Back from the Virginias

I’m back from Trip #2 of my Spring Break! I had a wonderful time, but I think this time I am here to stay for a while. I am so exhausted!

I spent a little time in Virginia and West Virginia with my Mom. After Cumberland Island, I wanted to do something a little more like sightseeing and a little less like physical exercise. As I mentioned before, I was inspired by the feral horses on the island and heard about the Mt. Rogers area of Virginia being home to wild ponies. I wanted to see them for myself, so that became the basis of my trip. The rest of the places I visited just sort of worked themselves out. All of the places we visited were written on my Things to see before I die list and I had learned of all but Day 4’s visit from Backpacker Magazine.

Day 1:
We took a scenic, winding mountain drive to Grayson Highlands State Park, Va. It is adjacent to the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area and is known also for the wandering feral ponies. It was such a beautiful area with grassy balds allowing panoramic views of the mountains around. The Appalachian Trail cuts through a section of the park. I would really love to go back and make the 4 mile hike to the summit of Mt. Rogers, which at 5,739 ft., is Virginia’s highest point. But that will be for another day for this day was meant for pony spotting.

There was no guarantee that ponies would be anywhere in the area, but considering my luck with spotting wildlife, I knew without a doubt that we would find them. (A friend of mine even calls me Snow White because of animals’ attraction to me! Ha ha. Also, I have “Bear Magic”, which I will share in a later post!) Finally, after straining our eyes over meadows and balds, I spotted a couple of ponies grazing. We moved in closer for pictures, but they were extremely shy and moved away. They watched us as intently as we watched them. Later, we took the trail to the top of the bald for sweeping views and that’s where we hit the jackpot. There were 6 ponies grazing the area. They weren’t as shy as our first pair. They looked at us and continued to graze, basically ignoring our presence. All but one, that is! This adorable little fellow was super friendly and actually galloped over to us! We were able to pet him, take pictures with him and he tried to eat my backpack. I fell in love with him and wanted to take him home! I couldn’t squeeze him in the car, so he had to stay. However, for population control, there is an annual round-up of the ponies and the friendliest, healthiest picks are auctioned off as pets. Guess which pony will be going home with someone? :)

Day 2:
We enjoyed another scenic drive through mountainous terrain into West Virginia. The roads were clear, but we passed by snowfields. It took me a minute to figure out what that white stuff was since we never see it in Georgia…oh yeah, I remember that stuff…I think it’s called snow. Is that right?

Our first stop was at Seneca Rocks. Backpacker claims the rocks a climbing mecca here in the south. I am not a rock climber, but am extremely interested in it and hope to give it a try someday. Whether a climber or sightseer, Seneca Rocks has a lot to offer. The formations were beautiful as well as the valley they loom over. The National Park Service has a Seneca Rocks Discovery Center located at the base of the rocks, and I have to rate it the best information facility I have ever seen for a National Forest. (It was the information center for the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks District of the Monongahela National Forest.)

There were a couple of unexpected nice treats at Seneca Rocks. One was an old homestead site you could check out to see what life was like around the mid 1800s in the area. It was well kempt and reconstructed nicely. The second nice surprise was the trail that led up to the top of a viewing platform at the top of the rocks! I knew there were trails you could take that walked you around the base of the rocks, but this one took you right up to the top. To my surprise, my mom wanted to take this trail even though it would be a 3 mile round trip and climbed 1000 ft. in 1.5 miles! We did it and the views were spectacular. My mom was so proud of herself that she made me call my dad to tell him she made it. Ha ha.

Unfortunately, the quickest route up to Spruce Knob (WV’s highest peak) was closed for construction, so we weren’t able to take in any views in from there. Maybe next time. I really do want to come back to Seneca Rocks. Maybe next time I’m there I’ll be a climber! You never know!

After leaving the rocks, we took a trip to Blackwater Falls State Park. The waterfall was very pretty. Backpacker Magazine said that the Blackwater River is well known for paddlers and kayakers. It was a little too chilly for that as there were still snow patches covering the ground, but it was a perfect, quiet day in the park to take in a nice waterfall.

Day 3:
Day number 3 (Still in West Virginia) began with a trip to Babcock State Park. It was a side trip on the way to the New River Gorge, but was such a beautiful little park, that we actually spent a more time than planned there. The center attraction of the park was an old scenic gristmill. Other than landscapes, my favorite things to photograph are structures from old such as gristmills, covered bridges, and lighthouses. This mill didn’t disappoint as its waterwheel was still intact and it picturesquely clung to the edge of tumbling, clear, Glade Creek.

