Our trip to Watoga

Idyllic Lake Watoga

Watoga State Park is located in the south eastern part of our fair state, or as my mother so eloquently put it "in the middle of nowhere." Not entirely true, in my experience visiting WV State Parks over the years (have you been to Twin Falls? THAT is as close to nowhere as I have been), but I can see from whence her sentiment comes. It took us something like 4 hours to get there from Morgantown. Hitting the road at 5 pm, we didn't have much daylight left, and the sun set on us somewhere after Weston, but not before giving us the gift of a fantastic double rainbow!

Rainbow, captured by Delia from the backseat of the car!

We took I-79 as far south as we could and then took Rt 19 to Summersville. It got a little hairy right around there, as the road signs directing us to Marlinton didn't jibe with what I had gleaned from Google Maps... and a recent iPhone update wiped out all my presets and data - ahh technology! We took out along State Road 55, which isn't particularly well marked, and ended up driving in a big circle around Muddlety WV. When I zoomed past the gas station where we filled up our tank 45 minutes prior, I almost cried. It was really quite lucky, because were it not for that neon landmark we might have driven on into the depths of the wilderness for hours before realizing our mistake. After a quick map check we were back on 19 and certain of our route once again.

About two hours later we found the lonely sign directing us into the park. Mom, Zoey and Seester were already there in spite of the harrowing journey they took down Rt 33. It was late but we made time for some sweet catching up around the fire that Trisha expertly kindled from coals the previous occupants of Cabin 7 left in the hearth for us.

The Park Office, Keith and Trisha

In the morning after a pancake and bacon breakfast we took a nice long walk up the park road to the office to officially check in. The building was quite breathtaking in it's State Park kind of way. It looked to be a lodge maybe at one point but now there are no rooms in it to rent, only a restaurant and gift shop that were both closed for the season. A fellow traveler we met in the office told us about a little cafe in Hilsborough just up the road, run by the very same woman who keeps the park restaurant in season. We made plans to visit the Pretty Penny later in the day.

"The C.C.C. Worker"

This statue commemorates the boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps, who built Watoga State Park and most of the other facilities of the West Virginia State Park System. There is a museum of C.C.C. history in the park too, which we never made it down to see.