This roughly 450 mile trip over two days was part of my participation in the West Virginia State Parks Very Important Parks Person program and took place on Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 19, 2024.
The way that the West Virginia State Parks VIPP Program works is that you first apply Here. They send you a card in the mail that has forty plus WV state parks and forests listed on it. You have to travel to a certain number of parks, have your card stamped at each park and write the date next to it. Sometimes you have to go to the check in desk or visitors center desk. And sometimes there is a small box on the side of a prominant building in a given park that has the letters VIPP on it. If you open the box you will (in most cases) see a stamp pad and a rubber stamp for that park. You stamp it and date it. When you get the card filled out completely, return it to WV State Parks and they send you a $25 gift card for use at any of their parks. It took me 7 years to get my first card filled out completely. I’m on my second card now and am into my third year with this card.
Thursday, April 18, 2024- I left Manassas, VA at around 7:45 AM. As usual, traffic in Prince William County was lousy. I took I66 to I81 to VA55/US48 and made it out to Weston, WV by 12:45 PM. The ride was beautiful. The state of West Virginia is in the process of building what will eventually become the westward extension of I66 into WV. The route is now US48 but that designation is only temporary.
The road is about 70% complete. They only have to finish 3 sections: From Davis to Karens, from Wardensville to the WV/VA state line and from the WV/VA state line to I81. Once it’s complete, it will take about 3 hours to get from Manassas, VA to Weston, WV. It took me close to 5 hours today.
I had business in Weston, WV so I took care of that first. It didn’t go as planned. So I then decided to hit three different WV state parks. I first attempted to go to:
Watters Smith Memorial State Park
It is located about 15 miles north of Jane Lew, WV. So I took I79->WV3->US19 and was looking for the turnoff to the park. I was depending on my vehicle’s GPS to get me there. I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going. I believe I turned right onto WV19/20 Hackers Creek RD. I thought the road was named something else.
Anyway, the road went up, up, up. It was paved the first half mile. There was a washout that looked to have recently been repaired. Then the paved road ended and became gravel and dirt. I was still going up, up, up. The road was in bad shape. Lots of deep ruts and washed out sections. I was driving a Subaru Outback but I still felt uneasy. Then my GPS stopped working. Great. I proceeded about a half mile more and the road was now very narrow and uneven. When I got to a side road named Praise LA, I decided to turn around and abort this attempt to get to Watters Smith Memorial State park.
So I retraced my steps back to Weston and decided to check out
about 15 miles south on I79. The exit for the resort was closed for construction but my GPS made me get off the exit before and travel south on US19 for about 5 miles to get to the resort. The rooms at this resort were the most expensive that I have seen so far at West Virginia State Parks. I believe the cheapest was $269.00 a night.
So I got to the front gate and asked the attendent where the VIPP box was. He said right against the wall of the entrance building. So I pulled over to the side and got my VIPP card stamped there. I told the attendent about my troubles getting to Watters Smith State Park. He said that they had gotten a lot of rain in the last few weeks and that may have been why the road going there was so bad. I successfully got one park checked off on my card.
Since it was late afternoon I drove back to Weston and checked into the Super 8 motel. Only $75 a night. Sounded much better than $269 a night. I had a restful evening there.
Friday, April 19, 2024- I got up real early as I wanted to be back home around 12 noon. I left the motel at 6:30 AM and wanted to get to
near Buckhannon, WV right when it opened around 7:00 AM. I was there a few years ago and knew where the VIPP box was. The plan was to get there, stamp my card, then hit the road and go home. So I got there, opened up the VIPP box and there was no stamp pad and rubber stamp for this park in the box! It was now about 7:15 AM. The adjacent camp store did not open until 9:00 AM. I didn’t want to wait around so I hit the road.
A lot of things didn’t go right on this trip. But driving on US48 with beautiful weather, great views and my favorite music playing from my phone, I didn’t care. I was happy and in the zone driving home. This was the best part of the trip.
I stopped in Linden, VA to pick up some apple doughnuts from the Apple House. I then made it home by about 11:45 AM. I have now been to nine out of the 20 parks that I need to go to to complete my second VIPP rounds and get a $25 gift card. I drove about 450 miles on this trip. People tell me that I’m crazy to do this. I answer that yes, I am crazy. But the enjoyment of seeing the beauty of West Virginia makes it all worth while.
Mike C
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