Places To Go - WILD West Virginia (S2E15)

wild and wonderful West Virginia many things come to mind when you hear that phrase maybe it's John Denver's Country Roads song or maybe you've gone skiing there in this two-part episode we're going to show you the wild or adventurous side as well as the wonderful or cultural side of this 35th state West Virginia has its fair share of scenic mountains Seneca Rocks is in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and is one of the best-known sights in this area hiking trails allow you to reach several majestic overlooks but if you really want the best views you'll have to take up mountain climbing since the southern peak of Seneca Rocks is inaccessible without the proper equipment in the rock climbing world Seneca is referred to as a Razorback or fin its sheer rock faces are a popular challenge for thrill-seekers the part below Seneca Rocks is a great place to have an outdoor lunch and enjoy the enormity of this rock formation from a distance you might even catch a peek at a butterfly hanging out on some of the many wildflowers but even if you don't want to scale a cliffside the mountains of West Virginia have just as much going on below the surface okay this next place is going to be super fun we get to go into some caves Seneca caverns have been a popular destination for would-be cave explorers for almost a hundred years the traditional tour lasts about an hour and as a fantastic experience for all ages when we arrived we grabbed our safety equipment and then our guide Dylan led us below bats you're probably not gonna see a bat here in this cave but on the off-chance that you do, just leave it alone, it will leave you alone, they are a federally protected species, so we do have to watch out for those little guys. the tour takes you along a well-lit pathway through its subterranean world the rock formations and large chambers make you feel like you're in some sort of dwarven Kingdom from Lord of the Rings or other fantasy world due to its underground nature the cave stays cool year-round which makes it a great place to visit if you're trying to catch a break from the summer heat Dylan was a fantastic guide he has a wealth of information about the caverns and took delight in pointing out areas of special interest to us the people here seem to really enjoy their job and it's obvious they've taken a great deal of care and crafting their tour some areas have even been lit in a way to help add to the sense that you're truly in another world Seneca caverns is well worth your time if you have even a passing interest in geology and the formation of the earth and if you're traveling with children it's truly a perfect adventure for the whole family and while the caves are a big show so to speak it's not all this place has to offer they have a great restaurant on site as well as gemstone mining attraction you can purchase bags of mining rough at the gift shop and then head out to begin uncovering your own precious treasures and the waters of West Virginia get fast outside of manmade constructs the rivers and creeks of West Virginia are world-famous in the whitewater community and when you combine this fast flowing water with the state's epic cliff sides you're also treated to some of the country's most amazing waterfalls in Davis West Virginia you have blackwater falls Blackwater Falls State Park offers a scenic walkway to what is obviously parks main drawing power the Falls themselves are 57 foot cascade over dark rocks and one of the most photographed venues in the state the park also contains a number of smaller Falls and you can spend a great deal of time exploring the many trails and checking out the views from every angle the black water is a result of tannic acid which occurs due to the hemlock and red spruce needles which often fall into the water the walkway to the falls has a lot of steps but the views are definitely worth it and you didn't come to West Virginia to sit the whole time did ya? right by the Falls the town of Davis has its own special charm a brewery and a number of small trendy shops lined the Main Street it's just one example of how the small towns of West Virginia have more to offer than their traditional stereotypes ok you should know by now that I am a big kid trapped in this body well all kids like railroads and this is a steam engine it is so cool the Durbin Rocket is a two-hour round-trip excursion it's a great chance to experience what travel was like in a time when the country was growing at a rapid pace even if you opted to not take the tour the train depot itself is a fantastic place for photos and to imagine yourself in a different time our trip there introduced us to a furry traveler who seemed quite content to just sit in the Sun tickets tickets get your tickets much like Davis the small town around the depot is a beautiful slice of America to explore or buy a souvenir at and if you're a true locomotive fanatic you're in luck because the Durbin isn't the only historic train chugging through these mountains all aboard to Cass Scenic Railroad. The Cass railroad in state park are a chance to experience the rich history of a time when steam