Sharp Top Mountain Trail is labelled - appropriately - as strenuous. The trail does flatten out a little bit at points along the way but it is a steep upward climb, gaining over 1300 feet in elevation in 1.5 miles. Large segments are basically carved rock stairs. One way to think about this in a different scale: this is basically like climbing 130 flights of stairs over a 1.5 mile distance.
Read MoreA couple of years ago we visited Watoga State Park for the first time. Coming of off no travel for 18 months due to the start of Covid, this was also our first foray into staying at a state park. We had a great trip and have since visited a multitude of state parks across the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. What we didn’t do much of during that first trip to Watoga is spend time exploring the hiking within the park itself. Instead, we mostly explored the broader Pocahontas County region, which has a lot on offer!
Read MoreOn our fourth (and final) full day at Watoga State Park, we were confronted with spotty rain and the threat of thunderstorms. So, we ruled out a morning hike and an afternoon bike ride on the Greenbrier River Trail and instead came up with a new itinerary. We hung out in our cabin in the morning reading, headed north 30 minutes to the town of Marlinton for lunch, visited the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center, crammed in a 1.5 mile roundtrip hike to a beautiful series of waterfalls, before returning to Marlinton for dinner right on the Greenbrier River. Not a bad day at all for one that was entirely different than our original plans!
Read MoreOn our third full day at Watoga State Park, we hiked Ann Bailey Trail (6 miles roundtrip) out to a fire tower and a loop trail that combined Busch Settlement Trail, North Boundary Trail, Buck & Doe Trail, and Bear Pen Trail (3 miles total). We ended the day by grabbing soft serve ice cream cones from nearby Jack Horner’s Corner.
Read MoreOn our second full day at Watoga State Park, we hiked Monongaseneka Trail (5.5 miles after we added some neighboring trails to create a loop plus 2 miles on bike to return to our car), and biked 15 miles on the Greenbrier River Trail, which we accessed about 30 minutes away so that we could catch the segment of the trail through the 400-foot long Droop Mountain Tunnel.
Read MoreWatoga State Park is located in eastern West Virginia in Pocahontas County, the county directly north of the more well-known Greenbrier County (home to Greenbrier Resort). The park is the largest state park in West Virginia at over 10,000 acres.
Read MoreWith lots of hikes, caves, and natural bridges/arches, this is a park with a lot more versatility than many others! The park also has a number of other activities that we didn’t explore - mini golf, a swimming pool, kayak/canoe rentals for the lake, and more.
Read MoreWe spent four full days (and five nights) at Carter Caves State Resort Park. We enjoyed all seven of the park’s hiking trails (about 14.5 miles in total), which varied in length from small connector trails up to 8.5 miles. We also hiked 2 of the 5 multi-use trails, exploring 4.5 miles out of 16.5 miles of those. We visited all 6 of the park’s natural bridges/arches, a significant amount to be housed so close together in one park! In addition to the hikes, the park has amazing caving options - from three guided cave tours to two self-guided options - and I’d recommend you check out our post on that if you’re interested. We really enjoyed the hikes at this park and would recommend others visit!
Read MoreWe spent four full days (and five nights) at Carter Caves State Resort Part and enjoyed five of the park’s caves during our visit. We took three guided tours, explored two caves entirely on our own as self-guided adventures, and didn’t do some of the more intense caving options. If you have time to do hiking and check out other aspects of the park like the multiple natural bridges/arches, I’d recommend you check out our other posts. If you want to learn just about the cave options, this post is for you! And it won’t disappoint: there are really awesome, unique cave options at Carter Caves State Park!
Read MoreOn our fourth day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked the longest hiking trail at the park - Carter Caves Cross Country Trail (“4 Cs Trail"), though we amended our route a bit to avoid doubling back on a shared section of the trail with Three Bridges Trail. We created an equally long hike, clocking in at 8.5 miles. We also had an unexpected situation with one of our pups that ended well but was not exactly how we wanted to end our trip.
