Almost Heaven

A few weeks ago I decided to take a quick vacation over winter break and I decided to head West to Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia - I was surprised that they had availability, come to find out the lodge is only about half full! Such a relief after all the traffic of DC!

I left this morning about 10 am - it was a stunning day, mild temps, not a cloud in the sky! Before I left I double checked the weather forecast - the rest of the week was slated to be clear and mildish (highs in the upper 30s/40s) both at home and in Canaan Valley.

I headed out 66 to 81 and on to Rt 55 - a nice road mostly - 2 lane but in places 4 - passing through mountains and small towns in WV. Canaan Valley's website directed me to take Rt 55 west to Harmon, WV and then go north on 32. I'd looked at the map and saw that there was another road - 72 it appeared, although the section I wanted to go on wasn't numbered - that seemed to cut off a significant chunk of the road and passed through the Dolly Sods Wilderness area - I have read a lot about this area, it's a BIG backpacker destination and I have heard that it's magnificent. I wasn't sure why that wasn't the preferred route, but I thought I'd check it out.

The turn off to the road through Dolly Sods was just past "Smoke Hole Cabins" - you know you are West Virginia! Turns out Smoke Hole Cabins is "the" tourist attraction of the area - more signs for it than South of the Border!



I quickly see why this road isn't the preferred route, and why it's not numbered on my map.....it's not WV 72 the whole way, part of the road is actually:

That would be "Forest Road 19". Unpaved. Rocky. Narrow. Hairpin turns. No guardrail. And it came complete with dire warnings:

We all know that the beginning of an adventure includes turning off the paved road so off I went! It was sunny and mild and there was no sign of snow whatsoever! Since I was "car hiking" I opened the sun roof and put the windows down - it was a bit chilly, temps in the high 30s, but I cranked the heater up!

This is the road - I was actually heading down at this point.

The scenery on the road did not disappoint! There were some spectacular views! I didn't capture as many as I would have liked - driving required my full attention and I was anxious about stopping and encountering another car, also I has no idea how long this little excursion was going to take and I didn't want to end up trying to find the resort in the dark.

The dirt on the back of my newly washed car!
After the FR ended the road improved....well by WV standards. It was paved and had a guardrail.

That is looking back on what I think was the ridge I'd been driving on.

This little guy was sitting in the middle of the road - Quail? He let me stop the car and take his picture but when I tried to get a little closer he flew off.

It wasn't far down the "improved" road when I got to rt 32 and turned off to go to the resort. It was only 2:00 so I decided it was too early to check in and headed out to Blackwater Falls SP. I could help but noticed that there wasn't any snow. Anywhere. This was going to put a damper on my plans to go snowshoeing tomorrow! I explored Blackwater Falls for a little while - there are a lot of little trails there that I was wanting to hike, but I thought that with snowshoeing out for tomorrow I'd come back and explore then. I'd also found another FR that cut off driving through Davis to get to Blackwater that I wanted to explore.

I couldn't really get a good veiw of the falls. They close the main view point for the falls in the winter - there are 216 steps down there and they get icy and dangerous - so I wasn't able to get very close. This is the best shot I could get - I went around and took the "gentle trail"!

About 3:00 I headed out from Blackwater Falls and back up 32 toward Canaan Valley. I stopped at the Canaan Valley Wildlife refuge to get a map of more little trails I could walk tomorrow, and found one that was just a 1/4 mile so explored it.....

You can really see how flat the valley is!

After exploring the little trail I headed over to the ski area to see what what was going on there. I knew I wanted to try snow tubing so I wanted to get tickets and stuff. They had 2 sessions left for tubing - 4:30-6:30 and 7-9 - I took the 7-9 so I could get checked in at the lodge and get some dinner and stuff.

I ended up having a lot time to kill! I wandered around the lodge and got some pictures of the valley from the backside of the lodge. Again, I'm amazed by how flat it is! I guess it is the "valley".

I then went over to the ski area. I found a little bar & grill and had a ridiculously over priced chicken sandwich and read my book until it was time for tubing!

Snow tubing is a lot of fun! It's like sledding on steroids.

On the left of the picture you can see the tow rope - you get your tube and it had a "leash" on it with a ring, the tow operator hooks your ring on to a little bar and you sit down on the tube (lazy river style) and ride up the hill. At the top they have carved out a little hill so the tube slides right down off the tow rope and you get to go for a little ride. You then pick your run - there are 4 and each have their own personality - and lay down on your tube and go flying head first down the hill. That's right, head first. The guy in charge said! I can't believe that it's safer that way! You go fast. Really really really fast.

"Luckily" at the end there's a "run away tube ramp" with a "padded" mat.


When you get going really fast you slam into the mat at a very high rate of speed, such as the person in the picture below.....(he's on the right, the tube is upside down...). This does not feel good.
On my 2nd run down the hill I went careening into the mat and after that quickly learned how to better control my tube. If I drug my feet I went a little slower. If I slid off the tub just as it was going up the run away ramp I slowed down a bit. If I raised my head up on my elbows it was even better. I'm not sure this is an entirely "adult" sport. The ironic thing is that it's all about weight - the heavier you are the faster you go. I was actively trying to avoid slamming into the mat, yet there were a number of lightweight kids who would have done anything to get that far, they just weren't heavy enough. There were a number of guys who were slamming in every time, on purpose - they were all entirely too old for that and I bet they won't be able to move in the morning!

Once I learned to to control the tube a bit more it was really fun! I stayed until almost the bitter end! I'm considering going back tomorrow night (not much night life at Canaan Valley, despite there being very few people everywhere, the night snow tubing session was packed!).

Tomorrow will get interesting. When I got online the 1st thing I checked was the weather. It's going to snow. 90% chance. 2-4 or 3-5 inches, they aren't sure....then after it snows it's going to be windy and blow all over! It's supposed to clear up by Thurs so I should be able to head home (obviously not through Dolly Sods again), but I might be stuck at the resort tomorrow! So much for walking at Blackwater Falls! There are lots of trails here as well as ice skating and a pool. If the roads aren't too bad I can get to the ski area pretty easy for more snow tubing!