trains were part of the everyday routine much like Durbin it's a fascinating place to walk around even if you don't take the tour the park itself transports you to an original lumbering town complete with a company store that now serves as a gift shop you might be used to little gift shops inside museums but the Cass company store kind of flipped that on its head the store is large and filled with local items for purchase but it also has small displays to help give you a sense of the history of this town including a functioning soda shop in an old pharmacy counter this is Nelson rocks and I can go ahead and tell you right now this is not for the faint of heart this is a thrill seekers paradise and I can't wait to show you this Nelson rocks or N rocks is another Fin rock formation N rocks is a popular place for ziplining as well as several other extreme experiences one of the most popular is called the via ferrata the via ferrata is an assisted rock climb it takes between three and five hours and during it you cross a 200-foot suspension bridge that has suspended a hundred and fifty feet above the ground as well as climb two sheer rock faces using iron rings eventually you top out on a thin piece of rock about five feet wide you're probably numb when you're up there but the views can't be beat and if one day of adventure isn't enough N rocks also offers up great lodging options including small hotel style rooms and some awesome cabins it's a one-of-a-kind experience yesterday we were at N Rock and I ran across Justin Harris and the only thing I can say is he's an extreme sports guy a neat thing about him is he is the media liaison for Canaan Valley resorts and which is where we're at here and Canaan Valley has so much to offer and can you tell us a little bit more about that yeah well being an action sports junkie and four seasons this place is just a dream for me and I love my job you know Canaan Valley has been known for skiing for a long time and in the winter time we've got a great ski mountain up here and the ski mountain itself you know has a lot of tree skiing which is something I love but at the same time we're out here now in the summertime and I mean this place is incredible Four Seasons summertime has so much to offer I'm a whitewater kayaking enthusiast we've got a class 4/5 River an hour north here but we also have class two and three rivers all around and when it rains we've got some epic class four or five creeks waterfalls the Blackwater River is not too far away and the Blackwater is one of the most world-class pieces of whitewater there is out there I mean people come from all over the world there are some of the best kayakers in the world to do that Canaan Valley also I'm a golfer which I know is not an extreme sport but our golf course right out here and it's an absolutely beautiful golf course and I love to get out on the Golf Course we've got the pool down here also our hotel just as a base camp to stay this is an amazing hotel we just had a renovation in 2013 34 million dollar renovation by the state we got our balcony rooms which I know you guys visited today and it's just a beautiful place to start your outdoor adventure and experience so and I could go on forever about the amount of hiking trails the amount of mountain biking trails that we have Davis and Thomas the food is great here it just is one of those secret spots in northern West Virginia that can't be beat and I mean I'm so glad that people are starting to discover it and visit us more and more I've heard about it all these years as a kid but yeah being here it's views are just breathtaking they are and also being a photographer the photography throughout this place is amazing whether it's landscapes you're shooting whether it's action sports or macro photography which is something I've been working on lately the flora and fauna and just the wildlife in this area it gives you so much to offer so no matter what you're doing it's it's a one-of-a-kind experience especially for West Virginia justin shared with me that Canaan Valley sits in well a valley and it causes it to have snow longer than other locations giving an extended skiing season as Justin mentioned about their renovations their rooms are posh and definitely the nicest I've seen for miles I would absolutely make this my base for a few days the next time I'm in this area are you up for some biking well then the Greenbrier River Trail has 70 miles of rail to trail it's all cinders and along the way you'll see water pumps the old-fashioned style that are actually new and so you can quench that thirst in case you're not familiar with the term rail to trail it means that at one point this trail used to be a railroad but now it's being used for hiking horseback riding and biking The Greenbrier has been rated as one of the top ten hiking trails by backpacker magazine if you're hoping to really get off the grid this trail is perfect as part of it lies within the National Radio quiet zone so cell service isn't really a thing here and you can experience the beauty of nature without the distractions of the outside world the place I'm about to show you well I sort of thought of it is