 just after getting off of I-69.

I don’t have much good to say about Garnet County, Maryland or the state of Maryland more generally. US 219 crosses more of Western Maryland then most other roads, cutting through the widest portion of Maryland between Pennsylvania and West Virgina. A lot of farms in this part of the state, perched up on hills. Evidence of coal mining was all over, and honestly the terrain didn’t differ that much from the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Farther south of I-69, past a town named Accident, the terrain became more rolling and you could see to the east the Blue Ridge Mountains. A lot of wind turbines on the mountains. Unlike Pennsylvania, no burn barrels in Maryland. Apparently they don’t like the smell of burnt plastic as much as Pennsyltuckians. A lot of traffic on US 219 near Silver Lake in Maryland and the city of Oakland was pokey. People must come from Baltimore to vacation in Western Marlyand. But then it opened up to farm country, and I was in West Virgina without warning except for a brief county sign and a very stern sounding sign warning against littering – a $25,000 fine, lost of license, and jail for littering. Didn’t stop people from leaving litter on the road though as seen driving down US 219.

Maryland is probably a state best known for Spiro Agnew, our country’s only Grecian Vice President. Too bad he had to resign as Nixon’s Vice President for graft as Governor of Maryland and failing to pay on taxes on that graft. Also Martin O’Mallary, the former Democratic Governor best known for his unpopular gun control laws. Of course the whole time driving through the commonwealth, I drove carefully with an eye for cops, because I vaguely remember that Maryland is a state where they are really strict about their fender law, and are known to ticket people driving jacked up pickup trucks with tires sticking out past the fenders, as is the case with my truck. Lot of people have lifted trucks in Western Maryland, but that may be a southern thing too. People in Western Maryland may be relatively wealthy, with money from Baltimore and Washington suburbs to pay for their jacked up truck addiction. Most had fenders but not all did. I am also not an expert on Maryland gun laws, but I figured I was probably okay just driving through the state with a cased, locked, and unloaded shotgun and 22 in back of my truck. I made it through the state, and took a deep breath once I realized I was in West Virigina. I have nothing good to say about Maryland, the state that is dominated by shitty Baltimore and Washington suburbs, with a neck following the Potomac River quite a ways out west. On the way back I will probably take US 220 through Maryland, which cuts through a lot narrower section of Western Maryland just to cover my fears of that god awful state that sticks between a lot of Pennsylvania and Virgina and West Virgina.

US 219 returns to being steep, windy, and narrow as you head into West Virigina and start climbing through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Actually, it gets narrow with sharp turns in Maryland before you quietly cross – almost unannounced in West Virgina. The road is incredibly narrow, curvey, and steep climbing through the mountains. You think you’d never make it there, and eventually your in Thomas, WV. It seems like Thomas was a really hoping touristy place this Columbus Day Weekend, but as far as I could tell it lacked most of the chain stores. They probably are in a more populated place. Just down the road is Davis, WV. Davis has a bit more of a main street, it reminds me a lot of Lake Placid minus of course the Olympic tracks. Bought gas in Davis, one of those stations you have to go inside. I was hoping to hear the clerk’s strong West Virgina accent, but she didn’t have much of one. One of the older people in the store certainly had a classic West Virgina/Southern accent though. From there I took West Virgina 32 to the first major forest road I saw on map – FR 13 which runs along the top of Canaan Mountain. It was farthest north forest road of significance along the way, so I figured it was worth a try.

Forest Road 13, besides the unlucky number is astoundingly beautiful with marshlands and the kind of marshy forest you would associate with Dolly Sods Wilderness to the east of this area. Not a lot of maples of deciduous trees up on the top of the Canaan Mountain, but as you head down Forest Road 13, it descends into a deep hollow, following along a creek. Lots of colors from the hardwoods in this valley. This portion of Forest Road 13 is a bit scary to drive, because it’s only one lane wide, and difficult if not impossible in many portion for two cars to pass. Get too far off the road, and you could roll your truck, and assuming you don’t hit a tree, fall 100 feet or more into the hollow. A good gravel road, but so narrow once you down by the stream.

Put the truck in 4×4 low on the way back up the hill in case I had to crawl past a car on the way back up. Fortunately, I did not. Of course, when I got to camp I wanted to take the truck out of 4×4 low. Almost had a heart attack when I couldn’t get the transfer case to switch back to high. I forgot to go from 4×4 low to 4×4 high (and two-wheel drive), you have to have the truck in neutral when you hit the lever, otherwise nothing happens. I thought I was going to get stuck only being able to crawl somewheres, and have to find out what kind of services I could get by flagging down some random person. Literally had to get out the manual to find the answer – I knew there was a procedure, and they recommended you have the truck rolling when you switched – but forgot you had to be in neutral before shifting the case.

A few miles up Forest Road 13 from where I was camping was a big military encampment – there are like 50 brown Silverado pickups with brushguards parked up there. I thought it was Forest Service personal trucks – a big group for sure – but the rear plates said US Army. The guys I saw appeared to be military too. I don’t know if it’s military training or maybe it’s one of the groups that comes up here searching for old unexploded bombs that are occassionally found in the forest (the US Army used this area for war games and testing bombs during World War II). They are tent camping. I guess this must be part of wilderness training of some sort. Not something you would think you would find in the forest for sure.

On the way down into the valley, I spotted two campsites that were definite possibility for camping. I ended up camping for the night at one of the campsites, under starry skies. I don’t think the stars are quite as good here as the southern Allegheny National Forest, because we get some light pollution from the Washington DC metro area out here, but still much better then most of Upstate NY. A fairly big open campsite, but that was fine as I had extension cords to reach the lights where they needed to be on the trees. Reheated pork roast from a previous trip on the grill then started a fire. It was delicous and a nice evening. The sunset here is similar to that of the Allegheny National Forest – while I am 250 miles farther south, on the whole I’m jut as far west. Before dusk, somebody from Virgina stopped by to ask for directions to an overlook. I was shocked somebody would ask me, a New Yorker for directions. I guess like I must look like I’m from West Virgina with my big jacked up truck.

Sorry this is a long post, but it was a long day with a lot of adventures and stories to tell. I’m sure I will have more for tomorrow. At least I don’t have to drive any long distances tomorrow, as that US 219 got tiring with all the winding narrow road. I won’t be taking US 219 back north to Pennsylvania. It’s one of these roads you want to take once to see what the countryside is like, then avoid it because it’s so pokey, narrow, twisty, and steep. I probably will take US 220 up to I-99 and then overnight next Saturday night in Wellsboro in Grand Canyon Country, assuming the weather is good. I guess I could drive all the way back in Albany via I-81 / I-88 but that’s a hell of a trip in one day. I want to stay over somewheres in Pennsylvania on the way back, and I’d prefer to avoid the cities that I-81 runs through (Harrisburg, Scranton, among others).

I decided to go on a little road trip

I really haven’t gotten much out of the Capital Region in recent months bar the December trip to Kingston and Mount Tremper, along with the January 1st trip to North-South Lake, and my mini-trip to Schoharie County. It was cold out and I really wanted to get out, and not spend another boring Saturday night at home. Gas is cheap, figured I’d take a trip before it gets really expensive again.

I decided to take US 20 out to Pittsfield MA and then head east on MA 9 towards Northampton. Never been over that road, and I knew once I got out of Pittsfield I would loose the traffic and it would be quite scenic.

Rural Massachusetts state roads kind of sucks. They are narrow, windy, and steep. But the scenery is well worth it, especially MA 9 as it winds through various mountains and state forests. I kind of wanted to see the Pioneer Valley as it had been years since I had been out that way.

I forgot how built up the Pioneer Valley really is. I thought I’d be out in the sticks in farm country for most of the trip but Northampton and towns North of it in the Pioneer Valley are fairly populous suburbs of the Springfield MA metropolitan area.

