West Virginia

This is below Hawks Nest (Ansted), in West Virginia, from the boat landing at Hawks Nest State Park. July or August of 1998. The river's calm mostly because it's backed up behind the Hawks Nest dam. Photographed with my Nikon N90s and scanned from the negative.

The C&O (CSX, now, but this is a location where the C&O context is really important) crosses the New River below Hawks Nest. Ansted, West Virginia; 1997. Camera: Chinon Genesis III. This is an not-particularly-good old scan. I'll post a rescan when I locate the original....

Just across the blue ridge, where the high meadows lay And the galax spreads through the new mown hay, There’s a rusty iron bridge, cross a shady ravine Where the hard road ends and turns to clay. With a suitcase in his hand there the lonesome boy stands, Gazing at the river sliding by beneath his feet, But the dark water springs from the black rocks and flows Out of sight where the twisted laurel grows. – Tommy Thompson , 1976 ============== The Chessie line crosses the New River just above the Hawks Nest dam (and just below Hawks Nest proper); Ansted, West Virginia, September 25, 1998.

Explored! #477 on Friday, October 19, 2007, but no longer in the top 500. Thanks! The Narrow Gauge Trail at West Virginia's Babock State Park, in the New River gorge. The tracks were pulled up decades ago, and the trestles have collapsed, but the ties remain.... The Babcock Coal and Lumber Company's Manns Creek Railway carried coal down to the Chessie at the bottom of the Gorge, and lumber to the mill at Landisburg. This track was the coal line from Clifftop; the lumber mainly travelled on the higher track. Photo taken in September, 1998, with my Nikon N90s.

The great bridge across the New River Gorge. This photo dates from 1997, I think; taken from the grounds at the National Park visitor center. Perhaps you've noticed: I like bridges, too. Perhaps as much as daylilies.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

A view from one of the overlooks the National Park's constructed near West Virginia's New River Bridge. The rafts on the river are about to land, as the lower New River raft trips generally end at the bridge(s). While they don't show well, there are CSX lines on both sides of the river at this point. The haze is normal. That's the Fayette Station Bridge. The old road across the gorge begins (speaking loosely) near where I took the picture, jackknifes down the gorge literally beneath the viewing station, crosses the river, and makes a similar trip up the other side. Much of this trip is now restricted to one-way traffic, but until 1977 this skinny road carried vehicles in both directions across the gorge.

Same bridge, different view. This is where you get after you take the twisty road down the side of the gorge. The original bridge at Fayette Station, West Virginia, was built in 1889. It was closed in 1977 when the high bridge overhead opened, then refurbished and reopened in 1998. Several of my friends are rafting the New River this week; only last week did they realize that when I said "We're vacationing in West Virginia" I was going to the same place they were going for rafting. This is where their trip will end. Photo taken July 21, 2004. Camera: Nikon N90s

Here's the Glade Creek Mill in context. The State Park's attractive headquarters building is to the left of the picture, and the creek is dammed below the HQ building to create what was once a swimming pool. This is the actual view when you come up the Sewell Road from our cabin. To my eyes, a very attractive place. When we first started staying at Babcock, the HQ building housed an excellent restaurant, with a selection of well-prepared dishes. A couple years later the restaurant's quality had significantly deteriorated, and eventually the effort failed. The former restaurant's now been occupied by the park's gift shop. That used to be your corner-of-the-building collection of t-shirts and ashtrays; now it's a fairly serious place with interesting things. Joan picked up a calendar; I bought a book. This photo is best LARGE .

From the National Park overlook--here's another of the inevitable pictures from West Virginia. I've shot two or three dozen similar photos of the very pretty bridge across the New River, including this one . Less fog than usual, this time.