This 556 mile driving trip around West Virginia took place on May 11-12, 2023. Charlie Johnson was with me on the first day and I went solo on the second day.
Thursday, May 11, 2023- The day started out very early for me. I got up at 3:00 AM, left Manassas, VA at 4:30 AM and got to Charlie's house in
Cumberland, MD around 7:15 AM. We then took two
vehicles to the Casselman Inn and Restaurant in Grantsville, MD for
breakfast. It was very good and even made even better by the fact that
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Charlie paid for it! We then drove to a Park
& Ride in Friendsville, MD, deposited Charlie's vehicle there and
then continued in my vehicle.
Our first stop was the northern terminus of the Allegheny Trail at the
Mason-Dixon line near Bruceton Mills, WV around 10:00 AM that morning. We
spent
some time taking images of the ALT northern terminus kiosk and the signage
within it. We couldn't figure out why there were blazes north of the
terminus kiosk all the way to the PA border. After awhile we figured out
that the 322 mile Allegheny Trail actually starts at the WV/PA border while
the kiosk was about 100 feet south of the border. I was happy that we stopped here as I had previously hiked the AT past the southern terminus in 1999 and
backpacked about 18 miles of the Allegheny Trail over a weekend in 1998.
Our next stop was the Mason-Dixon Historical Park in Core, WV. We arrived
there around 11:30 AM. A very nice young lady that was the manager of the
park gave us a short history and suggested that we hike the pink, blue and red
trails as a loop to see the last marker stone that Mason and Dixon installed
along the Mason-Dixon line in the mid 1700's. It was a nice hike that came
in around 2 miles and took about an hour. There were substantial
elevation changes. The facilities were very nice. They had banquet
facilites, a playground for the kids, about 5.5 miles of trails, some rental
cabins and an Adirondack style shelter. The floor of the shelter was full of
leaves and mud so
I'm not sure if I would want to camp there. But we had a great time at
Mason-Dixon Historical Park.
We had lunch at a Burger King on I68 around 1:00 PM and then went to an out
of the way place called Mount Chateau. This used to be a West Virginia
Resort but, due to various reasons, it became a center for geological displays
and research by the state of West Virginia. They had displays of things like
old bones and petrified wood. Charlie was enamoured by this stuff. I was
thinking the whole time how sad it was that this was not a WV resort anymore.
Around 2:00 PM we went to Coopers Rock State Forest, which I am guessing that
Mount Chateau was the resort for at one point in time, and visited their
visitor center. I got
my WV VIPP card stamped. Charlie kibitzed with the ladies at the visitors
center desk. We then did a short hike to a beautiful overlook of the Cheat
River. It was spectacular. Afterwards we drove back to Charlie's vehicle.
There was an accident on I68 between Coopers Rock and the WV/MD border. A
semi tractor had burst into flames. Traffic was backed up for miles. It took
us over an hour to drive what should have been twenty minutes. I hope that the
driver got out OK. We got back to
Friendsville around 4:00 PM. We said our goodbyes and I proceeded to go car
camp at Tygart Lake State Park near Grafton, WV. I got my VIPP card for this
park stamped at the lodge around 5:00 PM, proceeded to my tent site at
around 5:15 PM, had the tent set up by 6:00 PM, ate by 7:00 PM, read for
awhile both in and out of the tent and was asleep by 9:00 PM. It was
warm at first but got down to the high forty's by around 4:00AM. I'm glad that I had my zero degree sleeping bag with me! I used it as a blanket and was warm and cozy.
Friday, May 12, 2023- Last night was the first time that I had car
camped in about five years. I slept well and my back didn't bother me at all
while in the tent. At around 6:00AM I got up, ate, packed everything up and
was on the road by around 8:30 AM. The Tygart Lake State Park campground was
very nice. I drove US50 to Aurora and Cathedral State Park. This stretch of US50 between Aurora and Grafton had loads of ups, downs, twists and turns.
I got to Cathedral around 9:00 AM, stamped my card myself at the VIPP box,
then proceeded south on US219 to Blackwater Falls State Park. I passed a sign
that said that the Fairfax Stone was close by. I've never seen that so I'll
have to go back there some day.
I reached Blackwater Falls State Park by about 10:30 AM. I got my VIPP card
stamped, spent the $25 gift card that I got when I completed the last VIPP
round of trips on a t-shirt, then headed off to Canaan Valley State Park,
which was not
that far away. Canaan Valley is the newest WV State Park and Resort. It
was very
nice looking and modern. It seemed like the clientele in that resort was more
high end. I felt out of place there. The Allegheny Trail goes through the
area of Blackwater and Canaan Valley State Parks. So I got my card stamped
and then took off for my final destination: Lost River State Park near
Mathias, WV.
It was about 1:00 PM when I reached Lost River State Park. This is an older
and smaller State Park. Sort of like Cathedral SP. Like the last time that I
was here, there were hardly any people at this park. I stamped my VIPP card
myself at
the outside VIPP box. The ink on it was very light so I went into the gift
ship and told the lady there that the VIPP stamp pad needed to be reinked. She said thank you and that she would do so. She had a British accent and was
very nice to talk to. So I was done! I started home on US48 and stopped at
an overlook area. I took images of the hundreds of wind mills along the
mountain ranges in this area. They were neat looking. Again traffic was not
bad untill I reached Prince William County, VA where I live. It was slow
going and lots of trucks. There was a bad accident on VA234 that was the
cause of the problem. I hope that the person(s) in the smashed up vehicle that
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I passed was/were OK.
So I got home around 3:00 PM. I still have to unpack my vehicle. I had a
great time with Charlie Johnson on the first day. We had our usual lively
political
discussions. But we both enjoyed all of the
neat places that we visited. I am now at eight West Virginia State Parks
and Forests visited as part of my WV Star VIPP Program. I still have twelve
more to go. I may go out later this year and do another round of state
park/forest visits. I also have a bunch of maintenance to do to my vehicle.
So we'll see. In closing I learned a lot, saw a lot and had a fun time on
this trip.
Mike C
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701: USFS designation 4 ALT.
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Mason-Dixon Historical Park, WV.
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Charlie J @ M-D Line.
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My tent @ Tygart Lake SP.
By Mike Calabrese
Campground, Tygart Lake SP.
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Windmills along US48.
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