DoubleDAZ

Hi All,

I'm planning a road tip from Indian Head MD to the Gatlinburg TN area and beyond. The goal is simply to experience West Viginia, especially the scenery. So far, my tentative route is from Indian Head MD to Morgantown WV via I68 to Blackwater Falls State Park to Lewisburg to Charleston to Gatlinsburg using routes suggested by Google Maps. Naturally, I have a few questions:

1. Is there a better route to experence West Virgina?

2. The only reason for going to Morgantown is that I've heard I-68 is very sceneric, but I'm wondering if I'd enjoy a different route more. Is there anything I'd really miss by taking the backroads to Blackwater Falls through Wichester/Augusta or more direct through Strasburg/Moorefield? I'm not going to be in any great hurry, but I don't want to waste a lot of time seeing too much of the same scenery either.

3. Similarly, the only reason I'm going through Charleston is to go through more of West Virgina than Virginia. Would taking I-77 south to I-81 out of Beckley be an alternative or would 119 out of Charleston give me more of a feel for West Virginia? Am I in for a really slow ride taking 119?

4. Weather problems along the route that time of the year?

Thanks for any and all comments/suggestions.

DoubleDAZ

Nobody?

willowjane

You shouldn't really have issues with weather. THis is just my opinion and I am sure there are others who know much more. I have been on 68 and I thought it was beautiful. We also enjoyed Morgantown (but we got the chance to go to a game)! There were several good restaurants in the downtown area and the dirt packed bike/running path along the river was beautiful. If you take 77 south and then 40 over towards Gatlinburg (is that what you were thinking?) you could stop in Black Mountain and Asheville for two really nice/interesting towns with pretty scenery around them.
Where you thinking of getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway at any point? This would provide some lovely scenery as well.
As I said at the beginning, I am no expert at all on W. Virginia. Just trying to help out a bit.

DoubleDAZ

Thanks for the reply. No, we've been on the Blue Ridge and we've been to Black Mountain/Ashville a few times before, so we're trying to concentrate on West Virginia this trip. I think we'll go ahead and stop in Morgantown, sounds like it's worth a visit.

willowjane

I don't really know what you are looking for and I really am just adding a few ideas. We have enjoyed staying at the Greenbrier Resort and the area around that was just lovely. It might be a nice area to visit is you really are concentrating on WV. If you like flyfishing that area is amazing.
I hope by my topping this others will chime in. Have a great trip.

sum

If you take 68 west to 219 south, it will take you to Blackwater Falls. Following 219 south, you go through Elkins, Slatyfork (Snowshoe Mountain Resort) then on to Lewisburg. If you're in Lewisburg in early April, there's the annual Chocoalte Festival on the 12 as well as a concert by the Southern Soul Assembly Tour at Lewisburg's very own Carnegie Hall! Great restaurants and a very cool town.

It's about eight miles from the Greenbrier, which is very posh. Depends on what whets your whistle. Beautiful grounds, good service, a casino and very expensive.

DoubleDAZ

Jane,

I thought I was clear, but maybe not. I simply wanted to know if going through the cities I mentioned will let me see most of what there is to see in West Virginia or if there are other cities/routes I should consider. Looking on a map, it looks like my route will wind through much of the state, so I'm happy with it. I just wanted to know if there is something else I should consider.

For example, I'm sure I-68 is wonderful, but do I need to go all the way up there and all the way over to Morgantown or can I take a more direct route from Indian Head to Blackwater, like I-66 to Hwy 50. I don't really like the Interstates for sightseeing, but I've heard I-68 is nice for a freeway. Hwy 50 out of Winchester also looks nice, but I'm not familiar with the area, so I don't know what I'd be missing going one what or the other. However, you seem to think Morgantown is worth the drive, so I'll stick with my original plan and go through Morgantown.

Sum just gave me some other things to consider, so I'll plot them on the map and see how they work out. West Virginia is one of those states that doesn't get much attention as far as vacations go and I thought this would be the place to get some ideas fro folks who live there or have passed through.

Gretchen

I am not dissing WVA but just go explore for yourself. I personally would not spend much time in Charleston. I'm not sure I "get" it. But if Gatlinburg is your destination, think about that also.

Ackislander

My concern is with the "late March" timetable.

Based on my experiences on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in Virginia, there may well not be any leaves on the trees at higher elevations, and it could be, depending on the year, pretty bleak down below.

