West Virginia: Pittsburgh PA, Lots of Waterfalls, and Terry Bradshaw (?), July and August 2012
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Title: Elakala Falls III - Close I need to come up with a better title than that... |
Title: Elakala Falls II |
Title: Little Brother |
I told you we'd bring you plenty of photos of West Virginia, and I feel we're delivering. |
Lisa and I circled back to Blackwater Falls, this time checking out the side view from the lower viewing platform. The streaks in the water were visible in person because the Blackwater River is made of green Jell-O. Or it could be that the river was named for its tannic acid-colored water. You decide. Blackwater Falls is one of the most photographed features in West Virginia, and appears on calendars, keychains, T-shirts, and jigsaw puzzles. |
The bed and breakfast delivered in both departments, offering delicious breakfasts, including their ABC breakfast: apple, bacon, and cheese. Yes, an omelette with apple slices, crunchy small bits of bacon, and cheddar cheese. Everything goes better with bacon, and this was delicious. Speaking of delicious, across the street from the Inn was Hellbender Burritos. And they sometimes use the word"burritos" loosely. And that's okay. There are many vegetarian and non-vegetarian options that may or may not resemble Mexican food, so it's probably better to think of these as wraps. Enormous wraps. Enormous wraps that are delicious. |
Geek Talk: This photo had an 8-second exposure at f/11, ISO 400, with a Nikon D7000 and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens with a 1.8 B+W neutral density filter screwed on the front and a Feisol tripod that was willing to get wet. After that, Lisa made the drive home through beautiful twisting mountain roads to Route 79 and on to Charleston, where we would stay with her family. I don't have as many photos of people - Mary Wade, Arnold, the family - as I have in previous ones. Whether this is the result of my mind-set resulting from two very recent trips that were primarily photographic in nature or not wanting to plaster the internet with her family photos, I'm not sure. But I had my camera ready for waterfalls.
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And these coke ovens are part of what have colored the water and the surrounding rocks, which have an orange hue, which you can't really see in this photo. This discoloration is due to the acid mine drainage from the mines and coke ovens, amazing that pollution can cause something that beautiful. The water, an inky reddish hue, also had a peculiar smell, and I wasn't too keen on wading around, so I stuck with this more conservative side vieweshown here rather than going down the creek farther and getting near the water like I did for Elekala Falls. Peculiar smelling water and the phrase "acid drainage" have that effect on me, you know. Oh, and something else. Several websites have listed this as a sort of alternate brother to Blackwater Falls, saying that Douglas Falls is about 60 feet. I'd be surprised if this is much greater than 30 or 35 feet, and is considerably shorter than Blackwater Falls. Geek Stuff: 6 second exposure at f/11 ISO 100, Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens and a Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filter. |
Geek Talk: This photo has an exposure of 1/2.5 seconds, f/7.1, ISO 400, taken with the Nikon D7000 and the Nikkor VR 18-200mm lens. I used a Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filter, which seemed to be screwed on to my lens for most of the trip, and a Feisol tripod with wet feet.
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The previous day, we had hung out in Charleston with Lisa's family, including visiting her aunt in a nearby town. |
Title: Mash Fork Falls |
Title: Cathedral Falls August 2012 II |
2 August 2012 Thursday:Every time we visit, Lisa's father cooks his incredible biscuits and gravy. I filmed a how-to video on this last year. This is a special treat that he seems to do only when we visit, so everyone only gets this about once a year. |
Click on the Devin Ebanks Navigation Buttons. He will take you where you need to go. And you want to go to the next page. Terry Bradshaw is there. I promised, and I won't let you down. |
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Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
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West Virginia, July and August 2012
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Contact photographer/musician Ken Lee
29 July 2012 Sunday:
For this photo, it was time to get wet. All five legs in the water (I'm counting the tripod here, don't worry). This is Elakala Falls. As it turns out, Elekala Falls has three falls sections, each one apparently progressively more difficult to access, according to our West Virginia waterfalls book that Lisa found. These are only of the upper, most accessible falls, a short distance from the lodge.
The smaller features of Elakala Falls were also quite beautiful. You can see part of the primary falls in the distance. And lots of mossy green stuff and water, just the way a falls should be. Elakala Falls rates highly on my Waterfall-O-Meter for beauty.
Lindy Point in Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia, offering a beautiful view of the canyon and its red spruce and hemlock forest. When I think of West Virginia, I often think of views like this, as so much of the state is lush forests and rolling hills. 
Title: Blackwater Falls II
Lisa found the charming Bright Morning Inn, a bed and breakfast in Davis, nestled in the highest incorporated town in West Virginia, and surrounded by Monangahela National Forest goodness.
30 July 2012 Monday:
This is Douglas Falls, at the end of a short dirt road outside the town of Thomas. It is on a tributary of Waterfall Creek which flows into the Ivy River, and it is within the Big Ivy section of the Pisgah National Forest, and involves a short drive past old coke ovens.
And I'm not sure if this falls has a name. No names were in the West Virginia waterfalls book, but this is the same tributary, just a bit upstream from Douglas Falls. But look, does every falls need a name? Let's name it, I don't know, Lisa Falls, Liam Falls, Terry Bradshaw Falls. Good? Good.
1 August 2012 Wednesday:
Thankfully, the rangers had left the faucet on for nearby Mash Fork Falls, also in Camp Creek State Park, south of Beckley. Not a lot of it. I was standing on part of the falls, something I suspect would get me extremely wet if this were April instead of August.
On the way back from Camp Creek State Park, we stopped by the incredible Cathedral Falls, located just off US 60, just two miles east of Kanawha Falls. Its verdant ampitheatre likely giving it its name, although to locals, the falls is known as "the washing machine."
And of course, that means that once a year, I am compelled to take photos of the biscuits and gravy. It would be impossible to exaggerate how good this is. You go to a restaurant, and the gravy never tastes the same. This is just pure goodness in a bowl.
