R and J in the USA

We came into the state of West Virginia hearing the soothing tones of John Denver singing, “Almost Heaven, West Virginia”, and within minutes of being in it, we were entirely convinced. After 7 days wandering through the nooks and crannies between the Appalachian Mountains and making our way up a few ascents, we are as on board with that feeling as we could possibly be. Every state is unique and has its own special something, and that has continued to surprise as as we’ve traveled to and through each corner of the country. Some states are more unique than others. We would put West Virginia on that list. In some ways, you can recognize other states in its terrain, all of the states that surround it have overlap with the look and the feel of it. But it is how it all comes together in West Virginia that makes it so special and so unique, at least how we see it.

Both of us came into West Virginia with close to zero experience or knowledge of the state, which, as we entered, surprised us both when we thought about how it was only 2 states away from us. As the crow flies, from where we are sitting during this writing, we are five hours and forty three minutes from our house in Rochester, NY and yet, except for Ryan’s lone trip to Harper’s Ferry years ago, neither of us have seen any of the state. We’ve been to places in just about every other direction that are as far away from us and multiple times each, whether it is Ohio, Vermont, New York City, Boston, Baltimore or DC, but in all of our decades on this planet, we never found our way to this part of our neighborhood. We are in a land as new to us as any place a thousand miles away – well, sort of. Being as close as we are to home, there is no question that there is a strong feeling of familiarity to some aspects of the beauty we are seeing here. There are elements of the terrain in West Virginia that feel like home. The deciduous forests, the blankets of green, the curves and elevation popping up in the terrain, the rock walls and layers popping out of the greenery here and there. But it is also wildly different in just as many ways. As we navigate through the curving and twisting roads, we absolutely know we are in a land that is new to us – and one that is every bit as gorgeous as John Denver promised. 

It’s tough to articulate what makes West Virginia so beautiful other than to say it glows. Now, we are here in the spring time and that could have something to do with that glowing appearance. Spring has a glow to it in general. The redbuds are in bloom providing what looks like floating bursts of purple amidst the backdrop of the forests. We first saw this beautiful look in Kentucky. But, there is something about West Virginia that glows, even in the rain. As we drove down a winding Appalachian Mountain road on a rainy April day, the clouds hugged the ground, laying a mist over the road and the mountains and valleys just over the guard rails. Somehow, even when damp and hidden, there was still a vibrance to it all. The way the mountains wrap around you everywhere you turn, the way there are waterfalls big and small just about everywhere you look, the way the land and rivers and trees meet up against the backdrop of mountains, hills and blue skies – West Virginia seems to glow.

And then there are the people. We have met nice people everywhere and we’ve gotten to see hospitality and warmth all across this country, but there is a special quality to West Virginia nice. It’s not just welcoming, it’s not just hospitable, it’s an eagerness to go that extra mile that goes beyond simply being kind. We’ve met so many people that had that glimmer in their smile that showed, with eagerness, how much the kindness translated into a heartfelt desire to make us feel welcome and comfortable. We met the Mayor of Charleston who, in addition to being hilarious and so fun to talk to, also was quick to point out, when we asked the question, “What is the one thing we need to know about West Virginia?”, that, cheesy though it may sound, “We are the nicest people you will meet anywhere,” she said. “We will stop traffic for you if we need to.” And, we have found that to be true. Case in point, we are sitting at a campsite in a campground in the woods outside of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. We are the only ones here because when we called to make a reservation, Gary scheduled us right up. It wasn’t until we were already booked for two nights that he mentioned that the campground wasn’t technically open yet. Now, Gary actually lives in Maryland, but he spends a lot of his time tending to his West Virginia campground and he seems to fit right in with what West Virginians are all about.  And that is only one story. Every place we’ve gone in West Virginia, people have gone out of their way to make us at home and not because there was anything special about us – just because that’s how they do it. The mayor was not just hyping up her state – she was an accurate ambassador. We’re sure there are grumpy, rude and mean folks in West Virginia – how could there not be? We just haven’t met a one of ‘em.

We started our West Virginia journey on the west side of the state driving in from the southeastern tip of Kentucky. Our first stop was a Harvest Host in St. Albans, just 20 minutes outside of Charleston. We were lucky that we happened to be just outrunning the terrible flooding that was heading into the Midwest.While our first night has us camped next to a river during a flood warning, we were on the absolute edge of the warning with at least 10 feet of clearance above the river. Our hosts were fantastic and even had a flush toilet, shower and outdoor kitchen that we were welcomed to use. Weather ended up not being an issue at all and our first night in West Virginia was absolutely lovely and a sign of things to come. 

In the morning, we headed to the University of Charleston for our West Virginia 5K. You can read about the race in our 5K section and about some of the people we got to meet, including Charleston’s mayor, in our People Along the Way section. We enjoyed running a race with a view to the golden domed capitol.

