West Virginia beckoning: State parks lure visitors with awesome scenery, rivers, campsites, trails

Akron Beacon Journal (MCT) - The old mill along Glade Creek is very photogenic. In fact, some feel that it is the quintessential West Virginia photographic subject. Interestingly, the Glade Creek Grist Mill at West Virginia's Babcock State Park is a re-creation.

A mill once existed on splashy Glade Creek. It was called Cooper's Mill and was across the stream from where the re-creation stands.

The basic structure of the new mill came from the Stoney Creek Grist Mill that dates back to the 1890s. It stood near Campbelltown in Pocahontas County. It was dismantled and moved piece by piece to the state park.

Only the overshot water wheel could be salvaged after a fire hit the Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg in Grant County. Other pieces came from the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County.

The Glade Creek Grist Mill is a sort of living memorial to the 500 mills that existed in West Virginia in 1900.

It provides park visitors with not only photo opportunities but also ground cornmeal and buckwheat flour available for purchase.

You can tour the old mill daily during the summer and on weekends in the spring and fall.

The 4,127-acre Babcock State Park, on the eastern rim of the New River Gorge in Fayette County in south-central West Virginia, is a very popular place.

It is one of West Virginia's first state parks. It was created in 1937, and its facilities were largely built by the federal Civilian Conservation Corps.

The park features 28 cabins, 52 campsites, a swimming pool, more than 20 miles of trails and guided horseback rides from early May to late October.

The campground is open from mid-April to late October.

Other recreational facilities include paddle boats, rowboats and canoes on 19-acre Boley Lake; picnic facilities; volleyball and tennis courts; and summer naturalist programs. Anglers pursue trout in Glade Creek.

Babcock is at its colorful best from mid-May through July, when the park's rhododendrons bloom.

The park is about 30 minutes away from whitewater rafting outfitters in Lansing and Fayetteville. It is about 75 minutes southeast of Charleston.

One of the best hiking trails in the park is the short and steep half-mile Island in the Sky Trail that rises with its rocky outcroppings and cliffs above cascading Glade Creek. You climb through the rhododendron thickets and into a pine forest.

The trail parallels the cliffs with side trails to the edge.

There is a small shelter with benches atop the plateau. The trail descends through rhododendron thickets and requires some scrambling over rocks and a tight squeeze between boulders. The trail runs along the base of the cliffs from which you just descended and takes you back to the mill.

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The park's yellow-blazed Skyline Trail is a 4-mile round-trip hike along a ridge top. It offers up-high views of Glade Creek and parallels cliffs for a half mile.

You can get to the Skyline Trail via the Manns Creek Picnic Area or near the cabins by the old mill.

Mountain bikers love the Old Sewell Road that leads to the New River. Combined with the Old State Road, it creates a 12-mile loop on the primitive unpaved roads.

You can also bike on the 2.5-mile Narrow Gauge Trail, the site of an old railroad line.

For park information, write to Babcock State Park, HV 35, Box 150, Clifftop, WV 25831, 304-438-3003 or 800-CALL-WVA. You can also check out http://www.babcocksp.com.

Nearby is historic George Washington Carver Park. It is now the home of the Mountain Cultural Arts Center and hosts a family-style dinner theater and African-American arts camp in the summer.

It is also home of the West Virginia String Band Music Festival in July and August.

For information, write to HC35, Box 5, Clifftop, WV 25831, 304-438-3005 or 304-558-0220. You can also check out http://www.wvculture.org.

Babcock State Park is one of the big attractions along West Virginia's Midland Trail.

U.S. 60 is a national scenic byway for 119 miles, from the gold-domed Capitol in Charleston east to the West Virginia-Virginia state line near White Sulfur Springs with its famed resort. It was designated in 2000.

The following year, U.S. 60 from Charleston west to Huntington-Kenova was designated a state scenic byway.

Together, the two byway sections stretch 180 miles.

The original 116-mile link was a one-time buffalo path and a route used by the Indians.

The route was used by the old James River and Kanawha Turnpike, one of the two links from colonial Virginia west to the Ohio River.

The byway offers Civil War and industrial history, whitewater rafting in the New and Gauley rivers, African-American history and small towns with country charm.

It includes 40 colorful towns, like colonial Lewisburg and its historic district with 70 buildings. It also provides access to the 76-mile-long Greenbrier River Trail. The old-time railroad bed runs from Caldwell just east of Lewisburg north to Cass.

Another popular stopping spot is Cabin Creek Quilts in Malden, makers of quilts for Jackie Kennedy, Barbra Streisand several U.S. presidents.

Hawks Nest State Park near Ansted is known for its New River overlooks, aerial tram, jet-boat rides, 31-room park lodge and restaurant on its 276 acres.

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For park information: P.O. Box 857, 117 W. Main St., Ansted, WV 25812, 304-658-5212, http://www.hawksnestsp.com.

At Glen Ferris, you can stay in the historic Glen Ferris Inn that overlooks Kanawha Falls on the Kanawha River. The highest spot along the Midland Trail is Big Sewell Mountain, east of Hico, at 3,170 feet.

For information, contact the Midland Trail Scenic Highway Association, 237 Capitol St., Charleston, WV 25301. 304-343-6001 or 866-ROUTE60. The Internet site is http://www.midlandtrail.com.

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Bob Downing: bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com

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© 2009, Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio).