Early that afternoon I hiked from the campground down to the lake.
There I got on the Dobbins House Trail, which followed along the canyon rim.
It led to Pase Point, a collection of big rocks jutting out over the canyon, a great view.
From there I took a trail leading out of the park that looped for miles through a national forest.
I came upon a deer but, despite the warning signs, no bear.
By the time I got back to our site it ended up being a 5 mile hike. I crashed the rest of the day.
Next Location: Skyline Drive-Blue Ridge Parkway-Smoky Mountains trip – Mathews Arm Campground, on the Skyline Drive National Road in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Although many campgrounds were closed at that time due to Covid, we embarked on a camping trip just to break confinement of our house. From our home north of Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving at 7:30 in the morning we drove north up I-71 to the Hwy. 35 exit, where the Outlet Malls are. We drove east to Chillicothe, then continued east on Hwy. 50. At Parkersburg, we crossed the Ohio River into West Virginia. We ascended from the river valley up into the Appalachian Mountains. We stopped for lunch at Woodmount Park.
After, we continued east on Hwy. 50. It was a beautiful drive, up and down and around mountains on kickback after kickback, through forests and along rivers with a lot of wildflowers. At Clarksburg, we turned south-east on Hwy. 20 then zig-zagging (praise to Garmin) to Hwy. 38., which took us most of the way to Blackwater Falls State Park, near the Maryland state line. We set up camp about 3:30 then crashed.
After dinner, we walked around the campground. The following morning we drove around to see the rest of the park. Starting with the lake.
A couple of deer playing disc golf.
Outside the Nordic Center (closed because of Covid) I found a bear.
We stopped at the falls overlook. They couldn’t close that.
We stopped at the lodge (closed because of Covid).
Which had a good overlook.
We hiked a short trail.
To another overlook.
After that we returned to our site for lunch.
Next Location: Skyline Drive-Blue Ridge Parkway-Smoky Mountains trip (fall, 2020) – Blackwater Falls SP, West Virginia2
From the North Rim 