It’s not to say there aren’t farms in the Pioneer Valley, it’s just there more smaller crop farms that were formerly tobacco farms. Still many of the tobacco drying barns still exist – they’re pretty neat, large barns. But I was envisioning Preble NY with it’s large dairies, not a lot of sprawl and only a little open land.

Got on MA 116 heading towards Ashland and Conway. What a pokey little road, that literally is an unimproved except for blacktop road. They certainly didn’t remove any curves from it. The gorges and streams it followed were beautiful, wild country but like most of New England, there were plenty of uppity little but bustling villages. Outside of the villages there really was nothing.

I think in the whole time I was in Massachusetts, I saw one operating dairy farm and maybe one other farm that had a few beef cows. Just not a lot of agriculture going on in Western Massachusetts. I guess the soil is too poor to grow field crops like New York.

Western Mass also seemed a lot more populous, although the population was a lot more concentrated than upstate, at least away from the Erie Canal and Hudson River.

It started to get dark as I reached Buckland, which is as podunky as it sounds. Which sucked, as I ended up driving the Mohawk Trail from the Pioneer Valley outskirts to North Adams, which is basically a blacktop trail through the mountains. The headlights worked fine except they were a bit dim but still blinded folks. Silly headlights on my lifted truck.

The Hairpin Overlook was pretty after dark. As was the Taconic Trail Overlook, although the snow was deep when I went for a short hike up there. Couldn’t see the Empire Plaza buildings from there, but it was pretty.

A long trip but pretty. I like getting out and seeing new places in the wild country – the shacks, the mountains, the farms, and everything else not so perfectly dominated by man.

Gorging on Gorges, An Adventure, Day 2

I awoke for Day 2 of Gorging on Gorges, and it was a fairly warm morning, at least for the day before Columbus Day, in the back country of the Finger Lakes National Forest. I decided I wanted a full breakfast this morning, so I got some sausage frying up, the coffee peculator doing its thing, then scrambled some eggs with mushrooms and sweet peppers. It was a good breakfast. Packed up my gear, folded the flag, headed out on Potamac Road, and stopped grab a few pictures of the pastures along the road.

Driving along all these back-country roads, I was amazed during most of my trip in New York State, on how many anti-SAFE Act signs there were in front of houses and farms along the way. If there ever was an issue that galvinized the backwoods of Upstate NY, it has to be that stupid gun law. I would reminded of the opposition to the SAFE Act all week, until I finally crossed into Pennsylvania state-line – the last SAFE Act sign ended a ¼ mile before I left the state. I bet you that poor dairy farmer, was awful pissed to live on the wrong side of an imaginary line, so they had to be subjected to stupid laws, high taxes, and anti-farm regulations.

Drove down to Trumansburg and then to Taughannock Falls State Park’s Gorge Overlook. The main overlook, next to the parking lot was a complete tourist trap, with dozens of tourists, many obviously traveling a long ways to get there, crowded around the overlook deck, as everyone – myself included – scrambled to get that one trademark photo of the falls. I was glad to get away from that overlook.

Started along the North Rim trail along the gorge. I was looking for secret places to find isolated, beautiful views of fall, and the hike did not disappoint. I found one perfectly shrouded in colorful fall leaves, but with a view of falls. I snapped a picture. I continued along, and found some good views in the gorge, showing the depth and width it below the falls. Then I ran into Robin Smith and his wife – Twitter and Facebook friend. Chatted for five minutes, then I proceeded on.

In part, I was in a bit of a rush, trying to find a place to take a piss. All that coffee plus maybe an eye-opener drink wasn’t great for the bladder. There also were a few to many people around to do it right on trail, especially being so close to the road most of way. But eventually I did it, and was on my way.

The North Rim trail runs into the Black Diamond Trail, which crosses an old railroad bridge, converted to a hiking trail via some concrete slaps and fence placed on it. The high, old railroad trestle provides views of a smaller, upper waterfalls and the little known, but quite impressive upper gorge. The upper gorge, above the falls, is a deep, narrow, but beautiful gorge where the Taughannock Creek runs, cutting deep into the valley. For the best views, you have to take the South Rim trail, which is what I took next.