like Stonehenge or Easter Island or something with its rock formations but my crew say no it's more like a castle ruins or it's more like Jurassic world so you guys will have to tell me what you think but I think it's one of the coolest parks I've ever seen let's go check it out many of the world's mysterious rock formations are man-made but the ones here in bear town State Park were conjured up a Mother Nature herself West Virginia has been careful to not over develop the park in order to not interfere with the natural beauty of this place the path between these impressive boulders leads you along a simple wooden boardwalk that weaves through the rocks the boardwalk adds safety to a path that was largely naturally occurring in fact the town part of the name bear town is because from above the Criss crossing through the rocks resembles the streets of a town the bear in the name is because cave-like openings in the rocks make great winter homes for the state's native black bears all throughout pits of various sizes have eroded in the surface of the rocks and although we tried to compare it to Stonehenge Jurassic Park and even Star Wars Endor it's really its own unique piece of magic so a lot of the parks including the Greenbrier River Trail have these neat old-fashioned water pumps and so after that long walk through the park it's time to get some water and one thing to note it has a little bit of a sulfur smell to it because this is the White Sulphur Springs area so it'll just have a little bit of an odor it's okay though this is the Green Bank Observatory where you can find the Green Bank telescope it's the biggest of its kind in the world and I think they're actually talking to aliens maybe the Green Bank Observatory is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope and sits at the heart of the National Radio quiet zone yeah I know it looks like a satellite dish and if you could use it as one I'll bet it would get channels from galaxies far far away the surface has a hundred meter diameter that's massive to put that in perspective for you the average neighborhood home sits on a 1/4 acre lot this is 2.3 acres in size or large enough to contain the yards of five neighborhood homes on its surface what does it do well it looks off into space for aliens okay maybe I'm not supposed to tell you that part as that falls under the top secrecy of things such as area 51 and Sugar Grove station which is the nearby NSA base but this telescope has had numerous discoveries over the years including pulsars magnetic fields molecular clouds and neutron stars just to name a few it even found complex molecules such as sugar in space the observatory's Visitor Center also houses a number of interactive science displays that allow you to steer a model of the telescope and gain a better understanding of the scientific concepts that help this massive structure do its thing behind me is Summersville lake and this lake is epic with all of the cliff sides going along the shoreline Summersville lake is the largest in west virginia and has a max depth of 327 feet the lake is a popular place for fishing boating snorkeling and scuba diving and even though it's not really the open sea the tall cliffs around the lake make you feel like you're about to set off on a pirate adventure this is Summersville dam which is at Summersville lake of course and i have an interesting story to tell you about it most dams are either named after a person such as the hoover or the nearest town Summersville is a rare exception the closest town is actually the town of GAD the second closest town was Summersville so they went with Summersville dam and Summersville lake this is the New River Gorge Visitor Center and the New River Gorge Bridge is the largest of its kind and it's got a scenic view that they have made steps going down so you're gonna get your exercise but your exercise is really coming back up although I said it's the largest of its kind it's actually been bumped down to the fourth longest single span arch bridge since its initial completion in 1977 the bridge has been immortalized on the West Virgina State Quarter which is appropriate considering the huge boost to the West Virginia economy it gave during its initial construction the final cost of construction was close to 37 million dollars and think about that in 1977 at the time it was the West Virginia Department of Highways largest project to date the trip between one side of the gorge and the other used to be 45 minutes but now takes about 45 seconds and over 16,000 vehicles pass over the bridge daily the quick trip across might not give you enough time to appreciate the view below but I recommend checking out the visitor center and overlooking in the morning when the fog is still rolling in this is snowshoe village and there's just a neat eclectic feel to all the buildings around here but there's lots of shops there's also lots of restaurants and my tummy is telling me it's time to eat so we're gonna go into Foxfire grill the Foxfire grill has some fantastic food and since so many different types of visitors come to snowshoe their menu caters to a wide range of diets but you don't come to