A Visit to the Kanawha State Forest
Last Monday Molly and I took a day trip to the Kanawha State Forest. Molly and her parents had been there years ago but I never had. The Forest is about 8 miles south of Charleston and is beautiful. The CCC set up a camp there (Camp Kanawha) back in 1938 and built trails and buildings in the Forest. We wanted to have a day off, but we also wanted to look at some of the gas wells in the Kanawha State Forest. Just like us, the state, in the case of many of its state parks,owns only the surface. This is true also for the U.S. forest system in this state. Gas companies want to drill in the Monongahela National Forest.
The Kanawha State Forest is noted for its wildflowers. This is cardinal flower which blooms in late summer. We saw them growing along a well road that was in a hollow running next to (sometimes through) a stream. Cardinal flower likes marshy wet places.
At the end of the well road were two gas wells drilled in the 1960s. One of the wells had a sign warning of hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas that sometimes comes up with the natural gas.
Molly took this of me while I was making a video record of the site. The second well is visible to the left.
None of the wells we saw had any kind of security, like fencing. That’s surprising because of the inherent dangers at these sites, including an unsecured 20 foot high ladder up a tank at this well site.
We left the well road and walked up out of the hollow on the Beech Glen Trail. Mountain bikes can use this trail going in this direction (up hill). Further ahead we went through a tumble of boulders.
At the top of the ridge we took another trail.
This is a well drilled only a few years ago. Molly is barely visible standing on the edge of the pad in a bare area. We took samples and there was elevated chloride where Molly is standing.
We noted signs of animal visits to the bare area. These are deep scratches made by wild turkey claws. We also saw deer tracks. While we were at the site we saw a group of three finches pecking the dirt in this area, the first time we’ve seen finches do this, though it’s been that members of the finch family like salt.
| After seeing our last well we took the Wildcat Ridge Trail back to the car. This is another trail used by mountain bikes.The tree lying across the trail is close to 2 feet in diameter. A ramp has been constructed for cyclists to get their bikes over. Cyclists who really like a thrill probably speed up one side of the ramp and down the other. Since it was a quiet day in the park we didn’t get to see anyone do this. |
More soon!
September 3, 2011