Little Cabin In The Woods

Oct
29

The cabin was so cute. It has no electricity or running water. You’re supposed to commune with nature. You know what I thought was even weirder than the outhouse? The sign at the front of the park that said, “Forest closed from 10 pm to 6 am.”

Okay, seriously, can you close a forest? Isn’t that like closing the sky? The river? The air??? I can just see the squirrels clocking out…. “It’s 10 pm. Time to go home.”

Seneca State Forest is one of West Virginia’s oldest forests, and it really is beautiful there–everywhere, not just in the state park but in the entire area. The scenery was just gorgeous.

Playing with fire is fun, and it made me wish my kids were there because they love throwing logs on a fire and sitting in front of it. We were lucky this weekend because it wasn’t really that cold. There were no fireplaces in the bedrooms, so if it had been any colder, I’m thinking that would have been hard. There were gas lamps for light, but I still wished I’d brought more candles.

The firewood was chopped and came with the cabin rental, by the way. And, there were coin-operated showers at the park headquarters and regular restrooms, so civilization was within reach.

Cooking on the woodstove was fun!!!

Really!!!

I baked bread twice, regular loaf bread and french bread. I managed to get the bread baked right, but I was surprised by how much more it browned and how quickly it baked. I don’t really time bread-baking, I just do it by feel and how the bread looks in the oven, so this was a different experience. We’ve thought about putting a woodstove in our new house, one we can cook on, so maybe I’ll get a chance to learn more.

The cabin backed up to the beautiful Greenbrier River.

Also in the park is a very pretty, small lake with rowboats and canoes. I really wanted to go out on the lake, but we didn’t have time because instead we took a daytrip on Saturday out to….


Cass Scenic Railroad, an old logging railroad that has been turned into a scenic rail trip where you can ride the steam-driven locomotive up to Bald Knob, the second highest peak in West Virginia.
And for your trouble, you get sprawling views like this one over the autumn mountains of Pocahontas County.


Could you go for a weekend with no electricity? Longer? A week? I kept thinking, I’d just like some running water and the internet. I need one plug, for my computer. But we humans are such gluttons for convenience. Could I really stick to one plug? I have to say that I don’t think so.





Comments

  1. Nicole Reising says:

    WOW – thank you for sharing the photos! Beautiful! And it sounds like you had a good time. :butterfly: Could I survive… yes – I love to go camping, real camping – backpack type where all you have is what you carry. Haven’t done it in a while though – my hubby likes his comforts. 😎

    Have a great week!
    Cole

  2. Angie T says:

    I love those pictures. That looks like heaven to me!
    I believe I could live without electricity for a short period of time…like a long weekend or maybe a week at the most, (which we had to do when Hurricane Opal blew through several years ago!) But i could not live long periods without internet, DVDs and CDs, at least. However, I have got to have running water, even if it is cold!
    And Suzanne, food cooked on a wood stove just tastes different, doesn’t it? My DH had a great-aunt who never did cook on anything but a wood stove until the day she died.

    P.S. today is my birthday! I always wanted to use this icon!! :birthday1:
    and this one, too!
    :birthday2: LOL!!!

  3. Kim A. says:

    Oh, wow! What a marvelous weekend you had!

    I think I would go through serious internet withdrawals without electricity. I could do it for a weekend, up to several days, but that’s it, I think. Frankly, I like my modern conveniences. Yes, we are spoiled here, in our society. At least those of us who are lucky enough to have food, clothing and shelter.

    However, it would be advantageous to have a wood stove in your house, in case of power outages. Back in January 1998 we had the ice storm. At the time, my ex and I were lucky that we lost power for only 5 days. Many were out for a couple of weeks or more, in other areas. But we were at a loss as to how to cope in the city and bunked down with a friend’s in-laws outside the city. Old country farmhouse with plenty of heat.

    So it demonstrates how reliant we are now on these conveniences and how so many of us don’t have the skills to cope without them.

    Bottom line: Install your wood stove! 🙂

    -Kim

  4. leanne says:

    Wow!!!! Sound’s like you had a really good time. The pic’s are beautiful. Congrats to Suzan.

    Leanne :cattail:

  5. Susan says:

    Wow, those are beautiful pictures! It sounds like you had a great time and the scenery is awesome. :thumbsup:

    We have done without power for 3 days because of a snowstorm, luckily we have a large wood burner and two fireplaces. We cooked all of our meals on the wood burner and it worked out pretty good! :bananadance:

  6. Estella says:

    Really gorgeous pictures.
    Congrats Susan!

  7. Tori Lennox says:

    Wow! West Virginia really is wild and wonderful!!! Gorgeous pictures!!!

    But I don’t do roughing it. Gotta have electricity and running water.

    :rotfl: re the forest being closed!!!

  8. Jenawriting says:

    Beautiful pictures as always! Sounds like you had fun- as to roughing it with no electricity? Well, you know me- I need my hairdryer, curling iron and all the rest so that would be a big old no! might be fun to try though….. Or not. 😆

  9. Brandy says:

    Gorgeous pictures, just beautiful. We had a bad ice storm here a few years ago and lost power for 4 days. We have no fireplace or gas stove, so we were stuck with sandwiches and the like and kerosene heaters (UGH! HATE THOSE.) for heat. I would have loved a fireplace.

    And any longer without the electricity and I would have a fit. I need my internet!!!!! *G*

    Have a wonderful day!

  10. Michelle Willingham says:

    Love the photographs. Hope you had fun! :purr:

  11. Alice Audrey says:

    Beautiful. Just beautiful.

    I could go however long I had to without electricity, but I wouldn’t be happy about it after the first couple of days. I like my internet.

  12. Ellen says:

    How cool! I’d like running water too, a toilet, and the internet (but I could live without that if I had lots of pen, paper, and books). I love those big cast-iron pans.

  13. =Mark says:

    A bunch of friends and I that first met at West Virginia Wesleyan College have been visiting the park for 30 years now (Specifically Cabin 7).

    https://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/Gamecabin/

Add Your Thoughts