Hiking - Long Point Trail. 3.3 miles
We are woke to predictions of rain all day which changed our plan ideas. We had briefly considered doing a white water rafting trip, but with thunderstorms that was out. So we drove up to the new river gorge visitor center. They had nice exhibits inside and a partial view of the bridge from their patio. Also here is the boardwalk trail where you can walk down and get a better view of the bridge, Scotty was hesitant to go, but I wanted to see the view and down we went going to meet a heavy rain storm when we returned up the boardwalk. It’s a very nicely done boardwalk and a great way to see the bridge. We decided to go down into the valley and hike at the bottom where we could look up at the bridge. The road down is narrow and at some sections, it becomes one way. Just as we were close to the bottom we encountered a rafting bus stopped in the middle of the road. A tree had fallen across the road and block the one-way road down into the valley. Rangers were on the way to cut up the tree, but that did not help us at this point. Scotty had to back the truck up the one-way road and take another local road back up the mountain. We headed to Long Point Trail which is higher up and looks out over to the new river gorge bridge. This trail starts off through fields and then goes into the forest. I’m sure this trail is very pretty in the spring as there are a lot of rhododendrons along the way. It started to rain but the trees kept most of the rain off of us, but we did put on our raincoats. This trail ends with some large flat stones where you can stand and look out at the new river gorge bridge. There were low hanging clouds and the sun is just starting to come out and it provided a beautiful view. I think I prefer this view compared to possibly a sunnier view.
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| The view from the Visitor Center Boardwalk |
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| The view from the Visitor Center Boardwalk. |
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| On the one-way road down into the valley, a tree had fallen making it impassable! |
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| I can't get enough of this view!!! |
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| We hiked in some rain so we look a little waterlogged! |
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It was a great walk through the woods, and really beautiful
when the sun came peeking through! |
We then headed into Beckley West Virginia and went on the Beckley expedition coal mine tour. This coal mine had been owned by a private family in the late 1800s, but in the 1960s the town of Beckley bought it and turned it into a tourist attraction. I thought it was a very well done exhibition. Whistle equipment from the minors, Pictures and books and other relics of the coal mining era. We then boarded a train it took us into the mines any tour guide told us about mining. During the mining days, the minors had to crawl into their minds at heights that were no higher than 48 inches. Put the town of Beckley head dugout an area said that the train could go in to the mines. It really shows what a hard life the minors had. The tour guides at all apparently been minors at one point in the earlier days. One man told us that his father had started mining at the age of 12. They were also buildings to tour which included a supervisors home, a church, family home, a bachelors shanty, and a school house. I highly recommend this tour.
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This was the one man shanty. Coal miners often lived apart from their
families in these coal mining towns. |
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| In the coal mining communities, there were segregated schools for the children. |
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Two 'antiques' from the schoolroom. I USED THESE at the start of my career!!!
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