Bluer Highways to North Bend State Park


Today we played Woodridge Golf Club in Mineral Wells, WV. An interesting layout with several dogleg holes that required good shot selection and execution. Kris was up by one stroke at the turn, as Darrell continued his struggle with putting. On the back nine, we both played well, with Darrell managing 7 pars and Kris getting the lone birdie of the day.



So our golf/hiking trip has been (past tense) pretty routine, other than the Plan C effort on Monday. Until this afternoon. After enjoying a nice round of golf at Woodridge Golf Club in Mineral Wells, WV, we headed easterly for North Bend State Park. It had a 25’ RV length limit, and did not have an on-line reservation ability (West Virginia State Parks seem not to be on the Reserve America campground reservation system), so we figured we could wing it.



As as headed east on US50, the sign said “Road Closed Ahead”. US50 eastbound was closed (westbound was open). Upon turning on the detour, Google Maps calculated a re-route via Bear Run Road through a “town” of Cornwallis.



First clue our route was getting bluer was the unlined, paved road we turned down that was about 1-1/2 lanes wide. Poking along in case we met oncoming traffic, we only encountered one pickup truck, fortunately in a part of the road that was a bit wider than most.



Crossing US50, the road turned to gravel, and got narrower. Poking along even slower, we started cataloging potential turn around spots in case the road ran out, or was blocked. We found an average of one place we might could get Sprinty turned around every 1/2 mile. Finally, after 2.5 miles, the road became paved. Just paved - not any wider.



Arriving at the campground, the staff were surprised to learn we came that way.

Upon arrival, we learned none of the electric sites were available, but they had several non-electric sites. Fortunately, we can camp just fine without electric if we don’t need A/C. We picked a nice site in the shade. And thanks to our Weboost cell booster, we have 2 bars LTE cell signal. Not great, but without the cell booster we would not have any connectivity.






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