The Beartown Boardwalk in Beartown State Park West Virginia

This is part five of a travel series to West Virginia.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!

After spending the morning being inspired by the panoramic views at Spruce Knob, we then headed over to Beartown State Park.  This park was one of the most unique parks I have ever visited but unfortunately it is very hard to photograph.  I don't know if it was the harsh mid-morning light or what, but my photos just couldn't capture the depth and details of this amazing place;  so hopefully my words will help you visualize it.

Beartown State Park is located on the eastern summit of Droop Mountain in northern Greenbrier County.  It is known for its deep crevices, massive boulders, overhanging cliffs, and unusual rock formations.  It features rock from the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras.  A boardwalk maze takes the visitors through the Droop (or Pottsville) Sandstone.  It is an easy less than half mile loop around the maze.

It is called Beartown State Park because local residents historically claimed the massive cave and deep rock openings made ideal winter dens for black bears.  The "town" part of the title came from the deep narrow crevices that criss-cross the rock formations and create a pattern that when viewed from above resembles the grid and streets of a tiny town.

There were lots of warning signs about bears and all the garbage cans were bear-proof.  There was even a sign that said "You WILL see bears";  but we didn't see any bears.  I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing 😁.

The boardwalk is definitely a maze, there were times when I didn't know which way to go as I didn't want to miss any section of it.  It takes you down below into the rocks, through the rocks, and above the rocks.  It's pretty awesome because it's a great way to view Mother Nature without harming her.

I was absolutely fascinated with all the rock formations.

Is this cool or what?  😃

Lots of vegetation grows on the rock formations.   When the shale limestones become weathered it makes soil that supports the vegetation and,  in turn,  the wildlife here.

My son being silly when I asked him to pose for a photograph 😆.

The faces of the rocks are covered in thousands of small pit marks caused by either the non-cementation of sand grains or water erosion over time.  Some of these "Pitts" may be a few inches across or so big a person could climb into!

The photo below shows some smaller pits, and the next one shows a much larger Pitt.

Some of the tight spaces on the boardwalk might not be wide enough for a larger person to squeeze through 😁.

I spotted this large nest while photographing my son.  See it in the upper left?  There is a close up in the next photo.  I wonder whose home it is?

This moss covered rock wall was one of my favorite spots in the park.  Isn't it beautiful?

When you get above the maze and look down, you can kinda see where bears may like to make a cozy little den, like underneath these rocks pictured below.

Here is another possible bear den spot!

While exiting the maze I spotted this rock formation which looks like a face of some sort!

Well I didn't see any bears at Beartown, but I did see this cute little guy!

It was still early and we had a lot of daylight left, so we headed to our next destination:  Lewisburg!  This will be the place we spend the night, but we had lots more planned for the day.  See you next week!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more posts from this travel series check these out:

Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Hiking the Maryland Heights Trail at Harpers Ferry

Old Town Winchester

Blackwater Falls State Park West Virginia

Seneca Rocks West Virginia

Spruce Knob, West Virginia's Highest Point

 

 

Back to "Coloring Through the Book of Psalms"

At the end of April I shared that I was wrapping up coloring and reading  My Winter Devotional Coloring Book "Cozy Moments to Calm Your Heart"  and that I would be going back to my spring/summer devotional on the book of Psalms.  I have been working through this book called "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" for two years now.  It is designed to be completed in one year, but I don't have full devotionals on weekends and as I previously stated, I switch books in the fall.

So here we are.  Back in the book of Psalms.  I have been devouring the book of Psalms lately not just in this book, but also in my "The Bible Recap" daily plan on the Holy Bible App.  This is a plan where you read the entire bible in one year;   I'm doing it with my church.  The book of Psalms is exactly where I need to be right now.  I have found the words so comforting and let's just say I can relate to King David feelings of hurt and betrayal as his desire for God to vindicate him.  For those of you who have read my previous devotional posts where I shared the hurts caused by extended family members,  I am still struggling.  I have good days and bad days.  Some days I hardly think about them at all, and other days it just comes raging back like a flood.  I have been devouring God's word, praying, playing worship music, and going to the alter for prayer at church every chance I get.  I keep praying to be delivered from the pain that these people who call themselves Christians, (one is even a current senior pastor) have caused me and my family, but so far, I'm still stuck.  But I wanted to thank all of you who have sent me emails or wrote a comment, your support, prayers, and understanding mean everything to me.  

