Spring Road Trip Day 8 - Friday March 17th - Beckley WV - 3.5 mile hike at Little Beaver State Park, WV - About 350 feet elevation gain

We walked to breakfast at The Omelet Shop which was just across the main road from the hotel’s access road.  West Virginian’s aren’t really used to pedestrians and we had 1 person who aggressively made sure he turned right before we could cross and on the way back somebody was totally unaware of our presence crossing a driveway.  The food was good but next time we’ll pathetically drive to avoid those situations.

The state park was only 11 miles from our hotel. The hike wasn’t long but it was surprisingly rocky and had a lot of geology. Some areas had enormous sharply angled boulders similar to what we experience in NY at ‘Little Rock City’ and other areas followed a pleasant stream that was usually just out of view.  There was also a fair bit of climbing considering the short length of the trail. The park and the trail were super clean and well maintained and marked.  We had earlier contemplated a much longer more ambitious hike but ultimately this was more than enough,







We bought a few T-Shirts from the very nice state park gift store on the way out.  Later in the afternoon we went to Tamarack Marketplace in Beckley.  This impressive facility is basically an artisan’s mall with dining options.  They sell items ranging from books and soaps to large pieces of furniture and sculptures and other fine arts.  It’s very large and the grounds are landscaped and feature art installations.  The facility is run by the State of West Virginia and while it certainly adds to Beckley’s list of travel attractions, it has never really paid its own way.  In a state with desperately lacking basic infrastructure and some dreadful plywooded up schools (we kept driving by one in Beckley that was really sad), it’s surely a hard decision to figure out if the amount of benefit a fancy art mall brings is worth the cost.


Dinner was at the Outback next to the hotel.  We slept very well.


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