This was the first year that our school had a week-long fall break, which was super exciting! We were originally planning to camp at Babcock State Park in West Virginia and at Shenandoah in Virginia, but about a week before we were going to leave, Neil got super super sick, and I was absolutely slammed with work. So with a couple days to go before we left, I did a deep dive on AirBnB and found some amazing places to stay (and then lowballed them to see if they'd take it since we were just a day or two out, and we ended up saving a ton of money, which was nice!).
We got to New River Gorge in time to go check out the visitor's center before it closed, then did a little hike to the overlook before driving the Fayette Station Road. The next morning we hiked the Endless Wall Trail...
Which contrary to its name was not very endless, it was not even two miles round trip, hah! Our kids could not believe it was short!
Next we went to explore the former coal town of Nuttallberg, which was actually SUPER interesting and I am so glad we went! (I was not very enthusiastic when Neil suggested it.)
We walked down to check out the depot ruins about 30 seconds before a train zoomed by, which is possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened to Matthew.
Then we went to go check out all the coal mining stuff--lots of coke ovens, which were really interesting to see in addition to the coal conveyer and tipple show in these pictures. And we walked to the townsite of Seldom Seen (which is the coolest name!).
Then we headed over to Babcock State Park to see the grist mill, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful sights in West Virginia, and it did not disappoint!
Then we wrapped up the day with a trip down the Kaymoor Mine Trail, which was SO INSANELY STEEP. We were not heartbroken to get to the halfway point and find that the last 700 steps were closed for reconstruction.
And it was pretty great!!
Such a fun morning!! When we got back to the parking lot we decided to tack on a few more miles through the woods--it was so hard to turn around! But we had to get back in time to check out...
We packed up and headed towards the Castle Rock and Rim trails, which were truly beautiful.
And then we headed towards Sandstone Falls, which tacked on an extra hour but we all agreed it was worth the stop!
It started raining and the light got so moody and gorgeous.
So so so beautiful!! And then it was on to Shenandoah.
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