The view from our balcony at Pipestem State Park on our last morning.
We've put Pipestem Resort State Park in the rearview mirror. It was a great introduction to the West Virginia State Park System. There are 37 parks that make up the system. We won't get but a small sampling on this adventure but we are going to get a few more than originally thought. Our plans were to head on towards Pennsylvania after leaving Pipestem, but we've made a slight change, and are going to be spending a few extra days in West Virginia.
With school starting back, and summer travel winding down, we were fortunate to be able to book some time at another one of the beautiful state parks. We are now at Hawks Nest State Park which is located in Ansted, just a few miles from the New River Gorge Bridge. At 370 acres, Hawks Nest is much smaller than Pipestem (4,050 acres), but equally stunning in beauty. The 31 room lodge sits on a ridge 750 feet above the banks of the New River. The name "New River" is somewhat misleading since it is estimated to be approximately 65 million years old!
On our way to Hawks Nest we made a short detour off of I-77 to visit Camp Creek State Park and Forest. This park is close to 6,000 acres in size with over 35 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Additionally, for fisherman, there are over seven miles of trout streams that are stocked annually. There were two small but very nicely shaded campgrounds. One with water and electricity and another for tent campers. Our visit was somewhat short but very enjoyable. We did a little bit of a drive along the Turkey Loop Road to Campbell Waterfalls and a short hike to Mash Fork Waterfalls. If we're back in the area, we'd look forward to exploring more of Camp Creek State Park.
Our drive from Camp Creek to Hawks Nest also included driving across one of the most photographed sites in West Virginia, the New River Gorge Bridge. This bridge is 3,030 feet in total length, with the main arch being 1,700 feet in length. It stands 876 feet tall, meaning the Washington Monument and Two Statues of Liberty could pass underneath with 20 feet to spare. The visitors center is currently closed due to Covid-19 but the observation platforms are open. The view from the lower platform was well worth the energy expenditure required to go down and then back up the close to 200 steps.
I was serious about getting a good selfie at the New River Gorge Bridge
We arrived at Hawks Nest around 2:00 PM and were pleased to find out that our room was ready. After a few minutes of rest and relaxation we were off to explore the park. Like Pipestem State Park, Hawks Nest has a tram that runs from the rim down to the canyon floor along the New River. The current cost for the tram is $7 round trip, unless you're old like me, then you get a one dollar discount. These one dollar savings are adding up.
Sure enough, soon after a nice breakfast this morning we were heading back to the Hawks Nest Rail Trail. This time instead of taking the tram down (it's currently closed on Wednesday's) we parked at the upper trail head in Ansted and hiked down the trail to the canyon floor. Although the trail is an "out and back" trail, the views look quite different depending on if you are going down the gradual slope or hiking back up. We've done a lot of hiking on a lot of magnificent trails, this was one of the best.
Close up from the Hawks Nest Overlook. The small building on the left side is the lower tram station
Ansted Trailhead
Once we completed the hike, we took the car down the road on the opposite bank of Mill Creek. This led us back to the lower trail head area. We brought a couple of lawn chairs with us and we were soon relaxing in a shady spot along the edge of the New River enjoying the cool breeze and pondering why it took us so long to get to West Virginia.
The view from our pondering spot!
