My First Trip with a Digital Camera (2004)

One of the toys brought to us by the computer age is the digital camera. It's my very favorite technological toy. I use the hell out of my digital cameras on every trip and excursion I take. Gone are the limitations of film. On a typical hike of even a single day I will take many hundreds of photographs. You don't have to worry overmuch how each photo will turn out because you can just erase the bad ones and move on to the next attempt.

These four photos were taken on one of the first trips I ever took when I had a digital camera along. It was in West Virginia on a camping vacation to Holly River State Park in early June of 2004. One thing that stands out about that trip is that it rained almost constantly, the rivers and creeks and waterfalls were flowing fiercely, and it was far too cold to go swimming.

The bridge over the New River Gorge.

The aptly named Shupe's Chute, a waterfall in Holly river State Park.

A "haunted" house we stumbled upon on a drive along a mountaintop road near Holly River State Park.

Mill Creek Falls in Kumbrabow State Forest.

Hot Springs and Cold Falls

It was back in 2004 that I got serious about getting out into the wilderness areas, state parks, and National Forests and Parks again. I'd been too busy for too many years doing other things and it had become a rare day for me to go hiking or camping or backpacking. Since then, I've been pretty busy in the outdoors, but now the writing business has been keeping me far too busy to go into the fresh air the way I need to do.

Having what amounts to two jobs has become quite a burden. I can't quit the day-job just now, so I'm going to have to cut back on the amount of time I spend writing. There's nothing else for it, because I stay physically and mentally exhausted working on novels, short stories, and doing my utmost to meet deadlines. I have some publishing commitments to keep, but after that I'm going to cut back on my writing. If I don't, I'll probably drop dead from the pressure.

Following are some photographs from a hike I took in 2004 when I first started back into that. I love hiking. I find the solitude soothing. Being away from the sounds of other people, and far away from the constant grind and roar of machines is something that I have to do from time to time. The more often I can do it, the better.

The first six photos were taken in June 2004 in Holly River State Park in West Virginia. This park is especially pretty, and I'd love to go back for a visit. Carole and I tried to do that this past Fall, but there was some kind of horrible gathering taking place there so that when we arrived the park was packed to capacity and beyond. It was horrid. We might as well have been in Times Square! We ended up heading over to Kumbrabow State Forest where we indeed found some solitude and quiet, if not quite the level of natural beauty.

This is the top of a waterfall known as Shupe's Chute. So designated because the entire contents of the North Fork of the Holly River gets squeezed through a rock channel that's so narrow you can actually jump across it.

The picturesque Chute, itself. The day I was there, the water levels were way up and the noise from Shupe's Chute was deafening.

The water from the Chute has ground and sliced its way through this very hard and durable rock. You can physically feel the power of the water from a distance as it slams its way down the mountain.

The bottom of the Chute where it empties into a huge swimming hole.

The pool at the base of the Chute almost begs for you to go swimming. The week Carole and I were there, although it was early June, was far too cold for swimming. The days were overcast with almost constant rain, and the temperature never cracked 60 degrees.

This waterfall was along the Holly River above Shupe's Chute. There was so much water in the mountains while we were there that we saw waterfalls where there might likely only be such every ten years or so.

And a much more recent photograph taken by my son, Andy, of me and Carole on the Gardiner River in Yellowstone National Park. This is a spot where you can mix the water from a hot spring with the frigid waters of the Gardiner River and create a nice pool of warm water for soaking.

Where We're Headed for Vacation:

I took all of the following photos in West Virginia in 2004 when we visited the area around Helvetia, WV. We had a wonderful time there and have decided that we want to return there for another shot at seeing some of the stuff we missed, plus seeing again some of the spots we loved so much the first time we were there.

A lot of places we visit we get enough of them so that we don't want to go back after one visit. But there are a few spots we see where we feel like we have to return. This part of West Virginia is one of them. The first time we went I didn't get a chance to climb some of the mountains I wanted to hit, plus we missed a few parks that were in the area, along with some places like a sugar maple farm and a cheese store that was high on our list to visit.

We found this haunted house by accident while joyriding on a lonely gravel road on top of a high mountain. We want to go back and see if it's still there.

A super-cool waterfall called Shupe's Chute in Holly River State Park. I'll be hitting this place with the new camera to get some high-quality photographs.

The Falls on the North Fork of the Holly River.

This was beside our campground at Holly River State Park in early June of 2004. The creek was way up due to heavy rainfall. It rained virtually the entire time we were there. I'm hoping for more mild weather this time.

A footbridge in the village of Helvetia, West Virginia.

Library and other buildings in Helvetia.

Along the river in Audra State Park.

A peaceful swimming hole in Kubrabow State Forest.

