Road Trip Report - West Virginia

[QB93Z]

We just got back from a weekend road trip to eastern West Virginia and I wanted to share our trip with you.

We left Friday morning and got back Sunday evening and covered 650 miles. Instead of our usual trips in the Yellow 1994 ZR-1 we decided to travel in our Black 1990 ZR-1. The Black Z is a Lingenfelter 368 and is a lot louder than the stock YellowZ. We didn't sneak up on any wildlife (or locals) this trip.

In addition to just getting away and Enjoying the Road, we were hoping to see and photograph some "Fall Color". The weather forecast was ify, with rain predicted, but we thought it might clear up by Saturday afternoon, so we got underway.



We headed west from Westminster, Maryland, skirted Frederick and crossed the northern tip of Virginia on our way to Davis, WV to visit Blackwater Falls State Park.

It was raining by the time we got to West Virginia, but since it was just a drizzle, and the sky looked clearer around each bend, we decided to press on.

Blackwater Falls is a West Virginia State Recreation area in the Monogehela National Forest:



Blackwater Falls State Park is a beautiful, peaceful place. The primary attraction is the falls which are easily accessed by a well-maintained walkway.



In addition, the park has a nice scenic road along the south side of the Blackwater Canyon , a beautiful historic Lodge, numerous picnic and some camping areas . We were rewarded with some nice Fall colors and a brief let up in the rain.



Here is Lyndi by the sign to Lindy Point, which, if the fog had not rolled in, is a north west facing overlook of serveral counties:



On our way back to the main Park road we surprised some deer, or as they call them here in West Virginia, dinner:



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[QB93Z]

After visiting Blackwater Falls, we passed through Thomas, WV, a nice small town built on the side of the river gorge, A significant renovation effort is underway . We enjoyed browsing the shops and will probably go back some time to see some of the galleries we missed.



From Thomas, we headed west to get on WV-219, which is known at the Seneca Trail. Our destination for the evening was the Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort.



As we were enjoying the colorful scenery and open road, the fog rolled in and then it got dark. By the time we got to the turn off for the Resort, visibility was about 50 yards. We turned up the mountain road and the visibility dropped to following the guard rail to the top of the mountain. It was a slow 6.5 mile drive.

We stayed at the Allegheny Springs which is a condominium resort that rents rooms and suites. The off-season rates were very reasonable. We had a beautiful 1-bedroom suite with a fire place. Allegheny Springs is just one of many lodges and resorts in the Snowshoe Village. There are also many restaurants and shops. We were told that in-season it is a very busy place.
The next morning, the fog lifted a little so we could just barely make out the ski lift behind our room:



On Saturday morning, we went down the mountain and posed under the resort welcome sign with the fog (cloud) layer just over our heads:




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[QB93Z]

On Saturday, the rain had changed to a very intermittent mist and the visibility at low elevations was greatly improved. We drove south on the Seneca Trail to the Highlands Scenic Highway, a National Scenic Highway



The Seneca Highway is a well-maintained north-south artery for eastern West Virginia. The towns along the route have gotten together to promote their beautiful counties with shops, Parks and festivals.



We were immediately rewarded with beautiful panoramas with wonderful Fall foliage:





We stopped at all the scenic overlooks and sometimes we had to double back to get the great photos:






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[QB93Z]

As we continued along the Highland Scenic Highway, we parked and hiked a trail to the Falls of Hill Creek. There are three falls visible from the trail. The trail was well maintained and along the creek were all boardwalk construction to reduce the impact of all the visitors on the landscape. There were a lot of steps to climb and the hike took about one hour.







After our hike, we left the Highland Scenic Highway and went east to get back on the Seneca Highway to return to the resort. The road from the Highlands was steep in many places, but was in very good condition:



More beautiful scenery:



On Sunday morning, the fog at the top of the mountain finally cleared enough to get a picture of our resort:




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[QB93Z]

We left the resort and went east over the mountain to Cass, WV to start our trip home. Cass is home to the Cass Scenic Railroad, one of the premier tourist rail excursions in the East. We did not have time to ride on this visit but we did get a photo:



We stopped in Green Bank, WV for a photo with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Telescope. The Green Bank Telescope is not an optical telescope, but instead it capures radio frequency energy from distant stars and galaxies. The telescope sits near the heart of the United States National Radio Quiet Zone, a large area where all radio transmissions are limited to avoid emissions toward the GBT and the Sugar Grove Research Facility nearby. The existence of the telescope within the Radio Quiet Zone allows for the detection of faint scientific signals which otherwise would be eclipsed by man-made signals. The observatory borders the National Forest and is shielded from radio interference by the Allegheny Mountains. (thank you, Wikipedia)



We went north to Spruce Knob - Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. We visited the area called Smoke Hole and hiked a short distance to an interesting rock formation along the southern branch of the Potomac River:





After our last hike, we turned towards home. We stopped at a few towns to visit the shops and craft markets. We had to stop in Monterey, VA to get our picture taken with the Blues Brothers:



All things considered, it was a good Road Trip. Plenty of driving with a lot of enjoyable roads. There were plenty of photo opportunities and things to do. The accomodations at Snowshoe in the off-season were great. The weather was poor, but we made the best of it. We will be going back to this area because there were a lot of things that we didn't get to do.
　
Jim

[We Gone]

Thanks for posting, So happy to see you and your wife enjoying your ZR-1's as they were made to be enjoyed.

[efnfast]

Thanks Jim. Man, you take us on the best trips. -Steve

[FU]

Beautiful Country. Thanks for sharing your trip with us

[USAZR1]

I've always loved traveling through West Virginia. Thanks for letting us ride along with you and Lindi.

[Jagdpanzer]

Here are a couple of photos of Black Water Falls our daughter Sarah took last spring: