There is a great canopy of trees that shelters the trail near the falls , and it made for a lovely long , flat walk with the sounds of the surging stream beside us .
We settled on a visit to the Potomac Highlands region with a basecamp in Thomas , WV . It was a place my wife had always wanted to visit and one of my favorite little West Virginia towns , so we picked it as home base . A few quick searches showed some availability on Airbnbs , and we wound up renting a house for the week on top of a hill overlooking the town . It was a great selection , and , by total coincidence , it turned out the homeowner had a nephew who had just graduated with my son .
While there were social limitations at many businesses , we had an amazing week hiking the hills and hollows of the region . For our first day trip , we stayed relatively close to Davis and Thomas and explored the areas in and around these cozy towns . Of course , the first stop was a hike on Blackwater Falls Canyon Trail . Although there were dozens of people around , everyone took the social distancing seriously . Hitting all the high points , we hiked down the boardwalk to the lower viewing decks of the eponymous falls and proceeded to the other notable locales such as Elakala Falls , Lindy Point and the Pendleton Point Overlook . That afternoon , we discovered a small rail trail that led from Thomas through Davis and out into the forest all the way to Douglas Falls . We had one of our most relaxing afternoons studying the old coke furnaces that lay along the trail , building stone cairns and skipping rocks in the North Fork of the Blackwater River and hiking out to the here to fore unknown falls . They were beautiful , and we were nearly alone during our first discovery of them . There is a great canopy of trees that shelters the trail near the falls , and it made for a lovely long , flat walk with the sounds of the surging stream beside us . I also discovered another part of the history of the region as I found some old railway braces submerged in the soil and fished them out to bring home as a memory of the day . We wrapped up with a delicious curbside pick-up meal from Sirianni ’ s Café and returned to our house in Thomas for the evening .
The next day we adventured more abroad and headed out to Seneca Rocks . It was a gorgeous day , and there were only a handful of people around . Lori and Alex climbed all the way to the summit and got to see the amazing views from the promontory . After eating a packed lunch , we enjoyed a visit to Smokehole Cavern to learn the unique history of that geological formation and how it had been used by Native Americans and early settlers as shelter and a reliable source of clean water . Even though the day was sunny and hot , we were glad we had packed jackets by the time we made it back to the far reaches of the cave where it stays 56 degrees all year . The stalagmite and stalactite formations were incredible and literally numbered in the thousands .
Our next day brought driving and hiking through Cranberry Glades . This gorgeous West Virginia scenery was new to the whole family , as I had never been inside the bogs . We drove the somewhat interesting and winding roads all the way up into the park and randomly set off on
a trail . The tree canopy was quite thick and made for an enjoyable and leisurely walk . We found the path really well defined and perfect for an afternoon trek . We walked out a couple miles and back and made an enjoyable afternoon of it . We topped the evening off with dinner from Canaan Valley BBQ , which had set up an outdoor space and served meals on-site . It was another leisurely and relaxing day .
We spent some time in Thomas the next day as businesses were open more during the mid-week through the weekend . There are basically two streets in Thomas , an upper street heading west and the lower street heading east . We spent most of our time on the lower street due to ongoing construction on some of the shops on the upper street . There were several small shops that had been quite well integrated into the historic downtown . Some favorites included Thomasyard , Riverfront Antiques and Tip Top Coffee Shop . We had lunch at The Purple Fiddle and continued to meander around town for a few more hours .
On Friday of our vacation week , we woke up and headed home . While Ireland still awaits us someday , all in all we could not have asked for a more idyllic , albeit too short , journey . It was only a few short weeks later my son left for his freshman year at Marshall University . Our West Virginia staycation gave us quiet time as a family we wouldn ’ t have had during a grandiose European vacation to reflect on our blessings and cherish a great time together . It will forever be a treasured memory for our family . •
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