Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: new river

This is below Hawks Nest (Ansted), in West Virginia, from the boat landing at Hawks Nest State Park. July or August of 1998. The river's calm mostly because it's backed up behind the Hawks Nest dam. Photographed with my Nikon N90s and scanned from the negative.

Taken at West Virginia's Babcock State Park with my Nikon N90s in late September of 1999. Compare this photo Joan took last summer from a nearby location. We're looking down the Manns Creek Gorge toward the New River. After a severe downhill run, Manns Creek joins the New at what used to be Sewell, where I'm told there are ruins of coking ovens. I've complained from time to time about the high-speed film I've been scanning from my photo collection, but that's a little misleading. My pattern, historically, was to pick a specific film each year and shoot almost exclusively using that product until the next year. This means that I've made photographs with all sorts of films--so the scanning problems I've had of late were largely because I've been choosing to scan years with difficult films. This photo, in contrast, came out very nicely.

This waterfall's on the trail to Kaymoor One mine site in West Virginia's New River Valley. It's a tall thing; the photo shows less than half of the cascade. Just of bit of Joan showing on the bridge.... Photo taken with my Nikon N90s

Not quite a ghost town, but nearly so.... Thurmond, deep in West Virginia's New River Valley, was long the busiest point on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, but those days are long past and it's now a not-quite-ghost town. On any given day, you'll see a few trains rumble through, and a few railfans taking pictures. I've got all those pictures; you'll likely see more from time to time. A fascinating place, stuck in time. Photo taken in July, 1997.

Camera: Nikon N90s Another photo from our July, 2003, trip to the New River Gorge. Here's a different view of what still stands at the Kaymoor One mine site. The grill at the center of the photo protects a ventilation opening; the mine's entrance is behind the concrete building down the trail. This was a major mine, and during its prime this shelf on the canyon wall must have been a terribly busy place. Four decades after the operation closed, most of the mining structures are still standing but nature is reclaiming them and it certainly looks very different from what the miners must have known. Balancing preservation, safety, and natural decay is a challenge for the Parks Service, particularly in the parks in the National Heritage program areas. This location appears to test those efforts.

Glade Creek Mill at West Virginia's Babcock State Park, shortly after a heavy downpour in July of 1997. =================== Had a couple reminders of this place today: * A friend has a photo of the mill on her PC. I told her I visit there regularly, and that Joan and I will be staying in one of Babcock's cabins in a few weeks. Sue was surprised; wanted to know more about the mill, and the park. * And today's mail contained a flyer from Mountain River Adventures, featuring a Special Offer if we book our rafting trip before June 30: Free gas! One gallon of free gas. One gallon. Wow.

Joan at the New River Bridge, in 1999.

From the National Park overlook--here's another of the inevitable pictures from West Virginia. I've shot two or three dozen similar photos of the very pretty bridge across the New River, including this one . Less fog than usual, this time.

The incomparable arch which superceded Fayette Station's bridge, from Fayette Station. This picture also shows the start of the series of rapids--the third is called "Old Nasty"--below the big bridge. ========== A sense of scale: New River Bridge is 900 feet above the river, and the span is over a half mile long. An engineering marvel, and a beautiful structure. Another scale: A century ago there was no bridge. Logging companies were taking the trees, and there were mines--and mining towns--every few hundred feet. The valley was filled with smoke, and the river was polluted. Two hundred years ago this area was an unsurveyed wilderness. The place was considered to be nearly inaccessible. Photo taken July 21, 2004 with my Nikon N90s.

Same bridge, different view. This is where you get after you take the twisty road down the side of the gorge. The original bridge at Fayette Station, West Virginia, was built in 1889. It was closed in 1977 when the high bridge overhead opened, then refurbished and reopened in 1998. Several of my friends are rafting the New River this week; only last week did they realize that when I said "We're vacationing in West Virginia" I was going to the same place they were going for rafting. This is where their trip will end. Photo taken July 21, 2004. Camera: Nikon N90s

A view from one of the overlooks the National Park's constructed near West Virginia's New River Bridge. The rafts on the river are about to land, as the lower New River raft trips generally end at the bridge(s). While they don't show well, there are CSX lines on both sides of the river at this point. The haze is normal. That's the Fayette Station Bridge. The old road across the gorge begins (speaking loosely) near where I took the picture, jackknifes down the gorge literally beneath the viewing station, crosses the river, and makes a similar trip up the other side. Much of this trip is now restricted to one-way traffic, but until 1977 this skinny road carried vehicles in both directions across the gorge.

The great bridge across the New River Gorge. This photo dates from 1997, I think; taken from the grounds at the National Park visitor center. Perhaps you've noticed: I like bridges, too. Perhaps as much as daylilies.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Just across the blue ridge, where the high meadows lay And the galax spreads through the new mown hay, There’s a rusty iron bridge, cross a shady ravine Where the hard road ends and turns to clay. With a suitcase in his hand there the lonesome boy stands, Gazing at the river sliding by beneath his feet, But the dark water springs from the black rocks and flows Out of sight where the twisted laurel grows. – Tommy Thompson , 1976 ============== The Chessie line crosses the New River just above the Hawks Nest dam (and just below Hawks Nest proper); Ansted, West Virginia, September 25, 1998.

The C&O (CSX, now, but this is a location where the C&O context is really important) crosses the New River below Hawks Nest. Ansted, West Virginia; 1997. Camera: Chinon Genesis III. This is an not-particularly-good old scan. I'll post a rescan when I locate the original....