Car camping, Lake Sherwood, WV

We took an extended 3 day weekend July 14-16 and went car camping in the Monongahela National Forest. We left after work on Thursday and camped at the newest of the Mon forest campgrounds, Seneca Shadows. Between Apollo being restless and the wild animal that visited us several times during the night (sounded like a cross between a deer snort and a wild cat screaming), we didn't sleep much, so we broke camp early and proceeded to drive south on Rt. 33. We took a quick break at Fraklin, which has some beautiful victorian era homes, then headed south on Rt 220 toward the Virginia border. We stopped at the towns of Monterey and Warm Springs in Virginia, which both have nice historical areas to visit, then proceeded west on Rt. 39 back toward the WV border. We plan on returning sometime soon to this part of Virginia and spending some time exploring the area.

Once back in WV, we drove south on Rt 92 to the small town of Neola. From there is was a short 11 mile drive east on CO 14 to Lake Sherwood. Lake Sherwood is definitely a jewel of the Mon Forest and of the state. The lake is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and large pine. We arrived early in the day, around 2 pm, but all of the sites on the 3 main loops were either already occupied or reserved, but we found a nice campsite on Cales Knoll, a small hill overlooking the lake that has around 10 tent sites. The park attendents told us that the campground normally always fills up ( over 100 sites) on weekends during the summer, so if you are planning on staying there and not tent camping (RV, 5th Wheel, etc.), make sure you make reservations (at least 4 days in advance). Cales Knoll had a small restroom with flush toilets, but the 3 larger loops all have restrooms equipped with hot showers. A real luxury after spending so many nights out in the wilderness backpacking! The sites are spaced far enough apart for a little privacy, with tent pad, picinic table, fire ring, and lantern pole.

After setting up our camp (amazing how fast we can accomplish this task now!), we decided to hike the 3.5 mile trail around the lake. This was an easy stroll along a well maintained trail, but hikers must share it with mountain bikers. We only met one other group, a family out on an afternoon bike ride around the lake. It didn't look like the 2 young kids with them were enjoying themselves too much (in fact, I don't think "mom & dad" were having to much fun either!).

Saturday morning we woke up early and decided to hike the Lake Sherwood/Allegheny Mountain Loop that mrhyker has outlined at www.midatlantichikes.com . A map and trail description of the route that we took can be found at http://www.midatlantichikes.com/id124.html. We did the route in reverse order, hiking across the spill-way of the lake and then up Virginia trail till it's junction with Allegheny Mt. Tr. Allegheny Mt. Tr was a nice, easy stroll along the ridgeline, with moderate elevation changes as it snakes over the hilltops. We picked our share of blueberries, which seemed to be everywhere, as we hiked. We took the connector trail down to Meadow Creek Trail, which we then followed back to Lake Sherwood. Meadow Creek didn't have much water flowing thru it, so the numerous stream crossings were all easy. Beware of the very slippery rocks at these crossings! Once back at the lake, we hiked the main road of the campground back to Cales Knoll. I believe this cut the route that we took down to about 9 miles total. A very nice and easy hike, with easy to see blazes and signs, and some nice scenery along the way.

Sunday morning we took our time and packed up our gear (still didn't take long). We decided to take the scenic route back home, stopping at Bear Town State Park and Snowshoe Moutain Resort, which is like a small city in the clouds. Overall, we had a great time, and a relaxing weekend.