Double Bow
New member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
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Well, I'm back on here after too long away...
Last Friday night, Magpie and I drove from NH down to PA and spent the night. Saturday morning, we set out for Mount Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania. Along the way, we passed Amish in their buggies, a ton of beautiful wind turbines, farm after farm, and the site of the crash of flight 93 which will stay in my mind as I raise the flag on Madison for the Flags on the 48 ceremony next month.
From the picnic area at Mount Davis, it's only a mile hike to the top, but we made a slight extension which made out total hike a whopping 2.5 miles. The views from the tower are nice, though nothing as dramatic as the panoramas we have in the Whites.
After that, we headed through Maryland and into West Virginia. We stopped in the town of Silver Lake to visit the "smallest church in the lower 48", Our Lady of the Pines, which seats 12. It's right in front of "the smallest mailing office in the lower 48", which has 18 post office boxes and has someone staffing it on Friday the 13th. They also have Parcel Post on February 29th.
From there, we continued onto the trailhead of Backbone Mountain, which is the highest in Maryland. You start in WV and hit the state line on the ridge before getting to the summit in MD which has a mailbox with a register and a decent view.
We came down in the dark and were very hungry but knew our prospects were slim of finding a place to eat that late in rural West Virginia. Then we rolled in Thomas, WV an old mining town. When we drove down the main strip, we saw it was lined with cars. We saw some lights on and that was promising. We discovered that there was a pub featuring a big(ish) name bluegrass artist and they were still serving food and beer (served in mason jars). It was great! The music was hot, the beer was cold, and the people were very friendly. After the show, we continued on to Blackwater Falls SP where we spent the rainy night.
In the morning, we threw my wet tent in a contractors bag and headed off to Spruce Knob, the highest point in WV. The road was long, but it had many amazing views along the way. As we looked out at Seneca Rocks, I wished I had time to climb. After taking in the views from the summit and walking around it, we drove down and over the Blue Ridge into VA, stopping at "Fat Boy's Pork Palace" along the way.
Once in VA we made our way to Luray Caverns which are at some places ten stories high and is home to the world's largest musical instrument (sprawled over three acres). It was amazing and we took a ton of pictures during the 2 hours we spent there. Then it was back to PA to spend the night before driving home the next day.
It was an amazing three days in which we saw a ton of amazing things. I have to admit, I had misjudged West Virginia but now think it's a beautiful mountainous state where I'd like to spend more time.
Last Friday night, Magpie and I drove from NH down to PA and spent the night. Saturday morning, we set out for Mount Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania. Along the way, we passed Amish in their buggies, a ton of beautiful wind turbines, farm after farm, and the site of the crash of flight 93 which will stay in my mind as I raise the flag on Madison for the Flags on the 48 ceremony next month.
From the picnic area at Mount Davis, it's only a mile hike to the top, but we made a slight extension which made out total hike a whopping 2.5 miles. The views from the tower are nice, though nothing as dramatic as the panoramas we have in the Whites.
After that, we headed through Maryland and into West Virginia. We stopped in the town of Silver Lake to visit the "smallest church in the lower 48", Our Lady of the Pines, which seats 12. It's right in front of "the smallest mailing office in the lower 48", which has 18 post office boxes and has someone staffing it on Friday the 13th. They also have Parcel Post on February 29th.
From there, we continued onto the trailhead of Backbone Mountain, which is the highest in Maryland. You start in WV and hit the state line on the ridge before getting to the summit in MD which has a mailbox with a register and a decent view.
We came down in the dark and were very hungry but knew our prospects were slim of finding a place to eat that late in rural West Virginia. Then we rolled in Thomas, WV an old mining town. When we drove down the main strip, we saw it was lined with cars. We saw some lights on and that was promising. We discovered that there was a pub featuring a big(ish) name bluegrass artist and they were still serving food and beer (served in mason jars). It was great! The music was hot, the beer was cold, and the people were very friendly. After the show, we continued on to Blackwater Falls SP where we spent the rainy night.
In the morning, we threw my wet tent in a contractors bag and headed off to Spruce Knob, the highest point in WV. The road was long, but it had many amazing views along the way. As we looked out at Seneca Rocks, I wished I had time to climb. After taking in the views from the summit and walking around it, we drove down and over the Blue Ridge into VA, stopping at "Fat Boy's Pork Palace" along the way.
Once in VA we made our way to Luray Caverns which are at some places ten stories high and is home to the world's largest musical instrument (sprawled over three acres). It was amazing and we took a ton of pictures during the 2 hours we spent there. Then it was back to PA to spend the night before driving home the next day.
It was an amazing three days in which we saw a ton of amazing things. I have to admit, I had misjudged West Virginia but now think it's a beautiful mountainous state where I'd like to spend more time.