The South Rim trail is impressive. There is the big parking lot from the Gorge Overlook on Taughannock Road, or you can alternatively take Gorge Road, and halfway down it, park in the smallish pull-off. Don’t miss it though. If you follow the South Rim Trail, there are some views of the gorge below the falls, and one view of the gorge, extending out to Seneca Lake.

I hiked back to my pickup truck, and then drove down to the main part of Taughannock Falls State Park. I parked in main portion of the park, rather then the always crowded and tight to park in lot next to the trail to Gorge Trail, which runs inside the gorge to below the falls. Not wanting my truck damaged by an overly excited tourist, I figured it’s always safer to park in an empty lot. Walked down to Seneca Lake, and noticed how green the trees were still on the lake shore. This contrasts to sections of US 20, the previous day, where the colors were burnt out to say the least. I was also surprised to see the AES Cayuga in Lansing, across the lake, burning coal today. They must keep in standby for when the line frequency drops to low locally. Stopped in the bathrooms at Taughannock Falls State Park, which were just very gross – clean, but rusty and in old shape – like so many state facilities.

Then I hiked along the gorge trail to the fall, taking several moments to stop and take photos, and explore the river bed. I had previously been here, in mid-July, but it certainly was different now that fall was in full swing. The trail was popular, and in some places, downright crowded, but the riverbed, at least as far as one could hike, wasn’t nearly as crowded. The gorge walls were pretty with the fall leaves, although by the time I got the falls, the sun was right over the top of the waterfalls, so most of the pictures of the falls came out pretty poorly.

Headed back to the truck, then drove down to Ithaca. The traffic was as awful as always in that city. I had stop at the pharmacy, then it was off to Buttermilk Falls State Park. I was surprised they were still charging – the last day must be Columbus Day. By now, it was too late to keep Robert Treman State Park on my list; that will have to wait until tomorrow. This time, I intentionally hiked up the North Rim trail, up to West King Road, then down into the gorge. Last November, I hiked up the gorge, so I figured it would be interesting to go the other way this time.

Hiking down Buttermilk Falls was scenic, but not as a scenic as I remember it. Maybe after all this time hiking in gorges and exploring the gorges, they also start to look a bit alike – and we are only day two. It’s more scenic then most of other glens, besides Enfield Glen and Watkins Glen, but it’s still a step below them. The gorge swimming pool at the bottom of the gorge it was nice.

It was a good hike, until descending the slippery stairs, I slipped, and dropped my camera, and it fell like 20 feet, hitting a dozen of the stone stairs before coming to a rest. The fall did some serious damage to the camera, as one might expect. The protective UV filter was shattered, the case was cracked up the lens. I was not pleased, to say the least. There may have been a few cuss words. But so be it. The camera was under a drop warranty that I bought when I got it, but I was more worried that the fall would damage the camera, so I would be out of luck for taking more pictures for the rest of the trip.

I might have been pissed at myself for my careless handling and missteps, for a little while, cussed myself out. I was less pissed when I discovered the lens wasn’t destroyed, only the $5 UV filter. The camera seemed to continue to work well, although the flash doesn’t always pop up – a feature I almost never use at any rate. The camera seemed to work okay, and I picked up a second UV filter at Walmart later in the evening. Later in the week, I noticed the automatic focus was sticking – fortunately I have a drop warranty on the lens too. One of these days, I will get around to sending the camera back to the factory for warranty repairs or replacement.

Once I got over the shock, anger, and amusement of smashing up my camera, and got the shattered UV filter off the camera – it took a little fiddling, as the impact of the fall bent the ring – I enjoyed the remaining hike and vistas of falls. Snapped several other quite nice pictures. Went to Walmart to pick up a few supplies, then back to Finger Lakes National Forest, for another evening at camp.