We followed up the race with a stop on the main drag in Charleston for pizza before heading over to the capitol and the state history museum. We were pretty tired and Julie was absolutely beat after the race and found herself only able to take in so much at the history museum, despite wanting to read everything. Even so, we learned so much about West Virginia history that we had no idea about prior to the visit and that is the goal in each state.

We were there on April 5th, the day of the nationwide and global protests that had been organized against the current administration. We showed up as most of the events were dispersing, so we didn’t see it in full form. On this trip, when visiting the capitol, we’ve seen many different people from different walks of life walking, marching, holding rallies on all manner of stances at state capitol buildings, and no matter what they are marching for, it’s neat to see democracy at work. We’ve seen people at all sorts of extremes on the various polarities of American society and conversation. It can be hard to separate out the message and how one might feel about whatever message is being trumpeted, whether you are on board with it or not, but this trip for us is not about politics or issues – it is about getting to know America as best we can and that includes the different voices that have something to say, and, more than anything, the places and forums where they are saying them. Just that alone, has been neat to see.

After a great day in Charleston, we headed south through more flood warnings amidst beautiful sunny skies towards New River Gorge National Park. We pulled in for our stay at a campground called The Outpost. It definitely ranks as one of our favorite campgrounds of the trip. The way it was laid out, it almost felt like a summer camp as much as a campground. In the middle of the various sites and cabins, there was a common room complete with some hula hoops that we made good use of. Next to the common house, there was an open field with a campfire, chairs and picnic tables and live music setting up for the evening. It was definitely almost heaven. Julie sat in an Adirondack chair by the fire with a bunch of strangers listening to a local musician croon West Virginia music into the night air, picking at his acoustic guitar, electric guitar or banjo with equal prowess. Ryan hung out in the van, working on some writing with the door open and the tunes sailing right in. All of this alongside a teeny twisting creek that meandered through the place. Also, they had the nicest campground showers, BY FAR of any we have yet seen. Nicer than our own shower at home. 

One of the things we loved about West Virginia, wherever you are, you are never far from a waterfall. 

The next day, when we drove the five minutes to the New River Gorge National Park visitor center and then hopped on the 45 minute driving tour, we found out what became of that little creek that we had been camping by the night before. As we came up towards the end of the driving tour road, we saw another of the many gorgeous waterfalls cutting through the forest down the open rock beds. As we came up past it and around a curve, there was the campsite we had stayed at the night before and it was that little river that had become that pounding waterfall. Part of the fun in West Virginia is that you never know what is going to greet you around the next curve, and it’s usually going to be something beautiful.

We went for a little hike in the National Park and took in the views of the mountains, the valley and the beautiful bridge that cut the travel time from one side of the valley to the other from 45 minutes to 30 seconds. It was a marvel of engineering amidst the marvels of nature. 

If all that we’d seen in our short two days in West Virginia had been all we saw at all of the state, we would have been smitten. But we were only just getting started.

We realized, when itinerary planning that, although we’d done a decent job getting some good hikes in throughout the many states, we hadn’t gone for a hike since Hawaii, our 35th state. There had been a few walks and a few planned hikes that got aborted for any number of reasons, but we were running seriously low on hikes. So, West Virginia being the mountain state, we planned to hike at least 3 times before we left the state. This 3.2 mile easy hike in New River Gorge was the first of the planned hikes and it was so refreshing to get our legs loosened back up and feel the fresh air in our lungs in the way you only feel when you are cruising through a trail.

Our next stop would be the famous and historic hotel, The Greenbrier. We wouldn’t be staying there, but we planned to spend the next morning taking in the history. After an overnight in a nearby Walmart, we headed to the historic hotel and took their interior history walking tour. We really wanted to go on their Bunker Tour, but time did not afford us the luxury. We learned all about Dorothy Draper, the famed interior designer that filled the hotel with all manner of colors and patterns we’d never seen in a hotel before. We learned about the history of presidents and world leaders that made their way through this beautiful Appalachian getaway. We learned about how the government had purchased the building to use as a veteran hospital during World War II. 

We then headed north towards Spruce Knob, the highest peak in West Virginia.

On our way there, we stumbled into what we came to learn was part of the National Radio Quiet Zone, the Green Bank Observatory, home of the Green Bank Telescope and had fun nerding out at the science center. Julie had a particularly unexpected encounter that you can read about in our People Along the Way section.

We got back on the road to head towards Spruce Knob. We planned to drive the road to a trailhead close to the top and do a short .6 mile hike out to the overlook. As we scaled the switchbacks, we decided to abandon the effort. The switchbacks were only wide enough for one lane with almost no pull off or turnaround spots and there were 15 miles of them ahead of us. We didn’t want to get caught in an accidental game of chicken with no place to pull off the road. We decided, if we ever make it back here in our Subaru, we’ll make the drive. We had no desire to learn lessons the hard way and decided to play it safe.

