Hike to Sewell

H

hollowdweller

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Sep 22, 2003
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I've been breaking in a new pair of boots and I thought I'd test them by hiking to the ghost town of Sewell WV on the New River.

It's an 11 mile round trip.

Starting point is the iconic mill at Babcock State park.
mill1.jpg


The trail is an old road that used to be a railroad grade.
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We called this the "Bridge in the Air" both sides had washed out and you had to jump on and off the thing.
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Some sort of an old boiler off the trail
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Spotted a waterfall on the other side of Glade Creek
distantfalls.jpg


Supposedly this was the old machine shop

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MORE LATER
 
This is supposedly the old company headquarters. There's a foundation and then this structure attached with a roof. Turns out it was the money vault.

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Great stuff buddy, it's always nice to have a little history to go along with a hike !
 
hollowdweller said:
I've been breaking in a new pair of boots and I thought I'd test them by hiking to the ghost town of Sewell WV on the New River.

It's an 11 mile round trip.

Starting point is the iconic mill at Babcock State park.
mill1.jpg
Click to expand...

I really like this photo!
 
This was an old spring that apparently all or some of the town got their water from.
spring1z.jpg



It had sort of a basin carved in it.

spring2l.jpg


Coming down the banks to the tracks (the only way to reach Sewell is either hiking in, going down the New River, or on the train. But the train the Cardinal just passes by on it's way from Chicago to NYC.) you have to watch out and not step down in the holes in the top of the beehive coke ovens.
cokeovenchim.jpg

cokeovens.jpg
 
It was getting late and the it was a 5.5 mile and 1500 foot verticle gain to get back to the truck.

We wanted to get thru the first part with all the deadfalls before it got dark.


Just when you pass under one

deadfall1.jpg


You get another

deadfall2.jpg


The last 3 miles were in darkness

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We were happy to see the gate reflected in our lights
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Cause that meant less than 2 miles to go!
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that's all. My boots worked great. My feet were fine!:thumbup::D;)

We hiked over 11 miles. Only took two short breaks and the entire walk back we only stopped for a few minutes to catch or breath standing. Never took a break. Not bad for two 50+ overweight office workers!
 
To throw a little WSS mindset in we brought water and food. Headlights with backups and extra batteries.

On top it was cold and blowing and still snowdrifts! But down near the New it was much warmer so rather than heavy jackets we had several layers we could put on or remove depending on the temp.
 
hollowdweller said:
Dr WM,

We're trying to follow your prescription for exercise!:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks HD

I have patients who could not walk 11 Blocks---much less 11 miles.

Keep it up----

NO ONE on their death bed--ever wished they worked out --less than they did.
 
Very nice pics. I'm looking forward to hitting a few more of the ghost towns this year. Kaymoor is a really neat place too, especially if you like steps, but the NPS got a little crazy with the chain link. I understand the liability and the need to close the mine entries (MSHA has a level 10 conniption about such things).
 
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