Ever since Blake was in his early teens, he would camp along Piney River. This is Blake’s “Happy Place”. I was excited when he decided it was time to share that place with me during a day trip to the mountains.
Before getting to Piney River, I introduced Blake to a restaurant that I had frequented in the past called Blue Mountain Brewery. We both got the beer flight and a sandwich.
After lunch, we headed towards the entrance of George Washington National Forest.
We drove along the road that runs beside Piney river and pass a lot of small waterfalls. These waterfalls are typically non-existent, but due to recent snowmelt they were flowing. Blake said in all of his years of coming to Piney, he has never seen the small falls.
As we continue our drive, I tell Blake to back up. I thought I saw something large and black in the woods. Sure enough, I was right. We backed up and there stood BIGFOOT……well a large wooden Bigfoot. (If you look on Google Maps, it will actually say Bigfoot at this location).
Next stop, Statons Creek Falls. Blake has been sliding down this waterfall for years and the falls are absolutely breathtaking.
The temperature is in the low 40s and there is snow further up on the mountain and that is when Blake asked me if I wanted to slide down the waterfall. I thought he was joking, he most certainly was not. Blake went first and then I braved the cold and went down the falls. It was an absolute blast, a freezing blast but so much fun!
We get dried off and continue on our way. Blake wanted to take me to the top of the mountain, said it is a great place to watch the sunset. He was not wrong. As we get closer and closer, we start seeing more and more snow. The total amount ended up being around 6 inches. This is crazy since we were just in a waterfall.
We made it to the top shortly before the sun set and we stayed there for a bit.
Once it started getting dark, we figured we better begin to make our way down the mountain. But not before snapping a few more sunset pictures.
On our drive back down the mountain we came across a heart shaped puddle in the road. I got a picture of it because I knew my girls would love it.
We made one more stop before heading home. Blake wanted to stop for us to put our feet in the water for the first time at Piney River for 2019.
Such an awesome day trip for my first time seeing Piney River and Blake introducing me to his happy place.
Nic of Time - Travel 