George Washington Bathed here or..

[rocketman]

291.1 miles for some….

Nathan’s hotdogs, Mmmmmm
http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-003.jpg
(got some strange looks from passers by as I was shooting this, “Daddy, why is that man taking a picture of his hotdogs on his motorcycle?” Ha Ha!)

And here’s….

Geo. Washington’s bath tub
http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-001.jpg

Another view
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Here’s the place that sells the dogs
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It sits on a little side street that boarders the town park
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I discovered this place (the hot dog stand) recently when I had stopped in Berkeley Springs on my up to the Four Winds event in PA. Its similar to any hotdog stand except that its in building rather than free standing and has only a walk-up window where you order. There is no inside seating so you either sit on the bench in front or head across the street to rest on one of the benches in the park.

Berkeley Springs and the Park is famous for being of the several places in the mountains of the mid-Atlantic where folks have been coming since colonial days, to “Take The Waters” as they used to say. The park still has a number of springs and bath houses open to the public and a small stream runs through the back of it, though the stream itself does not contain mineral waters as is evident by the many small fish living it.

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This little guy kept following me hopping from pole to pole as I walked along the bath, perhaps hoping to receive a bit of hotdog roll

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The several springs besides Geo. Washington’s bathtub are not only warm but contain minerals as well and it was thought (and still is by some) to “increase one’s vitality and invigorate the body’s “humors”. One of the springs has a nice soaking hole and even on cool day with temps barely reaching 70 deg., its warm enough for a comfortable dip.

http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-006b.jpg

Another one has a sandy bottom and is constantly bubbling up gases from underground, you can see one of the public bath houses in the background just past it.
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Bubbling baths
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Lots of folks also come here to fill up containers to take home ..from back in the days when everything was segregated by sex….

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There’s a nice Bavarian style hotel built into the cliff side of the mountain that boarders the back of the park
http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-013.jpg

and up further there is the now famous Berkeley Springs Castle, which is really just a private home someone decided to have built to resemble a castle. Couldn’t get a picture of it as the road is rather steep and narrow going up the mountain but the home has a nice view looking down into the heart of the town below.

After the dogs and a little photography I headed up route 9 which would take me over th mountain and my next stop, Great Cacapon, WV that sits at the confluence of the Cacapon and Potomac Rivers.
Just as you come over the top of the mountain out of Berkeley Springs on Rt. 9 and round a sharp turn, the next valley opens out in front of you and there is a small restaurant, called not to surprisingly The Panorama, with a great view that site across the road from the turn-out.

http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-013a.jpg

The town of Great Cacapon is to the left of center and that main river is the Potomac. The Cacapon feeds into it just to this side of the town as looking from the Panorama house overlook, but you can’t see it due to the tree cover.

I also took a panorama consisting of 5 shots using my D80 hand held and then stitched them together when I got home. It is my first attempt with the D80, all my other pano shots I’ve done with the G9 that has a overlay preview feature for doing these, its much harder with the D80 not having that feature, but this came out pretty good I think. You can see it at link below, when it loads there is a slider below the picture, moving that will start the shot scrolling.

Panorama Panorama (http://roadrunes.com/photo/main.php?g2_view=panorama.Panorama&g2_itemId=16759)

end of part one

RM

[rocketman]

Part two Great Cacapon


From the overlook I rode down to the town itself and then I headed down to one of low water bridges that cross the Cacapon and where, during the summers that I owned property in the area back in the 70’s and 80’s, I would either ride or drive up to hang out in the river for the day. Many locals also used come down and we’d all sit and chat and soak and drink beers through the warm, lazy summer afternoons.

Turning down Power House road just outside town I was soon at the Cacapon River. Its generally very slow moving, always cool and very clean. I’d often take my chair out into the river to just below knee level depth and sit with a cold beer in hand. After a bit the minnows would start to nibble on the hairs of my big toes, very odd feeling at first but I’d get used to it. The bottom of the river is mostly sand and smooth pebbles and there was never any worries about broken glass or trash even with all the partying that went on there, often well into the night so mostly we hung out bare foot. It was deep enough in the center for swimming and rarely swift enough we had to worry and getting pulled down stream. I was happy to see it hasn’t changed…still clear and cool and the swimming hole still clean.

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Then I headed across the bridge and went along Power House road to where it turns to gravel
http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-013b.jpg


and heads up to the top of a cliff that overlooks the damn that once diverted water to the old power station.

http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-017.jpg

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And finally a close-up of the shale rock formation that is so prevalent in these mountains.

http://roadrunes.com/images/bath-08/bath-wv-08-019.jpg

From there I wandered along some of the old roads that criss-cross the Cacapon mountains near where my property used to be, past Mt Nebo church and headed home along Rt.9 to 50. Very nice full days ride, cool, mostly clear skies and little traffic once past Berkeley Springs and what there was mostly was going the other way. Lots of folks out riding but again mostly going the other way.

RM

[Ted]

Excellent write up, reminds me of many rides out that way!

Thanks :)

PS - got a GPS coord for the swimming hole?

[rocketman]

nope but here is a link to google maps, from Rt. 9 turn onto Rockford Road then left onto Power House Rd. and it crosses the river a short ways down. Or stay on Rockford which will take you to another low water bridge further down river. There is also a public access right before crossing the bridge that takes you down to the river right where it flows into the Potomac. Lots of good GS type roads off of Power House and further down Rt. 9 off of Detour Road.


http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=39.613623,-78.286514&spn=0.03511,0.090895&z=14

RM

[cyclepath]

Nice ride report and pictures!

Those ALL AMERICAN hot dogs look yummy.:usa

[franze]

Thanks. That's some good stuff. Thought I knew PA pretty good. Looks like I need to get back there.:thumb

[john1691]

We were down that way about 2 1/2 years ago, stayed at "The Woods" condos, a golf resort, but none of us golf. Anyway, 3 couples on bikes, had a great time exploring the nice roads and scenic views. The resteraunt at the overlook was closed when we were there, but we did get to see a Bald Eagle soar the length of the valley, quite beautiful.

Thanks for sharing your trip and bringing back some fond memories.