Go mid April if that matters to you.

sum

If you take 219 off towards Blackwater Falls, you won't go all the way to Morgantown, but you'll see most of the beauty that I-68 has to offer.

Morgantown doesn't do much for me, but there are a couple of good restaurants there, and a brewery. I haven't been there for a few years, but have never considered it a destination.

There's a time in early April, right after a rain, when the redbuds pop, the dogwoods are in bloom, and the scenery is incredibly beautiful.

Fayetteville is also a nice stop, beautiful, great views from the New River Gorge Bridge, whitewater and good restaurants.

I live in WV. Feel free to ask questions.

weimarer

I would second the idea of delaying until mid-late April to get some more greenery. Further, the area to concentrate on is the area in/around the Monongahelas National Forest. Take the smaller back roads. It's all beautiful. No idea what the 'I'm not dissing WV comment is about'. If you need to go to Morgantown, cut back east and keep your route east of Rte 219, preferably on the smaller back roads. I would not bother with going towards Charleston. You might want to get a DeLorme Gazetteer and us that instead of relying on Google Maps or what have you. It includes a topo layout on top of the roads. A number of the smaller roads close to VA are valley routes running NE to SW. They are very nice rides that don't go up and over the ridges but between them. One very nice one runs south from Moorefield along the South Fork Potomac River valley to Rte 250 in western VA. You could then turn west through Highland County, VA, the so-called Switzerland of VA. Very bucolic country with vast meadows between the ridges (the meadows lead to the nickname). I'd do something along those lines. The meadows will be brilliant green that time of year.

TennesseeGuy

No real comments about West Virginia. I think all of the Appalachia area looks a lot alike. WV does seem to get overlooked. If you like scenery, you might want to check out Townsend, Tn. It's across the mountain from Gatlinburg. I live the next county over and all of Sevier County is very developed and crowded. Come visit, but Sevier county is pretty busy year round. They call Townsend the quiet side of the Smokies. There is also Cherokee, N.C. There is a big casino there, but not a lot else. The Cades Cove loop is a very secnic drive between Gatlinburg and Townsend.

DoubleDAZ

Gretchen – I’m not sure about the “not dissing WV” comment or the “get it” comment. I don’t plan on spending any time in Charleston, it’s merely a point of reference for the route I’d be taking. There are others routes to Gatlinburg, but my question was if Charleston south was better than others for scenic views, etc. Similarly, Gatlinburg is another point of reference, though there are things in that area we plan on doing. My “get it” is simply to see as much as much of West Virginia as we can in a given amount of time. I’m sure for some people I-68 is as much of the state as they want to see, but we like back road travel as long as it isn’t tediously all the same. We like small towns, etc.

Ackislander – the timing is predicated on when we have to be in Cape Canaveral, the last 7-10 days of February. After than, we head to Savannah for 2-3 weekends of high school baseball. From there we head up to West Point and then back down to Indian Head MD. I haven’t worked out all the timing yet because some depends on when our friends will be available in Indian Head where we’ll stay for a few days. When I say “late March”, I’m probably closer to early April, but I don’t think mid-late April will work, leaves or not.

Sum – I’d go into Morgantown and then back out to 219, but there’s no real reason to go all the way to Morgantown if there’s nothing worthwhile. I will make note of the other things you mentioned, especially the bridge.

weimarer – I will map your suggestions and see what they look like. My reliance on Google Maps was just to get some route ideas so I could ask the questions I did to get some good feedback. I’m sure once we get there, we’ll do some roaming around and I would much rather drive through valleys than along the ridges.

TennesseeGuy – we already have plans for when we got to Tennessee and I’ll add your suggestions to them.

Thanks to everyone for some great ideas.

sum

Holler if you need anything!

sum

http://www.traveling219.com

DoubleDAZ

sum,

Will we miss some worthwhile scenery into Morgantown if we only take I-68 as far as the intersection with Hwy 219? I didn't notice until just now that we can actually take 219 straight down from I-68 and bypass going to Morgantown and then backtracking to 219 further south along Hwy 50. So, unless there is something specific to see, I think we'll cut down on 219 and bypass Morgantown completely.

And thanks for the link. I'll read through that and make notes.

sum

DD, I'm not really sure. It's been a long time since I've been there. There's a great valley that opens up heading east on 68 outside of Morgantown, but I've never traveled to Morgantown on 68 from the east.

There's a great scenic highway in Pocahontas County just off 219 with great great views.

http://www.pocahontascountywv.com/hi...c_highway.aspx

Hope this helps!