Hungry Mother State Park

Coming into Hungry Mother State Park in Marion VA on Thursday, I saw a cavern beside the road. I have no idea how I had missed this before although the other times we were in this area there were leaves on the trees etc. We've been to Hungry Mother so this was just an overnight stop.

Entering the park there was not one camper or tent – we were afraid they had maybe closed for some reason. We found a lone camp officer doing work on the bathroom and he informed us this was the first day! We were the only ones in the park and picked a lovely place beside the river.

For my part, as much as I like rivers, don't park next to one. All night I had off and on bogus thoughts that I had to visit the restroom or that a pipe had ruptured somewhere. It is beautiful though. It wasn't terribly cold – in the 40s and after cooking a dinner of chicken fillets with cabbage, onions and soy sauce with a side of potatoes, it was warm in the little trailer.

A plug for this campground: It is very clean, well kept, family inclined, has a big lake with more walking trails than even I could use. I recommend it highly. It has some wifi but not so much to upload many pictures and only in certain areas - but come on, you are out in the woods. It really is a great park. The fee is about 45 bucks a night though so bring your wallet. A bargain if you have a lot of kids, not so much if it is just one or two people. There is wifi in the 'beach' area that is a sandy place around one small part of the lake - good place for kids.

Next morning was coffee, ham and eggs and off to look at that cavern. And of course we had to stop at Walmart. Where else can you get plantains and bicycles all in the same store. We got a bike pump, a couple jacks an extension cord and a box of Cheeze Nips. Life is good. Marion is a small place with farmland and not exactly upscale but charming.

If you ever get this way, make sure to visit Saltville, it is a very odd place where there is a huge salt deposit and the salt is mined out of the earth there...and yes there are some lovely crystals there if you manage to find them. There is also a museum there with the bones of a mastodon on display that were found right there in the bog.

I got out to look at the cavern, I need to learn about this one. It is severely mistreated and there were abundant signs of it being a party place. Part of it you can get to from the road but part is wooden fenced off since one of the openings leads right up to someones yard – that has to be not so much fun for the owner. So, these are some pictures of the cavern, I didn't go in any further than 100 feet since it was very muddy and there was ample bear scat, and I did not feel the breath of the cave – I am thinking it is a cavern but not a cave as there was no exit wind. At the far end of the last part we were in was filled with trash and actually stunk. Sad thing.

Off to Natural Tunnel State Park and more looking.  

When we arrived, it was below 30. nasty cold rain so of course we had the park pretty much to ourselves. There is one little band of a school group that leaves in the morning. So, for today, we pulled in, made spaghetti with a combo of chicken strips and spam...yes, spam. When you fry spam sort of crispy it isn't bad. Some oregano, minced garlic - not bad. Mostly we are warm and dry with the dog and each other nestled in with plenty of food and drink for the night - tomorrow is supposed to be better. We both look forward to that. Good days. Just a by the way - there is no real wifi here. The phone had enough g's to generate a hot spot. How cool is that. Tomorrow will be a picture taking day. We leave out again Sunday headed towards Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area. New ground!