Babcock State Park, West Virginia

This is part ten of a travel series to West Virginia.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!

On our last day of our West Virginia road trip we were up super early to pack a full day of activities before we would head to Charleston, our last pit stop of the night before heading home.  The first thing we did was drive to Babcock State Park.  If you only go to one or two state parks in West Virginia, this is one not to be missed.  It is a beauty!  The main feature of this part is the Glade Creek Grist Mill.  You will see lots of photos of this mill as it is quite jaw-dropping!

It was much colder in this area than in Lewisburg where we spent the night.  I was dressed for a seventy degree day, but it was FREEZING.  After taking these photos I quickly changed into a winter coat and sweatpants.  Thankfully, my sweatpants had very wide legs so they fit right over my clothes and shoes.  I highly recommend packing wide leg sweatpants when traveling!

The main entrance to this park has this old, but no longer functional, park rangers office.  Now you bypass this and just drive to the main parking lot where the gift shop and park headquarters are located. 

The Grist Mill is located right off the main parking lot so it is the first thing you see.  I was in absolute awestruck of its serene, historic beauty.

They had beautiful 11 x 14 photos of the mill for sale in the gift shop so I bought one as my souvenir of this trip.  I always like to buy one souvenir of every trip we take.  Sometimes it's a piece of jewelry, like my aspen leaf necklace from Colorado, and sometimes it's artwork like my flamingo blown glass from Las Vegas.  The photo of the grist mill was the perfect souvenir to memorialize this trip.

Looking at the photos in the gift shop, we noticed there was quite of difference of water levels in the creek and falls depending on the time of year one was visiting.  We were there in very early spring, so the creek and falls were very full.  Here's a short video showing the mill and waterfalls.

Unfortunately even though the park was open, the gift shop and headquarters were open, all the interior roads to the park were closed.  It was quite upsetting as it meant we couldn't do much hiking as we would have had to hike miles to the trail heads instead of driving in and parking in a lot.  So we spent a lot of time in this area just rock scrambling and taking a ton of photos.

In this photo you can see the large main parking lot on the right with the gift shop/park headquarters in the distance.  In the foreground is the mill race.

The ranger at the park told us of a couple of trails we could walk to.  One of them he described as difficult so we decided to skip that one since we were pretty beat up already from a week of hiking.  The other one was to a swinging bridge.  We had to walk on the road a short distance before we'd reach the trail, but we decided to take that one because who doesn't like a swinging bridge?

We got to walk alongside the pretty Glade Creek most of the way.

And I got to see the backside of the grist mill.  During the normal park season, this mill is still operating and open for tours.

Ya'll know I love a good rock formation and always have to stop and take a photo.

The road down to the swinging bridge trailhead was just lovely.

There were several people fishing in the river.

This is the road.  I have no idea what they do if two cars are going in opposite directions.  We had to step off the road when a park ranger's car wanted to pass.

Once we reached the trail head, we got off the road.  This area was so pretty! It was filled with magical little walkways and lanterns that led to the cutest cabins.

It was one of those forests that made you wonder if this was where all the fairies lived.

And here is one of those cabins.  I love the little narrow path that leads to it.  There is no parking right next to the cabin.  You have to park on the road, a short distance from your cabin, and haul everything in on foot.

I would love to come back here someday and spend a few nights in one of these cabins.  I'm sure they fill up quickly though.

It wasn't long before we hit water again.

And there she was!  The swinging bridge.   The swinging bridge is a narrow, cable suspended footbridge that sways gently over the rushing waters of Glade Creek.  It connects the two cabin loops in the park.

Here is a short video of me walking to the bridge and across it.

Since the swinging bridge isn't a hiking trail but just a connector of two cabin loops, we headed back to the Grist Mill.  By now the sun was much higher and we got better photos.

Here's an interesting fact.  Even though the mill looks super old it is actually a recreation.  It was built in 1976 from parts of three historic mills.   It is one of West Virginias most photographed spots, and I can certainly see why!

Can you spot me in the photo below?  Having a person in the photo really gives you an idea of the massive scale of this mill.

The boys of course enjoyed having their photos taken on the massive rocks.

Even though we were disappointed we couldn't see much of the park (gosh, I'll never understand the purpose of park road closures in the east.  If the snow is gone, open the roads!) it was worth the trip to this park just to see this gorgeous mill.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more posts from this travel series check these out:

Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Hiking the Maryland Heights Trail at Harpers Ferry

Old Town Winchester

Blackwater Falls State Park West Virginia

Seneca Rocks West Virginia

Spruce Knob, West Virginia's Highest Point

The Beartown Boardwalk in Beartown State Park West Virginia

Lewisburg, West Virginia:  A Historic Town Filled with Loads of Charm

Lost World Caverns, Lewisburg West Virginia