Today we start out at Gaudineer Knob in Randolph County. Gaudineer Knob is one of the two remaining places in West Virginia that has standing virgin timber. Due to a survey mistake, an area of about 50 acres was never timbered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudineer_Knob Unlike the Hemlocks at Cathedral State Park, the area at Gaudineer Knob is a mess of fallen trees, but it has magnificent examples of Maples, Cherries, other hardwoods and Red Spruce. It is also home to the Cheat Mountain Salamander
http://www.wvdnr.gov/wildlife/magazine/archive/05Summer/wildlife_diversity_salamander.shtm.
Below are pictures from Gaudineer Knob, the last picture is a scenic view from the overlook.
After our visit to Gaudineer Knob, we go to the confluence of the west and east forks of the Greenbrier River where the historic town of Durbin West Virginia is located. First, we complete our water quality testing at site one.
(see page above for procedures)
Water quality testing at Durbin, East Fork of Greenbrier River.
Then we ride the Durbin Rocket, like Cass it is another excursion train that tracks the timber history of the Greenbrier Valley. Instead of going up a mountain this train travels 5 miles down the Greenbrier River.
Pictured below is the Rocket and some of the scenery from the trip.
http://mountainrailwv.com/ The trip took about 2 hours and was a lot of fun. Along the trip, are sites where former sawmill etc. existed back in the early 1900's.
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