We abandoned our Spruce Knob stopover and headed the rest of the way towards Seneca Rocks. We are not mountain climbers, so we did not know how well known Seneca Rocks was as a mountain climbing destination. But when we saw it, it was easy to see why. It was gorgeous. We stayed at a campground at the base of the mountain and found ourselves at the cross section of where tourism meets deep rural West Virginia checking in for our campsite at Yokum’s Country Store.  Right next door was the General Store, which was the longest running family-owned business in the same location in West Virginia. It had original flooring and cash registers and a lovely selection of coonskin caps.

The next morning, we put our hiking boots on again and enjoyed another short but refreshing 3.4 mile roundtrip hike to the lookout near the top of Seneca Rocks. The hike was short, but included 800 feet of elevation gain, so we got to feel our hearts pumping a bit. We felt the cold bite of the wind and were enchanted by the light misting of snowflakes that filled the sky on this particularly chilly spring day.

We traveled on through the Monongahela National Forest until we made our way to Blackwater Falls State Park. It was a bright sunny day following a rainy and cold week and a night that had seen freezing temperatures. This made for a particular delightful falls viewing. The falls were absolutely roaring with amber colored runoff in the tannin-rich waters. The mist of the falls sprayed up into the sunlight and filled the scene with rainbows dancing over the water. The wood on the overlook was covered in a thin, slick layer of ice made up of the waterfall mist and the freezing temperatures. We had a blast with it all.

Our next day’s adventures would take us up to Harper’s Ferry, the one spot in West Virginia that Ryan had been before. The terrain was changing a little bit from tight and pointy mountains and hills and hollers to a more expansive setting where the mountains widened and the spaces in between them filled with open spaces and expansive views. We crossed the mighty Shenandoah and stood at the point where she comes together with the Potomac to head down into our nation’s capital.

We both loved Harper’s Ferry. We had planned to walk a few miles on the Appalachian Trail. We didn’t have time for a full few miles on the trail, but we covered just under a mile on the AT and then made up the rest of the miles touring around the small river island, walking across the bridges through the town and huffing and puffing up the hill to visit the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Walking along the Appalachian Trail, even just a little bit was a highlight for Julie. Even though there is 2,200 miles of it to walk and we could have stepped on it in any number of 14 states, so far, this was our first time stepping on it and we figured it would be neat to do so where the AT conservancy had its home. Speaking of the glow in West Virginia, it was in full spring bloom that day. We saw blue bells shining blue among the green in the forests and snapping turtles swimming by in the water. We heard rumor of a pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting where the rivers met, but never caught a glimspe. Ryan took a quick jaunt over to Maryland and we waved to Virginia.

West Virginia has felt like our first truly full circle experience of the trip. We drove by on the west side of the mountains where Skyline Drive sits, a road that we drove in the first week of our trip, in our first state of Virginia. Now Ryan was walking into Maryland, our second state of the trip.

Here in our last few states, we are already starting to really soak in the reality of having just done this epic adventure. It’s been a “pinch me” experience through every day of it, but it is hard to believe that we are nearing the homestretch, and have already completed whatever version of a loop we did. If the trip is a lasso, we are now on the bit of rope that sits in one’s grip and holds the loop in the air. The loop, itself, is complete.

Speaking of soaking, we had one more stop in West Virginia before it was time to bid it adieu – Berkeley Springs, where the water runs warm and its mineral rich baths are delightful for soaking.

We already mentioned our campground host, Gary, that provided us a great place to stay for 2 days and also a fantastic dinner recommendation. After partaking of a 60 minute soak, we headed to his dinner recommendation, which happened to be just over the border into Maryland, where, in another full circle moment, Julie ordered the all-you-can-eat Maryland crab. 

Julie had been planning to get her West Virginia swim in at our first Harvest Host, as their river was more like a lake and was good for swimming. Thanks to the weather, however, their typically low current river that was great for swimming was a fast moving, debris-filled, brown current – not a place where you expect to get in the water and make your way out in one piece.

So, Julie planned to get her swim in at the mineral springs. Of the many mineral springs we’ve gotten to visit across the country, they have always been big enough to get a few laps in. When we arrived, we saw, what we had was a private room with a bath about two feet deep. That bath was about ten feet long. Julie grabbed her goggles and officially declared, this counts. Ryan objected…does it really count?

”Well, I said I wanted to swim in each state. I said that has to include swimming ten strokes where I am locomoting my body by way of my movements in the water without aid of the ground and getting my head all the way in. All of that can happen here. It counts.”

”Also, I made all the rules, so I am also the government body that arbitrates qualification disputes. I officially delcare, this counts. What could be more West Virginia water than these natural mineral springs anyways? It doesn’t just count a little, it totally counts.”

Ryan accepted the ruling and Julie swam 10 breast strokes over the course of two laps in our little mineral spring bath before we spent the rest of the time just enjoying the soak.

We saw sunny days and rainy days and even a little bit of snow in West Virginia. We met lovely and wonderful people at absolutely every turn. And we came to understand why John Denver called it almost heaven and what makes this, once mysterious state, worth singing about.