Vacation Debate

I'm lobbying for West Virginia. Carole wants to try out the mountains of north Georgia. Since I lived in the mountains of north Georgia and cut my teeth hiking there as a teenager, I'd rather go back to West Virginia. Specifically, to a part of the state where we haven't been since 2004.


To bolster my argument, here are some photos I took on that specific trip. I took these with my first digital camera which remains one of the best cameras I've ever had. It eventually went on the fritz, but while it lasted it was a great machine, even though it was only 4 megapixels. I still admire the photos I took with it. Like almost all of my digital cameras, it was a Canon.


On that trip we targeted a place called Holly River State Park. In those days we were still tent camping since we hadn't yet been raided by that huge black bear when we camped at Standing Indian Campground near Murphy NC. That's the experience that convinced us to go with a hard-sided trailer and forgo the tent camping when in state parks and National Forest campgrounds where there are likely to be lots of bears habituated to humans and their food.


Among the things that I recall about this early June 2004 trip was that it rained incessantly and intensely, and that the scenery was gorgeous. The waterfalls were especially pretty because of the overcast skies and the extremely heavy water flow in the creeks. Since it has been so long since we've been, I would really like to go back there.


This spot is called Mill Creek Falls. Every state in the south has at least fifty Mill Creeks and probably that many Mill Creek Falls. This particular one is in a state forest in West Virginia. The pool below the falls is begging for swimmers. I would have used it for a swimming hole on that trip but even though it was June, the weather was unseasonably cold and the temperatures never broke 70 the whole time we were there. This day it was around 65 or so--much too cool for a swim. If you look, you can see a cabin through the trees. You can rent it--and the three others nearby. You can't beat that place for atmosphere.

This place is called "The Hutte". It's a German restaurant in a German-centric village of Helvetia there in West Virginia. This was a great place to pause and spend a few hours. There are several maple syrup farms in the vicinity, also. Keep in mind that while West Virginia is technically part of the South, it's far enough north, and the mountains high enough, so that sugar maples thrive there. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the town.

One of the dining rooms in The Hutte where we had our most excellent lunch.

This is the actual public library of Helvetia, West Virginia. A great place to take photos, but it was closed the day we were there.

The Falls of the North Branch of the Holly River. This waterfall was exceptionally beautiful, and flowing like nobody's business the day I took this photo.

Just down from the falls above is this one. Called Shupe's Chute, the entire river is funneled through this tiny crevice in the rock. The noise that day was deafening. At the base of the chute is an absolutely spectacular swimming hole. Once again, it was far too cold to try out on that June day in 2004.

On a drive on a lonely gravel mountain road, we stumbled upon this wonderfully creepy abandoned farmhouse. If you embiggen the photo and look, you will see an equally creepy denizen sitting on the peak of the roof on the far right. (And is that an ephemeral spirit standing in the doorway??!!)

A cropped enlargement of the host of the haunted house.

Yep. I'd really like to go back to this part of West Virginia. Let the debate begin...

Waterfalls, While I'm Writing

The writing is going well. Every day the scenes come to me and the keyboard is friendly and not my adversary. I'm having quite a good time with the new novel, but it leaves me no time for other writing.

In the meantime, here are some of the waterfalls I visited between 2004 and 2005. Where I can remember, I'll post the locations.

Stone Mountain Falls in Stone Mountain State Park, North Carolina.

Waterfall in Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina. I took a shower here to clean off the grime of hiking in the park all afternoon in hot, muggy weather.

Same waterfall.

DuPont State Forest, North Carolina.

Triple Falls, DuPont State Forest, North Carolina.

Granny Burrell Falls, Panthertown Valley, North Carolina.

Unnamed waterfall in Holly River State Park, West Virginia.

Shupe's Chute, Holly River State Park, West Virginia.

Upper Waterfalls, Holly River State Park, West Virginia.

This is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen. The setting is amazingly beautiful and very peaceful. The pool below the falls pretty much BEGS for the viewer to swim in it. Mill Creek Falls, in Kumbrabow State Park, West Virginia.

Holly River, 2004

One of our early camping trips was to Holly River State Park in West Virginia. This was, at the time, an exceptionally beautiful park. It was isolated and had a heavy mature forest covering the mountains that loomed all around and which also lined the many streams and rivers that crossed the park. This was in 2004 and the hemlock wooly adelgid had not hit that area at that time, so I'm not sure what those forests look like today. It could be that they're still in good shape, but I rather doubt it. I would suppose that all of the hemlocks are dead, now.

We would love to go back to the park with our trailer, but such a trip will have to wait for quite some time. Most of our vacation is going to be spent out west this year, so I seriously doubt we'll be able to revisit this park until at least 2011. It was a strikingly pretty place and I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys hiking. I spent a lot of time walking the trails, hitting a few nearby summits, and searching out some really impressive waterfalls.

