Hello folks,
I was looking forward to getting a good night's sleep last night since I didn't sleep well the night before. I fell asleep watching Sunday Night Football. Then around midnight the fire alarms went off with an announcement that everyone needed to evacuate the building. So I get dressed and walk down eight flights of stairs. This also happened to me on my last trip. After about a half hour the fire department couldn't find anything wrong and let us go back to our rooms. Now I couldn't get back to sleep and tossed and turned the rest of the night.
This morning I left my hotel in Pittsburgh around 8:00 and headed south back into West Virginia. After about 130 miles I came to my first stop of the day, Blackwater Falls State Park. Blackwater Falls is a 62-foot cascade where the Blackwater River leaves its leisurely course in Canaan Valley and enters rugged Blackwater Canyon in northeast West Virginia just a few miles from the Maryland stateline.
As you can see in the picture above the leaves are starting to change here. Hopefully I have timed things right and they will be at their peak when I get to the Blue Ridge Parkway. In the picture below you can see the observation platform next to the falls. I went down there when I was here back in 2003. But there were way too many steps for my feeble feet to handle the walk down there today.
To say there was less water going over the falls today then when I was here last time would be an understatement.
Below is a picture I took on June 5, 2003 on my last visit here. Can you make out the slight difference?
There are other overlooks in the park. Below is Pendleton Point Overlook.
Next I continued my drive through the hills of West Virginia. It was a very scenic drive. About 35 miles south of Blackwater I arrived at the Seneca Rocks.
It was a beautiful day today. Not a cloud in the sky with a high of about 65 degrees. Below is a picture of me in front of the rocks.
Seneca Rocks is a large crag and local landmark in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and one of the best-known scenic attractions in the state. The sheer rock faces are a popular challenge for rock climbers. This must be at a lower elevation as there was very little fall color here.
I continued on my way from there. My final stop of the day was in Elkins, West Virginia. I had planned to take a scenic train ride into the hills from here. But when I tried to make a reservation over a month ago, they were already sold out. Below is the Elkins Train Depot. I am staying just a block or two north of there at a Holiday Inn Express.
That's it for today. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens next.
Tim
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