West Virginia - Day One
- nacaruso3
- Sep 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 7
06-Aug-2025
Day 1 of my West Virginia adventure. Hunter is at the vet where I know he'll be well taken care of while I'm gone. I was going to leave tomorrow, but with limited meetings today, I decided to get the 3+hour drive and the first couple of stops knocked off the list. I started the day by driving to Harper's Ferry, where 4 miles of the Appalachian Trail crosses through West Virginia. It's in the Eastern panhandle, so I zigzagged between MD, VA, and WV in that area. I found a parking spot, went for a short walk, took some pictures, stopped for ice cream, and continued on my way to my first swing in Capacon State Park. The address on the WV Tourism website takes you to the Capacon Resort State Park Lodge, which is about 5 miles from the swing. After asking for directions, I was heading in the right direction... on a gravel road. 5 miles takes a lot longer when you're driving on a gravel road!! When I finally got there, there was a couple just finishing up taking pictures at the swing and two cute little boys who were very chatty. One of them had just gotten stung by a bee! I asked the older one to take my picture on the swing, then I took some pictures and continued on my way. I stopped in Berkley Springs to see George Washington's Bathtub (really nothing to write home about) and walked around the town for a little while. Then I drove to Martinsburg to see the Giant Big Apple Time Capsule (not sure that was worth the detour). I saw another giant apple outside of a nearby shop. I guess they like their apples in Martinsburg! Ok... enough with the side trips. Next stop... Lost River State Park!
I noticed a restaurant before I made the last turn to get to the park and figured I'd eat there after finding the swing. I drove to where the address for the swing was and I was just at an intersection in the park. NO SWING IN SIGHT! I turned left and drove past a teenage girl walking to the pool. I asked her where the swing was, and she told me that it was "all the way in Cranny Crook". When I told her that I had no idea where that was, she told me to go back, make a left, park by the horse stables and then it's about a 3 mile hike. I couldn't check the website b/c I had no reception, so I followed her directions. I made a left and soon enough, I see a sign that read, "Now leaving Lost River State Park". I had to find somewhere to turn around (not easy on a narrow winding road) and get back to the park. Turns out, I should have made a right instead of a left, but I found the horse stables. At this point, it's 6:40pm, so nobody was there. Had I gotten there earlier, I probably could have rented a horse and gone on a guided ride up to the swing, but my only option was to walk. The trees were marked with trail markers and every once in a while, I passed some horse poop, so I figured I was on the right path. I did not pass a soul along the way. I finally made it to the top. What a beautiful view!! There were two benches to sit and enjoy different angles of the view and the swing. Fortunately, at this swing the WV sign was in front of the swing, so there was somewhere to set my phone up to take a selfie. The sun was starting to go down. and I'm sure sunset would have been beautiful from up there, but I had to hike down to my car and didn't want to do that in the dark!! By the time I got back to my car, it was about 8:30. I checked my phone. Still no reception. My phone battery was down to 23% (the car wasn't keeping my phone charged for some reason) and my gas tank was < 1/4 full. I turned in the direction that I thought was towards the restaurant, but after about 2 miles on a dark and winding road, I turned around and headed back b/c I was scared that I had gotten turned around in the park. That brought me back to the intersection the park where the original destination was. Turns out I WAS going in the right direction, but I had to go 4 miles to get there. I finally get to the restaurant. My phone battery was at 19%. I parked and walked inside at 8:53pm. They closed at 9!! The girl who worked there was very nice and insisted that they could still make me food even though they were almost closed. She gave me the wifi password and told me that there was a gas station about 1/4 of a mile from the restaurant. I ordered a sandwich so that I could eat it in my car and logged on to look for a hotel. There was NOTHING available near Blakwater State Forest (which was my first planned stop for tomorrow). The closest hotel was in Elkins... about 2 hours away (where I planned to stay on Thursday night). I booked a room, got my sandwich, stopped for gas, and managed to get my hotel destination into my car map so I didn't have to rely on my phone. I made it to the hotel after 11pm.
Was this whole trip a mistake? What if I had gotten to that restaurant 10 minutes later? I'm so reliant on having cell phone signal wherever I go. I had no backup plan!! Also - note to self - do a little more research BEFORE you get to the swing and don't count on the swing being exactly where the address is. Fortunately, I survived my first day in West Virginia, so what else is there to do but keep on going! I planned my route for the next day and got a well-deserved night's sleep.
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