The Kumbrabow Photo Page

Kumbrabow State Forest is located in Randolph County. It is on US Rt. 219 about 20 miles south of Elkins. It encompasses over 9,474 acres with loads of outdoor activities including hiking, biking, camping, fishing, picnicing and relaxing. The place is loaded with rhododendron. Get more info at the official Kumbrabow web site. Cabin #2 was our home for two nights. On the right is a great screened porch from which we could overlook Mill Creek. It had a picnic table for scenic meals. On the far right is the kitchen. Now, there are a couple of potential hangups. First, there is no running water and second no electricity. So, if you need any of that stuff, go elsewhere. Cabin This is a view of our cabin from across Mill Creek. Nice isn't it? The lack of amenities was compensated for by the great location. You would be surprised how many stars there are when there are no lights around at night. Kitchen What's so exciting about a kitchen? Well, the stove you are looking at is fueled with wood. It took about 1.25 hours to make coffee in the morning. I am accustomed to having it ready when I get up. By the way, the fridge is powered by propane. Pump We shared a pump with cabin #1. There was plenty of water but it was a little on the iron side. They provide plenty of buckets for carrying water. Cabins come complete with bedding, cooking utensils and dinner ware. Fortunately we brought 5gals of water from home. That was more than enough to drink and cook with for 2 nights. Necessities Here are two more necessities. On the left we have our wood supply. This included small wood for the kitchen stove and large wood for the fireplace. This was 04/28/01 and we needed some heat. The stove really warms up the kitchen but it is not much help for the living area or the bedroom. Now, on the right we have our own personal pit toilet. Lovely. Relaxing Nothing like a nice fire and a book under the gas lamps. This is the living room. It had the table, 4 kitchen type chairs, 2 rocking chairs and a deacon's bench. You could easily sit 8 or so. The bedroom is to my back and the kitchen is to the right. The porch is to the left. Morning Some folks just get too comfortable and hard to wake. The bedroom was cozy but had plenty of room. They was a dresser and two foldup beds. There was also a medicine cabinet and a gas lamp. This falls is down stream from us about 100 yards. That is cabin 1 in the background. I crossed the stream on the auto bridge to get this shot. Probably be a good place for a bath in warmer weather. The hike took us up Mill Creek. We had to cross the creek four times on our way to the campground. This trail is an old logging railroad grade which is washed out in many places. There were enough ties left for my wife to slip and fall on one. She ended up falling in the mud. Oh well, that's the outdoors for ya'. The campgrounds was about 2.25 miles up stream. The water was really cold! I found that out when I waded across near the campground. We enjoyed this forest. We hiked about 12 miles and there are a lot more trails. I guess we will be going back. Even without the amenities, it is a great experience. Gives you a little feeling of the pioneer days.

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