The Holly River Photo Page

Holly River State Park is located in Webster County just west of Kumbrabow State Forest. It is on US Rt. 20 about 32 miles south of Buckhannon. We went south on I79, got off at the Jackson Lake exit for Rt. 19 south to Rt. 4 east and then picked up Rt. 20 south. It is the second largest park in the state and encompasses over 8,101 acres with loads of outdoor activities including hiking, biking, camping, fishing, picnicing, tennis, swimming in the pool and relaxing. The place, like many WV parks, is loaded with rhododendron that are suppose to bloom around the beginning of July. No wonder the rhododendron is the state flower of W. Virginia. This trip was taken 05/12/01 to 05/17/01 and included Audra SP and the Tygart Lake Area. Get more info at the official Holly River web site. Cabin #6 was home for three nights. We had most of the comforts of home in this one room cabin plus bath. The only thing missing was a phone, tv and microwave. The first two were not missed and we got by easily without the third. This is the front of the cabin, I have my back to the Laurel Fork Creek. It was down a 20 foot bank so it couldn't be enjoyed from the cabin porch. Cabin #6 This was the view of our cabin from the parking area. You had to carry your supplies a short distance, but no worries. We are in a nice hemlock and rhododendron forest. Indoors we see our heating system and the refrigerator. To my back is the bed, to my right is the kitchen. The table seated four but it would be tight. There is a roll-away-bed in the left corner but I wouldn't want to have to use it. The wood stove only held four small pieces of wood. It might last three hours at best. I added wood through the night to keep the place warm. One evening we had two uninvited guests in the form of two very small, young mice. They kept getting themselves in the corner so I easily captured them and put them out. The hard part was catching them with a glove on and not damaging them. Nature's Rock Garden Trail After unpacking we decided to take a stroll on this trail. It is a loop at the cabin area. We picked up a brochure at the office that details the 25 stops along the trail. This was just a warmup for the days to come. Gee, I didn't know I was going to get educated on this trip! Just a rock? Well actually no, it is not JUST a rock. Look closely at the center area and you will see a diamond-checked pattern along the length of the rock. This is the fossilized remains of a tree, the Sigillaria, that lived about 250-300 million years ago. It looked like a palm tree and could reach the height of 200 feet. Guess I will need to watch Jurassic Park again. This is at stop #23 also. Lower Falls New day, new trail, new water. We decided to hike to Potatoe Knob on Monday. The easiest way was to drive out of the park to Left Fork Lick Road and go 3-4 miles back and park. It is a short, moderate down hill walk to the falls. They are only about 10 feet high, but still nice. The shutes is just a short walk down stream from the falls. We had to cross the stream to get this photo. That was a little challenging but we managed to stay dry. The falls is only about 10 feet high and forms a nice sized pool. Potatoe Knob climb I wouldn't call this a hike as much as I would a climb. It was an interesting journey. Perhaps you can get an idea of how steep some of this trail was from the photo. It was worth the climb. We had a nice view of the valley and mountains from the top. It always feels odd to be looking down on high flying birds. White Deer I had never seen a deer like this before. It is called a pied deer. Only one or two percent of deer are this color. Butterfly convention This is something else I haven't seen before. A gathering of butterflies on this soil. It lookes like ground up rock that came out of a well drilling site. I don't know what was in it that attracted the butterflies. This was along a little creek. This soil soaks up moisture from the stream. I believe these are Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. We encountered this scene returning from hiking the 'Railroad Grade Trail'. It was the remnants of an old logging railroad from the late 1920's. It started out ok with only some easy stream crossings. After reaching 'Ridge Road Trail' the blazes became very difficult to follow. We decided to get off at the road to Pickens. It took us 7 hours and we walked about 10 miles. We were tired.    I suspect we will go back to Holly River. There are more trails to hike and alot of relaxing to do too. Our trip continued to Audra State Park and on to the Tygart Lake Area.

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