Monday, June 18, 2012

...Exploring WV...the Kanawha State Forest...


...We spent a nice hot day in the nice cool forest...

...there were these wooden bridges everywhere...

...as the path criss-crossed the creek...

...we followed the moss-covered trail...

...through a section of labeled trees...that was fun...I knew most of them...

...another bridge...

...and the Snipe Trail...I had heard of the snipe hunting custom but have never participated...

...we just followed the path...

...which followed the creek...

...then we came to the Bog...

...which is an entirely different eco-system...

...it was lovely and green...and boggy...

...I was trying to get a photo that showed how far above the creek we are...probably 60-70 feet and pretty much straight down...but I don't think it looks that way in the picture...

...lots of fallen trees...that happens in a forest...

...next we came upon this underground resevoir...

...with its leaky cap...very interesting...

...then we found an abandoned coal mine...

...you could really hear the water echoing through the tunnels...

...it's all blocked up now...

...right next to the coal mine...they had built a slag pile dam...

...the path across the remaining portion of the dam...

...it broke and destroyed part of the camp...I would have liked to have seen the lake behind it...
...this is the other side of the broken dam...you can see the difference in the colour of the soil and the slag...

...this is what the slag on the top of the dam looks like...

...the trail is a loop back to the campground where we saw the remains of an old power plant...

...some knobby trees...

...then back across the bridges and then back home...it was a fun afternoon...

~Have a lovely day!

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:17 PM

    i can almost feel the coolness and smell the damp and mossy trees . . .
    lovely pictures!

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  2. Such a lot happened in the forest didn't it? Coal mine, power plant althugh the two do go together.

    I come from a mining area and our slag heaps looked like massive black, looming hills.

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  3. It looks like a wonderful place.

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  4. There are lots of stories in Northern Michigan where we live about the CCC camps that were around our parts during the Depression. I wasn't aware that there were any outside of Michigan. Thank you for the lesson!

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  5. very interesting and "cool" (as in temperature) looking! some of that reminded me of wandering around pink beds and maybe somewhat of north mills river state park. haha, except no coal, of course! looks like good, clean fun. love, k

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  6. West VA is such a beautiful state; your photos do it justice.

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  7. Great post ~ love the photos and seeing the various ecosystems. We have "snipe" in our marsh! When you are taking boats to the blinds to go duck hunting they wil pop out of the marsh and are very small, fast little birds. I guess they are talking about the same bird...but we don't shoot them. THanks for the great tour...what a fun afternoon to share with your son.

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