We toured the falls at Blackwater State Falls via some easy walkways / boardwalks, then visited the "Gentle Trail" for an upper view of the falls, then the best view of them all--Pendleton Point Overlook. We're pretty sure we saw a bald eagle here, flying high above the gorge.
After dropping the others off back at the mansion, Dad and I explored some of the 15,000 acres of the Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge. We hiked the Idleman's Run Trail, a one mile loop through a woods consisting primarily of beech trees, maples, cherries and hawthorns. We found a few places where deer were feasting on the beech nuts and wild cherries. We also found it interesting that this is an area open to hunting.
With the afternoon sprinkles turning into rain, we traded more hiking for a drive to the northern side of the refuge to see a little more of the area. As a bonus, many of the trees, especially maples, are already changing colors in this elevated valley, apparently the highest large valley east of the Mississippi. The tree color was great in this area, and the colorful ground flora reminded us of pictures of the Alaskan and Canadian tundra.