Read MoreOn our third day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked Cave Branch Trail (3.1 miles); toured the historic Saltpeter Cave, which played a role in gunpowder production during the War of 1812, by lantern light; hiked Raven Bridge Trail to check out one of the park’s natural bridges/arches and looped back on part of Three Bridges Trail and Rockhouse Trail (1.5 miles).
Read MoreOn our second full day at Carter Caves State Park, we hiked Three Bridges Trail (3.5 miles), Horn Hollow Trail (1.5 miles), Natural Bridge Trail (0.5 miles), explored two self-guided caves on our own: Horn Hollow Cave and Laurel Cave, enjoyed seeing 4 of the park’s beautiful, naturally occurring bridges/arches, and grabbed lunch at the park’s restaurant, Tierney’s Cavern.
Read MoreIn addition to traveling to the park, getting settled in, and enjoying our first day of activities, we had several expected animal adventures. Keep reading for the tale! In the realm of adventuring, we toured two guided caves - Cascade Cave and X Cave, and hiked two trails, Box Canyon Trail and Mulligan’s Trail, the former of which is home to one of the five natural arches/bridges within the park.
Read MoreThe Smith Mountain Lake Dam is one of the largest dams in the United States, and the process to build it required extensive engineering and time. Six years passed between the start of construction and the first generation of electricity (1959-1965), though the lake itself didn’t fully fill until the following year. The dam itself is over 800 feet long and 235 feet long. It’s tall enough to have a 17-story elevator built into the dam itself!
Read MoreKouchibouguac National Park is at the heart of Acadian New Brunswick. Situated along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and with the Kouchibouguac River running right through it, the area is filled with the life and ecology common of an estuary. With hikes along the water, in the woods, and through bogs, there are a variety of sights to take in. Like many other similar areas along the eastern seaboard, the area is also home to sated mosquitoes so come prepared.
Read MoreNew Brunswick, Canada, has a total of two national parks - Fundy and Kouchibouguac. So, if you are an avid lover of the outdoors and find yourself in New Brunswick, visiting both just makes good sense! Fundy National Park is situated along the southern coast of New Brunswick, perched above the Bay of Fundy. Kouchibouguac National Park is also coastal but along the eastern side of the land, near the confluence of the Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
Read MoreFundy National Park sits along the Bay of Fundy, which is famous for some of the highest tides in the world. Depending on the exact spot, the difference between low and high tide fluctuates between 15 and 48 feet, roughly the height of a 4-story building!
Read MoreThe drive from southwestern Virginia to New Brunswick, Canada, is no easy feat. An optimistic Google map will proclaim the drive to be 18 hours in length, but that estimate is built for the travel of future bots; real humans have to stop to eat, use the bathroom, caffeinate, and replenish the gas in their cars. Oh, and there will definitely be traffic, perhaps some passing rainstorms to slow traffic. There is a border crossing where every question feels like a trick and a trap and an honest answer to the questions will gain you a free pass to a (friendly but time-eating) secondary screening (true story, more below).
Read MoreWe decided to visit New Brunswick with an itinerary built around two of Canada’s National Parks: Fundy National Park, situated along the southern coast on the world famous Bay of Fundy, known for some of the highest ranges of tides (the difference between low tide and high tide is about the same as a 4-story building!), and Kouchibouguac National Park, along the eastern coast of the province. In the more northern and much more French speaking Bertrand area, we got a glimpse into the history of the Acadian people in Canada, the country’s Francophiles who were booted off their land and out of the country during political upheaval.
Read MoreCanaan Valley (pronounced kuh-NANE) is a beautiful valley in the northeastern portion of the state. It is known for being the location of Blackwater River and its eponymous state park, an area with a number of ski/four-season resorts (while it’s known for the Canaan Valley Resort, there are others), home to Dolly Sods Wilderness, and neighbors the towering peaks of Seneca Rocks. If you like the outdoors, this is a spot to add to your list!
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