Thursday, September 16, 2021
Highland Scenic Highway, Sandstone Falls at New River Gorge National Park
With just a couple of days left of vacation, it was time to start meandering towards home. Every road in Pocahontas County is scenic, but the Highland Scenic Highway (State Routes 150 and 39) is a standout, so it was by this course we slowly made our way onward.
The Highland Scenic Highway runs for 43 miles through the Monongahela National Forest, traversing some of the most spectacular sections of the Allegheny Mountains at elevations ranging from 3,000 to over 4,500 feet. The late summer wildflowers were in bloom, and a few leaves were starting to turn to fall - such a beautiful day!
Especially scenic
Overcast yet gorgeous
Wonderful wildflowers
The Honeycomb Rocks Trail is found just off the side of Route 150. The quarter-mile trail passes through some weird and wonderful rock formations - quartz boxwork hematite, to get technical. Interpretive signs along the trail explain the geologic forces that formed the waffle-patterned rocks. If you wanna know, you gotta go!
Honeycomb Rocks
Mmm... waffles
Between stops at every overlook, a few short hikes, a long conversation with a group of Harley riders by the Williams River, and a picnic outside the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center, it took us four hours to complete the 43-mile drive from just north of Marlinton to the town of Richwood. It was worth every second!
Williams River Valley Overlook
Ferns along a forest trail
Cranberry Glades Overlook
At our un-rushed pace, the day was slipping away, so we made the tough choice to skip stopping at Falls of Hills Creek, near the end of the byway, to give us time to reach a different set of waterfalls before dark. Maybe next time! We made a quick spin through Richwood and then eased on down the road.
Relocated fire tower atop Richwood VFD
Coal processing plant, Leivasy, WV
Sandstone Falls is a less-visited part of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, America's newest national park. It's also the largest waterfall on the New River, only ranging between 10 to 25 feet in height but spanning 1,500 feet across. A quarter-mile boardwalk leads out to islands in the river with wonderful viewpoints of the falls. We practically had the place to ourselves!
New River overlook
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
Sandstone Falls
A closer view
Friendly toad
We spent about an hour and a half exploring Sandstone Falls, stopping once more on the way out to photograph the town of Hinton in the golden early evening light. The sun would soon be down, and if we wanted to get off the road before dark, we had to get moving. Sandstone Falls is a little out of the way, but it was worth the effort.
Peek-through view
Jana at Sandstone Falls
Hinton, West Virginia
Lodging: Econo Lodge, Bluefield, WV, on the border with Virginia. This will be our last night on the road. We still had leftovers in our cooler from last night's feast, so we ate dinner in the room.
Tom
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