Dolly Sods Hike - Bear Rocks to Lion's Head loop

Food -

Day 1 Monday

Breakfast - on the road - McD's
Lunch - Sandwich, chips, granola bar
Snack - Jerky
Dinner - Chili Lime Chicken and Rice, hot tea, hot cocoa

Day 2 Tuesday

Breakfast - Muffin Bomb, hot cocoa
Snack - trail mix
Lunch - Tuna Salad and Crackers, Granola Bar
Snack - Jerky
Dinner - Coconut Curry, hot tea, cocoa

Day 3 Wednesday

Breakfast - Instant Grits & Bacon, cheese crackers, hot tea
Snack - Trail mix
Lunch - BBQ Beef wraps & Pistachio Pie-Tastic
Snack - Jerky
Dinner - Teriyaki Stir Fry Beef, Granola Bar, Hot Cocoa

Day 4 Thursday

Breakfast - Hot Oatmeal, Trail Mix, hot tea
Snack - Trail Mix
Lunch - Pork Manhattan, Granola Bar
Snack - Jerky
Dinner - at home

When the trash takes itself out

So, now I'm divorced.  It wasn't my choice, but the ex-husband decided that he wanted a younger woman.  A MUCH younger woman - about the same age as my daughter - from the Philippines.  What can ya do?  He never loved me, I see that clearly.  Now I get to work through my grief, anger, and resentment to build a real future for myself.  I just have to remind myself that the trash took himself out and my life is better without him.

My goal at this point is to excise him from my mind.  To live as if he doesn't exist.  And when his little trollop rolls him for a green card, to not laugh too loud.  But I'll still laugh.

Sunday Mussings

SO, I have a surprise day off on Monday.  That makes a 3 day weekend for me, but yesterday was taken up with moving dear daughter into her dorm room.  I'll miss her, but I'm also excited about the grand adventure she's embarking on.  But I'll miss her :/

Today, I need to fill out my responses to the STBX's divorce petition.  So not my idea of a good time.  So not anyone's idea of a good time, really.  Tomorrow I'll get that sent out.  BUT since I've got the day off, I am thinking of doing a day hike up at Cooper's Rock just to get out of the house and readjust my head.  I might fill my 40 liter pack with water, something for lunch, maybe even a mess kit and one of my hammocks for an enjoyable day hike.  I really haven't decided yet.  It would certainly go some way to combat this depression.

I'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.  If nothing else, I might just tromp a few miles on the Northbednd Rail trail near West Union with the same strategy in mind - pack, food, water, hammock.

I'll let y'all know what I decide.

Ramblings and Bleah

My plans, for all they were worth, became dust this week.  At least my plans on doing a solo trek into the Seneca River Falls up on Spruce Knob in early October.  My co-worker got a better job at a specialty pharmacy and I'm left, the sole pharmacy tech at the little place I work, till they get another body in there.  Figure it will be mid-November before I get more than 1 day off at a time.  So yeah, what a letdown.

Dear Daughter moves into her college dorm in 6 days so I'm cruising on some hard core empty nesting sadness.  The one bright spot in my life in this house is leaving.  I'll miss her desperately.  The soon-to-be-ex got himself lawyered up (must be nice having a money bags to give him everything) and the petition has been filed.  I received divorce papers last week, so I need to get my responses back.   It really is time to push toward my own place where I can reboot my life and reinvent myself.

I'm not sure I'll ever be whole again, though - there's too much hurt, heartache and emotional damage.  I certainly won't trust a man ever again - not easily anyway.  Not after STBX and his shenanigans.  I would like to use words that are much harsher and more descriptive, but I'll save those till the ink's dry on the divorce decree and I'm in a safe, healing place.

What I need, more than anything else right now (other than more Jesus in my life -- always need more Jesus), is a worthy goal.  Going to work to earn money to keep the lights on and put food in the belly ... that's just survival.  It's a day in-day out slog that has no meaning on its own.  What's the worth of scrambling for survival level pay, coming home exhausted and staring at the TV or a video monitor day after day after day.  Why continue breathing?

I seriously need a week away in the woods.  Seriously.

Sorry for the depressing depression ramble.


