On the Road: Camping in Wild Wonderful West Virginia

The river was flowing faster than the canoe. 

“Are you standing on the ground!?” I called out to my son. 

It sure felt like it. 

He was in the tube, tied to a rope, tied to the back of the canoe I was trying to paddle down the river just before the takeout spot. 

He assured me he wasn’t.  I’m not sure I completely believe him.

We were canoeing and tubing with a group of friends and my boys wanted to get to the takeout spot first to win the race.  Of the seven canoes and three tubes, we were the last ones out of the water.  I count that as winning the race for having fun the longest.

The Tradition Continues

A month earlier we were talking to a friend who asked if we’d made campsite reservations yet.  Apparently we’d missed the email earlier in the year.  We quickly remedied the problem and reserved our campsite at our favorite campground in West Virginia.  It's where we gather for a long weekend with a handful of families each year.  It’s a tradition that was started over a decade ago with one family inviting a few others to join them. 

Over the years different families have been invited and the few that don’t already know each other quickly become friends through the shared experience.  Some have only come once or twice while others are there every year.  We’re drawn in not only by the refreshing landscape, cooler mountain weather and opportunity to relax, but also the chance to spend a few days with friends without the constraints of everyday life.  

After packing just the essentials that seemed to include everything including the kitchen sink into the bed of the pickup, our family crammed into the cab and hit the road just after eight AM. Leaving by eight is amazing considering that was the theoretical target departure time. Of course we then made it to the campground before the campground’s check-in time. We then found a spot nearby for an impromptu picnic lunch followed by a quick walk over to a picturesque waterfall.

After setting up our campsite we had the afternoon to relax - the benefit of hitting the road early.  The boys were itching to ride their bikes, so the whole family started to ride the campground loops when we saw someone setting up camp in a spot we knew was reserved for a family in our group we didn’t know, so we introduced ourselves before continuing our ride.  Throughout the afternoon and evening the rest of our group arrived and we greeted one another, eager for the time to spend time together.  

Dolly Sods

In the morning our family planned to take a relatively short hike in nearby Dolly Sods Wilderness. Waking with the sun at 6-something-too-early we should have been able to eat breakfast and hit the road by eight. At 9:30 we finally hit the road for the hour-long drive. After a dozen miles of highway, six miles of twisty narrow mountain roads and eleven miles of gravel roads taking an hour-and-a-half we made it to the trailhead.  

The hike was beautiful.  The terrain varied considerably from the open heath and rocky trails to boggy mud covered trails in the trees. We soaked in the landscape, and may have soaked a foot or two as well.  The kids complained at least as much as I surely did at their age, but they survived all four miles of the planned three mile hike.  We drove out the other direction, which actually took an hour to get back to camp, but wasn’t quite as adventurous.  

The next morning I broke away from the family to ride some singletrack bike trails for a few miles.  I’m thankful for wonderful apps like Strava and MTB Project and the community that has built an amazing database of trail information so I can confidently find a set of trails.  This morning the digital guide led me to a great six-mile figure eight shaped route, just a half-mile from the campground.  

Up a Creek with a Paddle

Later that day we piled into the cars and headed through the twisty back roads to a local adventure company to rent some canoes, tubes and get a ride to the put-in.  One quick ride in the typically sketchy fifteen passenger van at speeds only a local would drive around hairpin turns and we were unloading the boats and getting our paddles wet in the lazy Cheat River.  

Towing a tube is hard work.  They resist movement in any direction and are impossible to steer.  Plus the rider provides zero paddling help.  But this wasn’t a race, it was a fun afternoon with friends floating and paddling down the river.  Half way downstream my boat anchor son in the tube decided he wanted to get in the boat, so we paddled to shore, he hopped in we instantly went faster.

Wrap Up

A few s’mores, a long gaze at the stars shining down, an impromptu rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads from the next campsite and the next thing we knew it was time to pack everything up and head back to real life.  

Camping, even in a civilized campground with showers, throws challenges we don’t face every day and the opportunity to get to know friends a little better.  Breaking up the monotony of the everyday pace forces us to solve new problems, even if they are how to take a shower without letting the clean clothes fall onto the bath house floor or finding the multi-tool that hopefully has a can opener.  Here’s to adventures great and small with family and friends.