Wilderness Adventure Photography North Fork Mountain West Virginia
Written By ForestWander Nature Photography
http://www.ForestWander.com
My son and I have camped some on the mountains of West Virginia during the fall.
The most notable place that we have camped was at North Fork Mountain.
You have never ever heard of North Fork Mountain?
It is a really great place that is very secluded and very rugged. Each year there is a 24 mile mountain bike race there and dozens of people come from all around to ride in this race.To get there you go to smoke hole and then out smoke hole road about 12 miles. The road will split to the left and to the right. To the left is the main road and to the right you will read a sign that states “Dead End”.You drive out the “Dead End” road and eventually come to a farm and there is another sign that tells you not to continue if you are in a passenger vehicle. Four Wheel drive vehicles are recommended. If you continue from that point you will see why the road has very steep drop offs with no guard rail and there are very large rocks in the road that you must navigate around.The road continues for miles and miles with no houses or inhabitants other than wildlife. As you meander up the mountain you will cross gas line right-of-ways that give you a glimpse of the huge valley below. The views are truly astounding.
After about 20 – 30 minutes of driving you will make it to the top of North Fork Mountain. There is a radio transmitter station up there and a small road that continues around it. Once you are past the radio tower the road will go straight and there is a turn off that you can follow to the left. The road that goes straight will lead you down a gas line right-of-way that will drop straight over the mountain so you cannot go to far. If you turn left you will find some of the most wonderful camp sites for camping on a mountain top.
Looking down from North Form Mountain into Germany valley you will see country farms and rural villages that will spark your imagination into believing you are in some type of fantasy story written from the Mountains in Switzerland or Germany. The quaint mountain villages and inhabitants of the countryside paint a wonderful picture from high above.
North Fork Mountain is heavily populated with Black Bear and Deer. As we were hiking on the trail we noticed a pile of bear scat that looked like it was from a horse! These are no teddy bears on this mountain. They are not like the little black bears that you will see other places. At one time about 15 years ago I saw a man that had killed a bear and brought it to a checking station in Richwood. The bear was in the back of a white full size long wheelbase ford pickup truck. The bears feet were hanging off of the end of the tailgate and the truck was setting on its axles. Now I know that most people say that there is nothing to be concerned with black bears but let me ask you this if you met a 500 pound predator in the forest on a mountain 20 miles from nowhere do you think your adrenaline would pump up!?
We had a great time camping at North Fork Mountain, despite the extremely noisy wildlife through the night. I don’t know what they were but there were birds that squawked all night long. I never thought I would get to sleep. Around 1 am I heard a deer snort in our direction as if it saw something outside our tent. Then I heard something sniffing and rub against the backside of the tent. I knew right away that it was a bear checking us out for food. Thankfully we had enough sense not to keep food in the tent. I got my flashlight and came out of the tent and could not see anything as it was extremely dark, you know there is no light pollution there!
The next morning we got up and packed our camp up and started back down the mountain. There were grouse everywhere doing courting and mating dances in the road. We watched several couples of birds doing this courting dance and even took some pictures of this ritual.
If you are looking for a real wilderness adventure and you have the capability I encourage you to visit North Fork Mountain in West Virginia. But be prepared this is not you usual Boy Scout trip.
You can see pictures of our adventure at our website.
ForestWander Nature Photography