   

Of Cranberries and Wilderness

The Cranberry Wilderness

Dear daughter is starting college in two weeks.  She is my younger child, so I've been feeling the impending emptiness of the nest.  I had thought to take her on another camping trip this past weekend, one last hurrah before she launches into her own life, but there's been so much rain and flooding that I really didn't want to tempt fate.  Instead of camping, we gathered her two friends (also college girls) and headed south into the Monongahela National Forest to explore the Cranberry Glades and take in a snake show at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center.

The center, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has some amazing exhibits, including live snakes and this graphic demonstrating the size difference between bears.  Here in West Virginia, we have black bears.  Compared to the 9-foot tall monsters in the back ground, he looks downright friendly!





The snake show was very interesting.  Nearly every Sunday at 1 pm they put this on in the summer.  The ranger doing the presentation brought out different snakes you might encounter in West Virginia and let the audience hold and touch the nonvenomous types.  We saw black snakes, rat snakes, garter snakes and the greatest drama snake of them all, the Eastern Hognose Snake.

 Now the Hognose snake is an interesting critter.  When it feels threatened, it will rear up and flatten its head and neck like a cobra, then hiss for all it's worth.  But if the threat won't go away, the snake shows it acting ability.  It rolls over and plays dead.  If you pick it up, it will drool and its tongue will loll out of its mouth for all it's worth.  Even if you hold him so his head is pointed UP - he does his best to roll over on his back and make like road kill.  I wonder if he learned this from the possums.

Drama Snake is Dramatic

I'm playin' dead!

He drools and poops and plays dead!  Kind of like a politician.

 We found out that the black rat snake is a very friendly guy, and if you catch a little one and tame them down, they like to cuddle.

 

West Virginia is home to 20 varieties of snakes.  We need these animals to keep the rodent and insect populations in check.   Many people are afraid of these creatures, but they are so necessary to a healthy ecosystem!

A curious garter snake

A very large rattlesnake and a copperhead share this tank

Tiger Lillies are native!

 After the snake show and some browsing in the gift shop, we ambled along the interactive nature trail, reading about various flowers and inspecting the different plants and trees that can be found in the forest.

Butterflies loved these bushes.  There were so many it looked like they were sprouting from the foliage!  We didn't get pictures of them, but there were humming birds hovering around the center's bird feeders - little finger length, feathered blurs of energy.

Having a great time at Cranberry Mountain Nature Center!

The Cranberry Glades Botanical Area was our next stop.

Once we were done at the nature center, we headed to the Cranberry Glades to amble along the board walk and explore.  There are actually five glades, but one of them has been set up to accommodate the thousands of visitors the area receives every year.  A boardwalk leads explorers around the area, ensuring that human impact is minimized.  It also keeps your feet dry.  The bogs are a very wet place, as you would expect.  

For your reading pleasure and edification, I've excerpted some of the Wikipedia entry on the Glades and interspersed it with photos the girls took.

All you never knew about how peat bogs operate.

Cranberry Glades — also known simply as The Glades — are a cluster of five small, boreal-type bogs in southwestern Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. This area, high in the Allegheny Mountains at about 3,400 feet (1,000 m), is protected as the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, part of the Monongahela National Forest. This site is the headwaters of the Cranberry River, a popular trout stream, and is adjacent to the nearly 50,000-acre (200 km²) Cranberry Wilderness.














The Glades are a 750-acre (3.0 km²)^[1] grouping of peat bogs resembling some Canadianbogs. The gladed land is highly acidic and supports plants commonly found at higher latitudes, including cranberries, sphagnum moss, skunk cabbage, and two carnivorous plants(purple pitcher plant, sundew). The Glades serve as the southernmost home of many of the plant species found there.

Cranberries

Rhododendrons Abound!

The Glades have been the subject of much scientific study, especially during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Professor Maurice Brooks conducted studies in 1930, 1934, and 1945. The work of Strausbaugh (1934), Darlington (1943), and Core (1955) followed.

In 1974, the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area was designated a National Natural Landmark.

There was so much to see, so many amazing plants and insects.  We didn't see any bears or other animals, but there were lots of birds.  The weather was perfect for our excursion, a balmy 74 degrees.

Lots of educational plaques along the path

You can't see them, but there were tiny fish here

I hope to go back in the late fall and see this amazing place when the foliage is brilliant crimson!  The girls will all be back in school and busy with their lives, but perhaps we can carve out a weekend to retrace our steps and perhaps spend more time at Fall of Hills Creek.  There's a cascade of 3 waterfalls that are very pretty not far from the Nature Center.