snowshoe to stay inside in the warmer months snowshoe is a great place for mountain biking and snowshoe village has lots of fun activities such as a zipline and rock-climbing wall the main attraction of snowshoe however happens when things get a little colder and snowshoe village transforms into a winter wonderland this is the place to be if you're going to be skiing like one of the best ski resorts on the East Coast and it's here in snowshoe West Virginia the snowshoe ski resort offers a wide range of different packages and is a great place to take lessons or tackle some of their more advanced slopes if you're an experienced skier the snow-covered views of this mountain can't be beat and humans aren't the only ones enjoying this beautiful place the deer around here are more used to mankind than most and you'll likely catch a glance of at least one or two Snowshoe makes it as easy to get around as they can and they even offer an adaptive skiing program what is adaptive skiing you ask adaptive skiing is for people with disabilities that otherwise wouldn't be able to ski at snowshoe they believe skiing is for everyone and offer a wide range of equipment as well as one-on-one lessons for three and four track skiing during our time there we met a wounded warrior who lost a leg an athlete who was paralyzed from the waist down and a person with a traumatic brain injury from a car accident that gave them limited mobility from their left side I'm here with Carol Woody from the Challenged Athletes of West Virginia and this is the adaptive support center here and the Silver Creek area of snowshoe mountain here in West Virginia okay and they do adaptive skiing as well as what other sports well our primary thing is especially we're here in the winter now is skiing and snowboarding and but we do offer summertime activities as well that that we've got some hand cycling do some bicycling and we've done whitewater rafting horseback riding and some camps in the summer and stuff to in the past. okay is it expensive for somebody that is that has a disability that to come here and do this and I mean obviously some skiing in general is known to be kind of an expensive sport but we do have programs where if if you don't have the means to pay for it then we have scholarship programs we do charge for our services but they're relative to the cost of skiing they're actually less expensive in most cases, we do you know we want to make it accessible for all people. I have Jeff Coston here (did I say that right?) yes okay and he is one of the... what did you say instructor or yeah I work here on staff development you know making sure that people are well trained and you know safe at doing their job and have fun doing their job but one of the things I found fascinating is how far you actually come to actually do this yeah I'm from Suffolk Virginia but I spent my winter here on the mountain and I've been here as professional staff since 2002 so you know this is definitely you know a passion of mine and and I'd like to see it go on with the other staff you know we have a lot of people uh some guys that came in this morning drove you know got up this morning and drove five hours about how to come in and teach for the day but on that saying note I think our staff takes just as much out of this place as our students do this is truly a fantastic program that helps people with disabilities once again feel enabled and on a side note they offer an adaptive skiing program at Canaan Valley Ski Resort as well I implore everyone watching to donate to this nonprofit organization or a similar one near you snowshoe has many other things to offer as well including snow tubing and something called adventure dining where you get to drive an off-road ATV through a snowy mountain trail where you arrive at a mountain cabin where a truly amazing meal awaits you along with a great glass of wine except of course for the designated driver of the ATV we were told we should have dinner at Ellie May's ole mill restaurant located at Elk Springs Resort and that we should try the rainbow trout I can attest that our food was magnificent this is definitely a place I will return to the elk Springs Resort has the largest fly-fishing shop in West Virginia and offers not only the amazing restaurant but also mountain lodges and cabins a guide service trout ponds and hunting West Virginia truly is both wild and wonderful often at the same time this wraps up our look at some of the amazing and adventurous parts of West Virginia in our next episode we'll explore West Virginia's two largest cities and surrounding areas you

Channel: Places To Go

Views: 27,483

Rating: 4.9384613 out of 5

Keywords: places to go, places to go show, places to go tv, places to go tv show, matt griffith, itsmattgriffith, worldcomatt, travel, tourism, west virginia, wild, wild west virginia, seneca caverns, seneca rocks, nelson rocks, n rocks, durbin railroad, cass railroad, blackwater falls, snowshoe resort, adaptive skiing, adaptive sports, canaan valley resort, new river gorge bridge, green bank observatory

Id: -QEqntnlDBo

Length: 29min 37sec (1777 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2019