Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Vacation

Where did vacation go?   I swear it was just yesterday that I was so excited to leave for vacation!   Yet here I am back at home and already halfway through a work week!   Ahhhhhhh...such is life!    Even with it flying by, we had a great time on our vacation to the wilds of West Virginia!   We hiked a ton and saw some amazing things!!!!!   So here is a brief overview of what we did!

We hiked to quite a few different overlooks.  The overlooks here are pretty spectacular.  They all sit on the edge of a huge steep gorge, many on rock ledge ledges that jug out over the precipice that is the gorge! The views....incredible!








There are remnants of life in a bustling coal mine area everywhere.  We hiked rail trails and saw numerous abandoned mines and went back to Thurmond a complete abandoned town.  





 
We went to Babcock state park and took in the beauty of the grist mill. (And hiked the trails)

And we went to Hawks Nest State park and ride the aerial tram (and hiked the trails!)

The big success is the kaymoor miners trail.  I had attempted that back in June when we were there and gave up because I was honestly terrified!    I came home and pondered and went out and purchased trekking poles ...and have used them since that terrifying hike. So the very first place we headed on our vacation was that trail....I wanted to see the abandoned mine!!    I went down that trail lickety split!  I won’t say it was easy...but with the trekking poles to add in my descent I was able to navigate it with ease (and with no fear)


We got to the shelf on the side of the mountain and enjoyed exploring the ruins there. But then we headed down .  When I say down I mean down 821 steps!   (That is the equivalent of about a 42 story building!)  

Down at the bottom are more ruins!  Well worth it!   After we explored it was time to go UP those 821 steps and then back up the trail with the steep rock scramble!   It was one heck of a hard hike!  That day I only felt ‘tired’ but after the next day of hiking I couldn’t even touch my legs without feeling pain!  My muscles were toast!   (I kept hiking through the muscle aches...there was too much to see!!!) But you know what?  That was the best hike of the week!  We toyed with hiking it again on our last day there!   And I can assure you that if/when we are back in that area that we will definitely hike that again!!!!

So you can see that we had a fabulous and active time!!!!!!!   

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7 comments:

Stained Glass Butterfly said...

What an awesome trip! I love abandoned buildings. I would love to see that town you mentioned. Have you ever heard of a photographer who goes by Abandoned America? I follow him on Facebook. He has fascinating pictures. So glad you had a great vacation!

SANRDJ said...

Great pics! Those Stairs!!!! atta girl :)

jen said...


ohhhh wow, how beautiful are those pics!!
Well done on all that hiking, a great vacation :-)

MaryFran said...

Yes! I’ve spent hours pouring over his website! I love it!!! We also watch exploring with josh on YouTube. He is a young kid who shoots pretty decent videos (even though sometimes we get annoyed with him when he has no clue what he is saying...and lately it’s not as much abandoned...but we sift through because his abandoned stuff is filmed well!). I would love to be able to explore some of these places in person!!!

MaryFran said...

It was definitely a workout!!!

MaryFran said...

It was fun and active!!!! Awesome all around!!!

Lori said...

Beautiful photos!! Hiking in WV is my dream vacation!! Thanks for sharing so I can live vicariously through you! :)