When we were done touring the Glades, we set off to complete the West Virginia Highlands Scenic Highway.  I've been on a lot of pretty drives in my life, but this one was one of the better ones in my memory.  Maybe that's because of the excellent company.  We had some interesting conversations along the way, talking about the coming school year, anticipating classes and new experiences.  I envy these three young women.  They are at the start of the best years of their lives.





Listening to them talk about their hopes and dreams made me nostalgic for my own youth.  My alma mater is The University of Wyoming and the scenery along this road trip made me think of those halcyon days before life got in the way of living it.






We really couldn't have picked a prettier day for our trip.  The blue skies set off by puffs of white clouds casting shadows on the mountains captured the essence of the West Virginia Highlands to perfection.

The day was full of fun and laughter, fun, talking and learning.  I hope the girls will take memories with them and someday they'll look back and reminisce about our Cranberry Wilderness day trip.  I know I will!

Camping Trip - June 2017

North Bend State Park - a jewel in North Central West Virginia

Life has been busy and stressful since I last posted here.  I started a new job in November and then, to maintain my hours and paycheck, I started working in two locations for this company each week, and to top it all off, the continuing saga of being shoved out of my husband's life like a tick being extracted from a dog is ongoing.  I'm still looking for an afordable place to live.  God has this.

In an effort to mitigate the stress, dear daughter and I went camping the weekend after Memorial day.  It was a lovely overnight trip and we stayed at North Bend's River Run campground.  Our spot was right on the river and we hung our hammocks before meeting up with Ranger Ken and two other campers for a nature hike.

Pinecones abound

Two more campters enjoying the trail

Pretty!

If you ever get to the chance to go to this amazing State Park, do so.  it's well worth your time and they have so many awesome programs!  The staff is super friendly and always accomodating.  Park rangers like Ken, Kathy and Steve make the experience special.

North Bend State Park Ranger Ken talking about trees and invasive species

White pine, hemlock, oak and maple trees soared over our heads as Ken talked about forest growth progression and invasive species.

Japanese Barberry - an invasive species

Garlic mustard, Japanese stilt grass and autumn olive are crowding out native plants at an alarming rate.  People, just say no to non-native ornamentals in your gardens!  They might look pretty, but it's like Jurrasic Park.  These things have a way of getting away from you..

Pawpaws in season

I was pleased to discover what PawPaw looks like and found out that North Bend allows campers to harvest them during Pawpaw season for their own use.

HONK HONK!

Bebeh Gooses!

 We returned to our campsite after the hike to find it had been taken over by a wandering flock of geese.  The honkers were quite funny to watch as they pecked at bugs in the grass.  hotdogs.  They sell this awesome firestarter candle they make in the park.  Using a 3 oz. paper souffle cup, sawdust, wax and a candle wick, they sell them for a dollar in the campground office.  I like one match campfires!  Oh yeah - remind me to get another lighter for my car camping kit.  Thank God for well stocked campground offices!

When the geese had wandered off, dear daughter and I got a fire going in the fire pit and roasted hotdogs for supper.  The campground office and store sold these really great fire starters that worked wonderfully.  Using a 3 oz. paper souffle cup, a candle wick, sawdust and wax, we only needed ONE match to get a cheery blaze going.  The best part - these firestarters cost less than a dollar and the profits help support the park!  I love that it only took a single match to get things going, too.  Thanks North Bend!!

Add sawdust, a candle wick and wax - voila!

After supper dear daughter and talked for a while and made smores, then got ready for bed.  I had the dubious pleasure of grounding when one of my hammock straps failed - not once, but twice!  At least the weather was great and I didn't have to meddle around fixing my hang in the rain.  Dear daughter got to test out my new underquilt with a light weight, thin sleeping bag as an overquilt.  I used a 0 degree bag and we were comfortable into the low 50's over night.  We ended our trip the next morning, heading home with another fistfull of memories.  Now to plan the next trip  :)

Going camping soon.  Soon as I have 3 days off in a row and nothing that I HAVE to do on those days off.  I've got my car camping stuff in the trunk.  Just need to get a decent soft sided cooler for food and drink and decide what day trails I want access to for a weekend.