Timber and Trains

Gaudineer Knob is one of only two (very different) virgin forests in West Virginia.  This small sliver of forest is 4,100 feet in elevation.  The very moist environment has provided the perfect place for diverse and thicker undergrowth than at Cathedral State Park (the other WV virgin forest).  Guadineer Knob is known as a spruce forest, but there are a lot of deciduous trees as well.  

One thing that was different from most of the forests I have seen was that there were not any rhododendron trees.  The forest floor was almost like carpet in some places where the moss was very thick.  Our soil test gave a pH result of 4.5, which is acidic.
 

We performed another water test in the Greenbrier River, this time in the town of Durbin.  The coordinates are N38 5.4352” W79 8.2484.  This sample is upstream from the sample we tested in Cass yesterday.  Today the overall water quality was 45.47, which is on the upper end of the fair scale (26 – 50).  

A climax engine powers the Durbin Rocket.  We enjoyed a peaceful ride for 5.5 miles along the Greenbrier River.  

This ride was a very different experience from Cass.  Each of the cars was different and you could walk from car to car during the ride.  Some were open air while others were covered.  My favorite was the upper deck of the caboose!