On to God's word, here is my first page:

I Cry Aloud to God

God has certainly been hearing a lot of my cry lately.  The Bible says "He Will Hear Me".  I know I will be healed of this pain.  I know God will do something.

We Give Thanks

Giving thanks, even when prayer goes unanswered, even when you're in the middle of the trial, giving thanks is so important.  We must remember His past "wondrous deeds" in our lives to remind ourselves that He will do something "wondrous" in our current situation too!

                "We Will Recount Your Praise"

This verse is similar to the previous one.  We have to count our blessings from God, and not just in our lives, but in all our generations.  We need to tell our children and grandchildren the wondrous things God has done for us, so they in turn will tell their children, and so on and so on.

Arise, O God

How many of you are like me and just can't wait for Jesus to come back and set things right again?  There is so much evil, so much hurt, so much pain.  When Jesus returns, all that will end for He will rule with an iron scepter (Revelation 19:15).  There will be no more suffering and pain.

             How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place

I remember singing this verse as a song  at church years ago  "Better is One Day" by Matt Redman.   If you're unfamiliar with it the theme is that one day in God's courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.  So, so true!

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

The images of this page reminded me of peacocks so I chose the colors of the peacock when I colored it in.

Singing is so important when going through a trial.  Playing worship music when thoughts come through my head that are not worth dwelling on, is a great way for me to focus my mind on God and remember His past faithfulness. 

Satisfy Us in the Morning

I normally love to color birds, but these were the ugliest birds I ever did see, which resulted in my poor coloring.  So excuse my bird coloring, as I don't think there was any other way to color them to make them look pretty 😂

Psalm 90:14 is a prayer for God's grace to refresh the soul daily.  Boy, do I need that, do you?  The psalmist asks God to provide deep spiritual fulfillment at the start of the day so that he can experience lasting joy and gladness regardless of his circumstances.  Sometimes having devotionals in the morning can be so difficult with our schedules.  I have my devotionals in the morning during the winter months, but in the summer I have to switch it to afternoon as I need to get out and be in the garden early before it gets too hot.  But I can still play worship music while out in the garden to focus my thoughts on God, or better yet, just listen to the birds sing and marvel at His glory in creation.

Mightier than the Waves of the Sea

Have you ever watched waves crash against a shore and just be amazed at the power?  In some places the waves are so strong that through the years they cut out holes in the rock like at the Apostle Islands in Bayfield Wisconsin.  Well, our God is mightier than those waves!  He is more powerful than personal crisis, illness, or life storm.  And if He is more powerful, He has the ability to bring peace and stability to whatever situation you are in.

And that concludes the pages I have done from "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul".  Next, I want to show you some Bible Journaling pages from my new Bible "Inspire Prayer".    If you remember in last month's devotional post I had some difficulty with smudging, ruining the pages of my brand new Bible, well, this month I can share two completed pages that are smudge free!  Thanks to some tips from my long-time blogging bud Ellie, I switched to different pencils plus I kept a sheet of card stock in-between my pages for a long time.  Ellie suggested I use Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils which she claimed smudged the least, so I purchased a large set on Amazon.  I don't like them as much as I like my Prismacolor  Pencils or Castle Art Pencils (those color more smoothly, like gel), but heh, if the Faber Castell don't ruin my Bible pages, I love it!  I will probably only use the Faber Castell pencils in my Bible and save the Prismacolor and Castle Arts for everything else.  All the devotional pages I've shown you above were done with Prismacolor Pencils.

In addition to my "Bless the Lord, Oh, My Soul" devotional, plus The Bible Recap, I've also been doing a Bible Study by Kay Arthur "God's Love Alive in You" which takes you through the books of John, James, and Philemon.  See, I told you I was devouring God's Word lately!  Oh, and I am also reading a short daily devotion for dieters called "Devotions for Dieters".  That one is just a short verse and paragraph a day to help you stay emotionally and spiritually strong so you can treat your body like the Temple of God instead of like a garbage dump 😃.  I really enjoy reading from it everyday.

