Exploring the Mountains of Virginia and West Virginia

Shadow and me hiking in Virginia.

I’m back after a week long vacation exploring the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. It was a total media fast…no television, no internet, and just two local radio stations at our tiny cabin at Douthat State Park. Every day, cool, fresh morning air, hiking anywhere from two to 14 miles, eating sandwiches and apples trail side, simple meals of salad and chicken at the cabin by night.

Hiking with my hubby is so much fun because his interest is geology, while mine is of course botany. We both love wildlife, so between the two of us, we can share a lot of information back and forth during the hike. Hubby often marvels at the rock formations, explaining to me the forces of nature that formed various patterns in the rocks. I, on the other hand, marvel at trees that seem so rise, stalk-like, on roots as thick as a man’s arms, or at plants growing atop rocks, or forests of mosses that show the biodiversity, the fragility of ecosystems high in the mountains.

We stayed at Douthat State Park and hiked most of the trails there. We drove to two trail trails — former railroad lines converted into equestrian, hiking and bicycling paths. And we drove along the Highlands Scenic Highway in West Virginia, exploring the many trails, including a cranberry bog and waterfall hike along the scenic highway.

Shadow came along with us and I am so proud of my girl. Not only did she accompany us on every hike, she carried her pack like a trooper on two hikes. We encountered a surprise on our first day’s hike; a narrow wooden ladder to a rickety “Indiana Jones” rope and plank bridge suspended over a river. How in the world would we get a dog over that? I clucked to her, gave her the command “Up and Over” and she followed us willingly, climbing the ladder to the top. She peered uncertainly at the swaying bridge. I had hubby go ahead, leading her, while I stayed behind, bringing up the rear. She made it, scrambling down the ladder on the other side. On another hike, we climbed over 400 steps to see three magnificent waterfalls. The last series of steps was actually a metal stairway with open treads to allow water to flow through. There were five flights of stairs leading down to the base of a huge waterfall. I think that climb was the hardest for Shadow, not so much for the difficulty of it, but for how the open treads must have looked to a dog. Can you imagine it from her perspective? As a human, I know that the metal stairs will hold us, but the dog is looked down at big openings between her paws and a looming chasm underneath. She must have great trust in us to follow us on these hikes!

Hubby walking Shadow over the “Indiana Jones” bridge.

We saw cranberry bogs and bog plants, although I did not get my wish to see a carnivorous plant in the wild. I learned about nurse logs (more on that later) and lichens. We followed the Greenbriar River Trail to an 1899 railroad tunnel that was like a cathedral of stone and scorched rock, a testament to both engineering and man’s tenacity to build when it seems impossible. We helped a family whose dog wriggled out of her collar and bounded over; they were at risk of losing their dog on the trail, but between her owner grabbing her and my slipping the collar back over her head, she was safe. We saw a heron fishing at the Virginia State Fish Hatchery; he’s no dope, and I imagine he or she is big and fat as far as herons go, given the wriggling bass and trout at the hatchery. (Shadow did not like the hatchery at all!).

Waterfall in West Virginia…from the top of the metal stairs!

It was hard to come home, but as always I am glad to be back. So what of the cats while we were away? The six felines were on what we called a “cruise”. Our friend acted as house and pet sitter, and we nicknamed her the cruise director because each day, she came to the house and fed them their all you can eat buffet and tried to engage the cats in games, like shuffleboard and bingo…or more precisely, play with the feather on a stick and purr a bit. The cats were all fat and healthy when we returned, although my house looked like it had been ransacked by frat boys. Instead of throwing beer cans around, these frat boys threw kitty litter everywhere. How in the world can they track is so far around the house remains a mystery, as does the dismemberment of their favorite mouse toy. Nobody is talking about that one.

I hope you had a chance this week to enjoy the posts I’d set up to publish automatically. I’ve shared a brand new and totally f-r-e-e- eBook, a book of simple recipes from the garden, to help you cook what you grow. Please feel free to share a link to Seven Oaks and our free resources from your own blog or web page! The October gardening tips are also ready…which reminds me; back to work. I’ve got a ton of things to do.

Happy October!