11 March 2021
The best laid plans…. Day 2. I really had good intentions. Really, I did. I left Amicalola at 7:45 am this morning and had a 7 hour drive ahead of me to reach New River Gorge. My GPS did not recognize New River Gorge National Park but did recognize New River Gorge National River System. I plugged that in. It got me close. It kept wanting me to turn left instead of what the signs said to turn right. I suspect when it became a national park, the visitor center was moved. The building looked brand new and totally unused.
After a few wrong turns, I finally did locate the visitors center in spite of the GPS and got some information about camp sites. Only three were available for camping and the closest was Stone Cliff near the Thurman Historic District. Thurman looks like a cool town that basically dried up with the demise of the railroad through that area. I drove backroads that turned into one lane roads that crossed one lane bridges and finally came to the end of the dirt road and campsite.
It took me forever to find where you were allowed to camp and when I found it, I declined. It was next to a river and the river was in flood stage and the campsite was directly on the river bank with water lapping close to the site.
I immediately got on the phone to my cousin Jimmie’s roommate at Millsaps, Claudine, who lives 25 miles from the park near Beckley, WVA. Jimmie had already cleared with Claudine that it was OK for me to stay on her property and Claudine and I had also been in contact. She welcomed me with open arms. What a friendly person. We remembered we had met each other when I met Jimmie at Millsaps back in the 60’s.
She gave me instructions of where to find a pond on her property and I drove the jeep down and found a perfect campsite just above the pond. I immediately started to pitch the tent since it was getting close to dark. That’s when it happened. I was missing one of the rods on the tent and this tent requires every rod to be in place before it works. I was not going to be able to pitch the tent.
The missing segment is black in coloration and I suspect the campground at Olena State Park has an unclaimed black segment of a tent laying on the ground.
Claudine had previously warned me to expect rain. Normally, I could sleep out in the open with just my sleeping bag but not in a downpour. I had internet access and found a place for the night – the Hampton Inn in Beckley. Some I’m roughing it another night in a hotel room. Looks like my plans to spend time in the tent went out the window. Every place left is a hotel stay – mostly because of the jeep problem.
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Depending on the weather, I may get in a short hike tomorrow. However, it wouldn’t bother me a bit if it did rain all day and I camped out in the hotel room until they boot me out at noon.
Even though I’ve officially visited the park, I would like to return some day and hike some of the trails Claudine told me about.
For some reason I’m very tired. I think it was the stress of trying to get to New River Gorge to find a campsite since they are all first come, first serve. Then when I nixed the Stone Cliff campsite, I was elated to get to go to Claudine’s. Then the final disappointment. I’ll probably go to bed very early tonight.
Stay tuned!
