Day Nine (9/22) - When they say Strenuous Trail, they mean Strenuous

What a fabulous day! It was mostly sunny skies with some passing clouds here and there. We packed up the kids and the dog and headed to the New River Gorge National River Park. We started at the Sandstone Visitor's Center, It was really well done - the whole floor of the place was inlaid with a map of the surrounding area. The kids did a quick scavenger hunt for animals within the exhibits, then they got to scan their animal cards at learning center computers to learn more about them. Animals and technology together - can't get any better than that for these kids. We could have spent hours there, but Don and Bernie were waiting out in the truck, so I picked up a trail map and got some hiking recommendations from the ranger and we headed out. As I was getting in the truck, I heard screams coming from the other side. Gabriella shut her thumb in the door of the truck. And those are some darn big doors. I hustled her back to the ranger station to see if they had any ice. They didn't, but eventually found one of those ice pack things that you break open to activate. Gabriella is a real trouper and after a couple minutes was ready to go and hit the trail.
We first went to an overlook over Sandstone Falls, which was just a quick walk downhill. We met a nice couple with a dog. Bernie wanted to make friends, but the Jack Russell wasn't having it. At least Bernie enjoyed the view.

We drove down through the town of Hinton to cross the New River and go to the Big Branch Trail. It is rated "Strenuous" by the NPS, but it was recommended by the ranger, so how bad could it be? Perhaps we will take the ratings more seriously in the future. The first two thirds of the trail were climbing up the side of a steep ridge. We had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath for a minute, but we made it to the top! There was a little bit of complaining from the kids (and, okay, probably me, too,) but they were very proud of themselves that they made it all the way up. Don had an advantage because Bernie basically pulled him all the way to the top. He is still terrible on the leash, but he isn't trustworthy enough to let loose. If he caught the scent of one little squirrel, he would chase it all the way to Kentucky.
The view from the top of the ridge would probably be pretty spectacular, but it is so heavily treed that we couldn't really see anything. But it was actually a very cool trail, because it crossed over a stream several times. I was impressed because we made it across the rocks every time without anyone getting wet. Well, except for Bernie. He believes in wading across. The kids loved all of the little waterfalls along the way.

The way back down was ridiculously steep in spots. You can tell that the trail isn't used all that often because there were a lot of downed trees that we had to climb over/under. To add to the fun, the past couple days of rain had made the clay nice and slippery. Our toes were all sore from being jammed into our boots as we descended, and we had a couple of close calls with slides on the way down, but we all made it unscathed. My feet and legs were nice and muddy by the time we finished. We celebrated when we finished! It was definitely the hardest trail we have done as a family, but it shows that we can tackle most anything now. We just won't be setting any land speed records.
We had only planned on being out for a couple of hours for a quick hike or two in the morning, then going back to the camper for lunch, but it didn't quite work out that way. We had been out for a long time, so we had a quick snack in the truck (thank goodness for granola bars!) then went down to see Sandstone Falls up close from the other side of the river.

We did a little boardwalk trail out by the falls, then went on the Island Loop Trail to take the scenic route back to the truck. It was short and very rocky. We drove back across the river and headed north. We stopped at King Tut's Drive-In for "linner," as Gabriella calls it. The menu was horribly bad for you, but oh, so good! Don had a "nightmare" - polish sausage and sauerkraut, I had a King cheeseburger with everything, which was a lot, Gavin had a hot dog, Gabriella had chicken nuggets, and Bernie had a hot dog. We all also enjoyed our various fried sides.
After we ate, it was clear that we were not going to be doing any more hiking that day. But I was determined to at least get up to see the New River Gorge Bridge. The gorge was one the reasons that we came to this area. There are some incredible hikes around there, but it was already 5:00 and we were all plumb tuckered out. We did actually get to drive over the bridge - it's the longest steel span and the second highest bridge in the US. It's very picturesque - it's the picture on the back of the WV quarter.

The in-motion picture doesn't do it justice - it's a jaw dropping view when you cross the bridge.
You can fit the Washington Monument and two Statues of Liberty stacked up underneath the bridge, with twenty feet to spare!

We drove to the Canyon Rim Visitor's Center and walked to the overlook. I was disappointed that the view from there wasn't the greatest.

I was bummed that I didn't get the fabulous panoramic pictures that I was expecting to take, but I was very happy with the awesome day that we had!
We headed back to camp through some little towns. You can tell that the area's economy is on the poor side. There are many old mining and railroad towns. I am absolutely in love with the natural area - I would never get tired of these mountains! But, I haven't seen any communities that I would want to call home.
Don was determined to finally have a campfire when we got back. The camp host told us that someone had left a bunch of firewood on another campsite, so we had a nice freebie fire. We were even able to use our new pie iron to make some campfire pies that the kids loved. And we were all very ready for bed at the end of the night!