When I drove up to the campsites on Chicken Coop Road, I was pleasantly surprised to find out the campsite I like was vacant. Whoever was the night before packed up, and there was no mess left over. Hung the flag up, set up the table, hung lights up, and gathered wood. Started a campfire, cracked open a beer, had soup and sandwitches for dinner. The colors in the woods were about peak here. Around 6:15 PM, walked across the road, to take a closer look at the cows grazing in the pasture.

I stayed up until 8:15 PM, when it started to sprinkle, and quickly turned to a heavier rain, and decided it was time to seek shelter under the truck cap. Again a bit annoyed about the rain, and my stupidity about not setting up a tarp earlier in the evening. I listened to the radio for a bit, played on my cellphone, and retired for the night. The good news was that by morning, the rain would have passed, although the skies would be cloudy, damp, and the temperature only around 47 degrees.

Gorging on Gorges, An Adventure, Day 1

About a month ago, I took a trip I gave the name “Gorging on Gorges”. As the name would suggest, most of the trip involved visiting various gorges, taking photographs of them, and otherwise exploring them. About half of them I had previously been to, while the rest were new. I also visited several other state parks, state forests, and national forests – and did something I haven’t done in a long time – camped one night in a developed campground.

I started out my trip from Albany, taking US Route 20 West from I-88. I really wanted to avoid expressways for the bulk of my trip, is my general view is that expressways are the best way to get across America without really seeing anything. It’s more then a philosophical argument for me – what’s the purpose of a vacation if your rushing from point “A” to point “B”.

The first part of the trip, I drove to Chittenango Falls State Park via Nelson and beautiful farm country so high above. I walked down into the gorge, and up and around the falls. The color was somewhat muted, but it still was quite pretty. Then I headed off, taking some side roads as recommended by my GPS’s most direct route, and ended up passing a few miles from Labrador Hollow and the beautiful Labrador Pond, and said, heck, I got to stop on by there.

I drove down to Labrador Pond parking area, and hiked down to the pond. The colors were still not fully-turned on Jones Hill, but on Labrador Mountain were well past peak. Despite the crowds of fall foliage peepers from Syracuse, crowding the area, there were adequate opportunities for solitude. I walked down to the lake, snapped a few photos, then hiked the nature trail/boardwalk. It was nice. It also was great to see the boardwalk being used by a disabled man – he could get out and enjoy nature, despite his difficulties he had walking. One of the large dairies in the area was spreading something on fields nearby, and it sure stunk – it seemed nastier then fermented grain, although that’s probably what it was. Didn’t stick around too long, as I had places to go.

Drove down through Prebles, another deep, rich agricultural valley, dotted by large dairies that take advantage of the area’s rich soils for producing many bushels of corn on each acre. Got held up for about 5 minutes during a paving job, where they had the road restricted to one lane, for what had to been a half mile or so. Noticed how most of remaining trash burning barrels had disappeared from the landscape, that might have only been there 3 or 4 years ago.

Then it was off to Homer, where I passed a moose, made out of welded scrap metal along the road. It was kind of a neat roadside attraction, and I really should have stopped and got a picture, but I had a tight schedule and was burning daylight. I would come to later regret not getting that picture, but heck, I figure I can probably find a picture of it on the Internet using Google Images or Flickr. If not, it will certainly be there, the next time I find myself going through this roadside wilderness.

I got lost on my way to Moravia. Not really lost, because I was following the GPS, but because I had programmed the “most direct route” rather then “fastest route”, the GPS.decided to take me up a rough dirt road through Hewitt State Forest. I declined, and eventually the GPS found a new route, that happened to take me past Milton Fillmore’s birthplace. There is now a picnic pavilion and a some landscaping in that location. I turned around, snapped a few pictures, and explored it briefly. I wanted to a get a picture for dad for his historical markers collection.

Then it was off to Fillmore Glen. I was running a bit late at this point, but it’s a pleasant drive down to Filmore. The landscape is pretty rural until you drop, rather quickly into Moravia. Moravia is a pretty, small rural town; the glen is located at far southernly end of the town. There was a bridge being replaced in town, and you had to wait, for what seemed like an eternity for the light to green on the on-one lane bridge.

Finally, I got to the park entrance. The older guy there, grumbled when I said I had an Empire Pass. He was like “where is it – I can’t see it”. The rear window on my truck where the Empire Pass is tinted, but not that dark. I was slightly annoyed that the park entrance guy wasn’t friendly, and I forgot to ask for a map. I was kind of rushing. Got parked, and there was a big wedding going on, complete with horse drawn carriage. Crossed the “Dry Creek” and started up the trail, first to the Cow Shed falls, then decided to take the Northern Rim Trail. It wasn’t apparent at first that it was the rim trail, but I didn’t have a map. I actually printed up a map, and had it my truck, but I of course forgot it.

The Northern Rim climbs a fair bit, then runs along the rim, with very limited and occasional views. It crosses a pretty little creek that tumbles down the gorge, and eventually leads to a path down to the gorge trail, three-quarters the way up the gorge. I decided to hike down to the gorge trail, and then head back down the gorge towards the parking area. I missed a bit of the gorge trail, and the overlook, but so be it, time was tight.

The Gorge trail was scenic, but certainly not the most scenic of gorges. There were several small waterfalls, and some stairs and bridges, although most of the trail was gravel along the edge. The “Dry Creek” had plenty of water, but in general, the gorges was smaller then other Finger Lake gorges. There were several glens of interest, but the most beautiful portion of the glen was the Cow Sheds in the button of the gorge. Cow Sheds falls, are the wider portion of the gorge, where at one time, historically, cows would gather for shelter in severe or cold weather.

Snapped a few more pictures of Fillmore Glen, and it was off to Ithaca. I made pretty good time to Ithaca, although I admit I certainly wasn’t poking along. I really should have stopped more places, but I wanted to get to the Finger Lakes National Forest relatively early so I could set up camp and/or make alternative plans should my desired campsite on Chicken Coop Road be unavailable. Passed a giant bull statue on a farm, along NY 38, a few miles south of Moravia. I really should have stopped for a picture, but I was burning daylight, and the Finger Lakes National Forest, was over an hour away. I think this is the one, that the farmer paid like $10,000 to haul from an abandoned Steakhouse in Binghamton to the farm. I am sure the bull will be there for a long time – in case anybody forgot what is raised on farms.

Then it was down to Freeville.. The only thing real remarkable about that town, was the pine barrens and swamps, consisting of heading into it. When you think of the Finger Lakes, you tend to think open landscapes and farms, at least until you get mostly south of them of them, or in the highest points to the west. But not here. The Finger Lakes Trust owns some land, on the north side, where it the land is mostly the backwaters of the Oswaco Inlet.

Finally made it to Ithaca by 4:45 PM. I was lucky at this hour that traffic wasn’t too much of a slog by Ithaca standards, then I was off heading up Trumansberg Road. It seemed like an endless drive. Finally made it to Perry City, and then to the Finger Lakes National Forest. There was no sign of the government closure when I got there, but a bit disappointed, my favorite campsite on Chicken Coop Road was already taken. It was off to campsite on Potamac Road, just past the hunting camp.

I wasn’t thrilled by campsite, a big field campsite, but it had some trees along one edge for hanging the flag and lights. It was pretty good site for observing the stars, although there was a hunting camp down the road a little ways, so I had to keep the music down. I really don’t want to piss off the hunters. I gathered up some firewood from the woods, and got a fire started. The sun was fading fast, but so be it. I wired up my lights, some Christmas lights, and got the spot light on the flag.

It got dark, and I tuned into the Ithaca Progressive Radio Station, and gazed on the stars for a couple of hours. Nibbled on some snacks, cracked open a beer or two. Tossed some more wood on fire, and was happy to finally be on vacation.

Andy Arthur.org

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