The main destination on this day was the New River Gorge. The New River, which is actually one of the world’s oldest rivers (it is believed that only the Nile is older), is well known for its whitewater rafting and kayaking. It’s also known for the steel wonder than spans its great depth, the New River Gorge Bridge. The bridge is the longest steel arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere and the second tallest in the United States. (Royal Gorge Bridge, a suspension bridge in Colorado is the highest. I’ve been there, too. :) ) There is also a Bridge Day which is held here yearly for base jumpers who are brave (and crazy) enough to bungee from the bridge. If you look on the back of West Virginia’s Statehood Quarter, you’ll see the New River Gorge Bridge. My pictures are very disappointing in that the bridge doesn’t look that high, but I can promise you that seeing it is quite impressive.

We took a two mile hike recommended by a ranger to Diamond Viewpoint on the Endless Wall Trail. The overlook offered deep views into the gorge standing on sheer cliff drop offs. You had to be careful not to wander too close to the dizzying edge. I almost forgot to mention that another hiker joined mom and me on our hike to the cliffs. Our companion was a sweet dog, a Black Lab/Retriever mix, that met us in the parking lot. I guess it was that Snow White factor kicking in again! He walked the whole way out and back with us, whining loudly when he thought I ventured too closely to the cliffs. Maybe he was a guardian angel?

After the hike, we took the winding drive down into the gorge. We went under the NRG Bridge and then across the river on a smaller bridge that gave excellent views of the NRG Bridge spanning the river. I stood there for a while and watched a couple of kayakers wipe out on the rapids. I was worried for one guy that flipped and stayed under for quite a while. Luckily, he resurfaced. Even I say they are crazy. There is no way you’ll ever find me in a kayak on that river. But you could very easily find me rafting the river, though some of the rapids I saw made my past whitewater rafting look like wusswater rafting!

Day 4:
After the previous day’s adventures, we traveled back east to Virginia that night. Cumberland Island must have really caused me to lose track of time. Maybe it was the dehydration. Ha ha. Either way, I had thought that the New River Gorge would have been our last adventure before heading south for Georgia. I had thought that it was Saturday already, alas it was only Friday! My mom really had her heart set on making this trip last until Saturday. I searched the map to find something interesting. We were near Virginia so how hard could it be? Not at all! I decided we needed a history lesson so I plotted the way to Appomattox Courthouse Historical Park.

Of all the American History periods, the American Revolution and Civil War are by far my favorites. I saw where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter and have been several times to Gettysburg, Pa. which is considered the turning point of the war. Now was the time to see the place where it ended, to stand in the place where General Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant, to stand upon the grounds where our nation was once again united.

The park was very nice and had a lot more to see than I had anticipated. Many of the buildings were original and the ones that were reconstructed appeared to have been rebuilt using the original materials. It was very nice and the park employees were very informative.

An eerie realization struck as later it dawned on me that I was standing there on April 8th, the day before the 141st anniversary of the surrender on April 9, 1865. The 9th day of April in 1865 was a Sunday, Palm Sunday, just the same as April 9, 2006. Also, I was informed by a park employee that we were having the same temperature and weather (cool, rainy morning at first and then clearing) as we were having on this day in 2006. It was an almost ghostly feeling as I walked to the exact spot that the surrender ceremony took place.

After visiting Appomattox, it was time to hit the road back to Georgia.

This was a wonderful trip for mother and daughter and a bit more relaxing that the previous island adventure. Virginia is such a beautiful place and it holds our country’s most hallowed, historical grounds. From the first English settlement in our country to the reuniting of our country…it all happened in Virginia.

It’s not hard to see why West Virginia is dubbed the Mountain State. Before this trip I had only visited around the Harper’s Ferry area and passed through the state on the way to Pennsylvania. I feel lucky to have experienced more. Everything from standing in awe of the bridge spanning a beautiful gorge, to waterfalls, to old mills, to rocky cliffs, the Alleghany Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoah River…it was…well, almost heaven. (Sorry, couldn’t resist! :)


One of my first pony sitings at Grayson Highlands, Virginia.







Wild pony? I think not! He was my new best friend. (I hate this pic. of me, by the way, but I'm posting it for the pony!)







Seneca Rocks, West Virginia







The beginning of the Seneca Rocks Trail to the viewing platform.








Mom chillin' after the steep hike up to Seneca Rocks.









Blackwater Falls, West Virginia












Glade Creek Mill in Babcock State Park, WV.







View into the New River Gorge. If you click on the pic. to enlarge it, you can see a bit of the bridge to the left.








The bridge soars high above the gorge below.











View of the New River Gorge Bridge taken from a smaller bridge that crosses the New River.







The McLean House at Appomattox, Va. This is where the surrender was negotiated and agreed upon. The McLean home was used rather than the courthouse since it was Sunday and General Grant refused to step into any Confederate Government Building.







The room in the McLean House where the formal surrender was written and signed.