A Blackwater Falls PhotoJournal

Our trip to Deep Creek included a side trip to Blackwater Falls State Park a couple hours away in West Virginia.

As we prepared to head down to the falls, we were greeted by this sign:



And it did raise a question as to whether I'd be able to get down all those steps - and back up again - with my bad knee.  I assured the rest of them that I would be fine; it would just take me about twice as long as it did them!  Fortunately, the first view of the falls came soon enough to encourage me that it wasn't all that far!



Here's the small print:



I know it's too small to read, so let me summarize - the Blackwater River and Falls are so named because of the brownish color.  The color comes from the organic matter containing tannins that gets into the water as it flows through stands of red spruce and Eastern hemlock, and through sphagnum moss bogs.  The waterfall has a 57-foot drop.  The Blackwater River flows west, then north to the Ohio River.



















I really wanted to get pictures of the kids, but Spencer especially dislikes posing for pictures.  I finally had to settle for this:



DH insisted on a picture of me, probably so I could prove that I did indeed make it down all those steps.



After the falls, we drove through the rest of the park, and at one point were greeted by a roadside ambassador:



A little further on, there was a breathtaking view of the river valley.



We also stopped by the petting zoo, which was, of course, closed for the season.  This little guy didn't get the memo though.





The drive to and from the state park took us this close to the windmills.