Anyway, onto my Bible Journaling pages.  The Inspire Prayer Bible always starts each book of the Bible with a header page, highlighting one main verse from that book.  2 John 1:6 is a good reminder that if we say we love God, we have to do what he has commanded us and one of those commandments is to love one another.  That's a hard one to swallow isn't it?  It's hard to love those who don't love us, or who treat us poorly.  Love is not just an emotion, but an action.  True love requires following God's teachings.  I think one of the reasons I have been struggling so much with this family issue is because I truly loved and cared for this person(s) and to find out how little they cared about me to do something so awful, so hateful, so deceptive, is just shocking to me.  I think if I had not cared at all about them, this wouldn't bother me so much.  So what do I do now?  How do you continue to love someone who hurt you so deeply and refuses to admit any wrongdoing and wants no attempt at reconciliation or restorative justice?  I don't know, and that is why I just keep praying, keep singing, keep reading the word, and keep going to the alter.  I don't know, but God knows.

John's primary goal in writing is to share the Gospel message so that the community of believers can experience the same vibrant, boundless joy that He has in Christ.  I kinda know the feeling John is describing.  I have two children who are also "following the truth".  There's nothing that matters more to me than to see my children, and prayerfully someday my grandchildren, serve and love the Lord.  I have experienced the pain of having a wayward child for a short season, but I also experienced great joy to see that same child come back to God.  Nothing matters more, nothing gives me greater joy.

I hope you enjoyed my Bible Journaling pages, scripture, and personal reflections I have shared today.  I appreciate you all so much, and I covet your prayers and encouraging words.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Please continue to pray for me.  Everyday, gets a little better with the passage of time, but my dream would be for God to do a miracle in this heartbreaking situation,

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more coloring devotional pages on the book of Psalms, see these posts:

Coloring Through the Book of Psalms

Coloring Through the Book of Psalms, Part II

Continuing On Coloring Through the Book of Psalms

Coloring Through the Book of Psalms:  Final Pages of the Year

 

Spruce Knob, West Virginia's Highest Point

This is part four of a travel series to West Virginia.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!

The morning of our third day of our West Virginia road trip we were up bright and early as usual and began our day with a 45 minute drive to West Virginia's highest point:  Spruce Knob.

But first, breakfast!  We began our day at the Gateway Restaurant which is located right at the base of Spruce Knob road.  Hubby and I got an omelet and French toast to split.  The omelet and hash browns were AMAZING, but the strawberry French toast came with a strawberry jam instead of sliced strawberries and sugar mixed together till it forms a syrup, so hubby wasn't happy about that 😆.

Spruce Knob is West Virginia highest point with an elevation of 4863 feet.

The best part of Spruce Knob is that you don't have to go on a grueling four uphill hike to enjoy it, you just drive on up!  And it wasn't even a scary drive like Pike's Peak or Mt. Washington.  It was a nice pleasant drive through a forest mostly, with the occasional overlooks of the vista.  The road was narrow, but there was room for two cars to pass.

There is an ample parking lot at the top of Spruce Knob, and I was very pleased with the serenity, beauty, and levelness of the trail.  There was definitely no climbing on this trail, but just a pleasant walk through the woods.

I was amazed at all the rocks strewn about the forest floor.  In the shady areas, there was moss growing all over them.

Several paths lead you to the tower, which is not tall enough.  It must have been built when the trees were shorter, because now you can't even see over the trees.  They need to add another level or two.  But, I will say it is a very strong and sturdy tower made of stone;  you usually don't see that anymore.  Most towers are made of wood and always feel a little shaky to me.

The tower is unnecessary however, as you can get great multiple views from the trail.

My son was in his happy place today!  He loves rolling hills, and doesn't like flat country at all.

A short walk through the woods led to another opening.  The trail is an easy 0.5 mile loop.

The second viewing area from the trail, not quite as impressive as the first, but beautiful nevertheless.

Heading back to the parking lot, I saw this open field of rocks.  These didn't have moss on them as they were in full uniform.  I don't know why, but I found it so interesting to see so much broken rock on top of a mountain,  usually you see that at a mountain's base.

We came across another patch of mossy rocks just as we were exciting the trail.  This was the best one yet!

The visit to the top of Spruce Knob was a great way to start our day,  but the day was long from over, so onto the next adventure:  Beartown State Park!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more posts from this travel series check these out:

Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Hiking the Maryland Heights Trail at Harpers Ferry

Old Town Winchester

Blackwater Falls State Park West Virginia

Seneca Rocks West Virginia