One thing about this trip was that it was taken in early June, but the temperatures were really low for that time of year. It was even too cold to go swimming. I don't think the highs broke the low 60s the whole time we were there, and it rained heavily much of the time. This made for some great photo opportunities at the creeks and waterfalls, though.
This was our old tent. I think this is the one that we gave away to friends.

The stream beside our campsite.

This view was just a few steps from the door of the tent. I'd love to go back, but this time take our travel trailer.

For what it's worth, this photo was taken on the trip that convinced us to buy a hard-sided travel trailer and dispense with the tent. This was in 2005, a bit more than a year after the Holly River trip. It was at Standing Indian Campground near Murphy NC. A very large black bear raided our camp one night and made a wreck of things, in addition to scaring the crap out of us. Yes, we kept our food stored in the truck, but that didn't keep him from turning everything over and opening up anything that looked like food might be inside. After that, we started shopping for a travel trailer. This is campsite #12, and is a particularly difficult one to reserve, as it is well secluded and sits directly on the creek.

Cool, Old House

One of our favorite early trips after we bought our first digital camera was to Holly River State Park in West Virginia. I've posted this photograph before and I'll likely post it again. I love this place. Everything about the photo and everything about the trip and everything about that day and moment are crystal clear in my mind. And if I manage to recall something clearly, then it made one hell of an impression.

We had been staying at our campsite along the Holly River. The weather had been atrocious for a camping trip. Especially for a tent-camping trip, since this was in the days before our travel trailer and we had chosen not to stay in the park's cabins. Why? Because we'd just bought our tent, I reckon. Hard to say.

All it did for almost the entire trip was rain. And it didn't mess about with rain. It went whole hog. The Holly River was a torrent--a rushing madhouse of a river when normally it's quite the timid tributary. Not on this trip, though. It roared like a sabertooth.

This was the scene just outside our tent. Normally there's no waterfall across the river.

Eventually Carole and I opted to take a drive through the nearby countryside. We found a gravel road leading up a mountain and took it. The drive itself was a lot of fun, passing through woods and some farmlands and with us only seeing a house every couple of miles or so. This area was just very, very sparsely populated.

The rain made for kickass waterfall viewing, though. This was the Falls on the North Fork of the Holly River. Engorged on almost constant rainfall that day.

As we came around a bend in the road we saw a clearing on the left and spotted an abandoned house amidst an overgrown yard. We were very high on the ridge and the clouds were hanging very low in the sky. In fact, the clouds had come right down to meet the Earth at this point so everything was in a mild haze of truly creepy light. And so this house was standing, old and decaying, in the center of what had been a yard and which was now quickly becoming a mess of shrubbery. All alone stood the house. We stopped for a look at it and to take some photographs. In the almost silence the moment was about as close to magical as one will come.

Here was the house when we came upon it.

We could hear the slight wind blowing. We could almost hear the clouds floating past. There was the slight mist of rain settling on everything. The house was behind the thinnest of veils. I took my photographs. Carole and I oohed and aahed and admired the postcard scene.

It was only later, looking into the screen of our little Canon digital that we noted that there had been an enormous buzzard perched on the eve of the house. All the while I had been standing there snapping shots, this creepy denizen had been high atop the place looking down at me.

I'll never forget that moment or that place.

"Send more tourists..."

Stairs!

I've encountered some impressive staircases in my visits to state parks and National Forest sites. Some of the most stunning efforts at staircase building have been in West Virginia. Sometimes I'm just completely amazed at the expense and feats of engineering that have gone into placing these stairs to make access easier to some of these peaks, gorges, and waterfalls.

Here are a few of them:

These stairs were actually under construction. When completed, they take you to the Holly River Falls, which you can see through the trees. A most spectacular waterfall. Located in Holly River State Park in West Virginia.

These were National Park stairs. To take you to an overlook in the New River Gorge in West Virginia.

These stairs are quite organic and were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and are located at the Backbone Rock Recreation Area in Tennessee.

These were probably the longest set of stairs I ever climbed. They're in the Tallulah Gorge State Park in Georgia and take you, of course, to the bottom of this spectacular canyon. This is merely one leg of many.


Again, another more organic set of stairs, this one located in Blackwater Canyon in West Virginia.

I like the way this staircase blends with the rock grotto in Beartown State Park, also in West Virginia.

One of the most amazing feats of engineering I've seen for National Forest staircases is at the Falls of Hill Creek in West Virginia. In addition to this very extensive set of staircases that take you past several impressive waterfalls, there is a tremendous metal staircase near the very end that must have been extremely difficult to install. Here it is:

This was something to see. It was bolted to the wall of the canyon so that you could gain access to the last of the waterfalls on Hill Creek.