INTERESTED IN HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS? Check out the web site for the Shawnee Living History Trail for details and a calendar of events. This site was created and is maintained by a group of reenactors from southern West Virginia dedicated to the preservation of our history and our heritage. |
FOR A LISTING OF HIKES LED BY A KANAWHA VALLEY HIKING GROUP TRY THE KANAWHA TRAIL CLUB. |
HUMAN FOOT TRAVEL IN THE KANAWHA VALLEY MARY INGLES TRAIL BLAZERS' (MITB) 2009 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS For hundreds of thousands of years, great beasts traveled the Kanawha Valley without ever meeting a human being. Ice sheets of continental proportions ebbed and flowed to within one hundred miles or so of the valley. The last ice sheet dammed the northward flowing waters of ancient Teays River and its younger siblings, Little Kanawha River and Monongahela River. When this happened, the mastodons, giant sloths, dire wolves, elk, and other megafauna traveling in the Kanawha Valley region had to swim or walk great circuits around the dendritic arms, bays, and coves of the great lake geologists dubbed "Lake Tight" after one of the early "rock scientist" describers of the great glacially-blocked body of water. Then the ice sheets retreated and the infant Ohio River flowed southwestward, stealing the waters of the ancient river channels choked with solidified lake sediments. It was then that a new creature, equipped not with fang and claw, but with tools and reason, entered the domain of the Pleistocene megafauna; and as man replaced mastodon over the next few thousand years, the story of human foot travel in the Kanawha Valley would be written consecutively in the archaeological record, the journals of European traders and land speculators, the military records of Virginia officers on campaign, the 18th and 19th century penned oral traditions of former captives of American Indian warriors, the ledgers of farmers, furriers, storekeeps, and industrialists (growing tobacco, buying animal skins, purchasing ginseng, and making salt), the correspondences and dispatches of Union and Confederate armies, and the numerous written records of the modern era. Come join the Mary Ingles Trail Blazers chapter of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association as we remember, celebrate, and memorialize the history of foot travel in the Kanawha Valley at our regular monthly meetings and special weekend events throughout the following year. In winter, during our monthly first Tuesday meetings we will have special presentations that highlight foot travel history and low-budget, family-oriented foot travel recreation. Through special weekend events and warm season, first Tuesday meetings, our work on the Mary Ingles Trail Appalachian Power Company (APCo) property will continue in 2009. We will also continue our efforts in Kanawha State Forest and at the Weiford property, which connects to the APCo trail route. Check out an article on the proposed Mary Ingles Trail on the WVDOH Trails website: http://www.wvdot.com/3_roadways/rp/Trails/images/Mary%20Ingles%20Trail%20proposed.pdf Much of the material for the article came from our informational brochure. If you are going to speak on the proposed trail at a meeting, let me know and I can provide you with some of the brochures to hand out. Doug Wood, chingwe@peoplepc.com or 755-0440 eves. Also check out the MITB website at: http://maryinglestrailblazers.homestead.com/index.html The MITB will be meeting every first Tuesday of the month at 6pm. The Nov. & Dec. 2008, and the Feb., March, and April 2009 meetings will be held indoors at the St. Albans library (see directions below). May through October 2009, we will be hiking on the first Tuesdays. FIRST TUESDAY MEETINGS 6PM: MITB SUMMER-EARLY FALL 2009 FIRST TUESDAY OUTINGS June 2, July 7, Aug. 4, Sept., and Oct.6 we will hold our first Tuesday evening workhikes at 6pm on various parts of the Mary Ingles Trail. For many of the hikes, we will meet at 1pm at the Exxon gas station between Winfield & St. Albans near Leslie Lumber along WV Rt. 817 (formerly US Rt. 35). For other workhikes, we will meet at the Putnam County Aging Commission building at Scary Creek along Rt. 35 near the St. Albans exit of I-64. We leave from the parking lots promptly at 6pm, so arrive early. Hiking trips that do not leave from these locations will have their ports of departure identified later, by e-mail or phone. If you wish to be notified of hike details, provide your e-mail address to Doug Wood. If phone is best for you, please provide your phone number. Last minute changes are best ascertained by calling 304-755-0440, not by e-mailing. OTHER LOCAL MITB ASSOCIATED OUTINGS: Aug. 22: Allegheny Trail Cooperators' Meeting and workhike. Location TBA. Sept. 12: Margaret Dennison Memorial Fall Nature Walks at KSF. Sept. 23-27: MITA Legacy of Mary Ingles living history event. Oct. 9-12: Annual WVSTA Trek. Columbus Day Weekend. Twenty-five percent of proceeds go to Camp Mountain Heart , a camp for youth with heart problems. Nov. 6-8: Wild Foods Weekend at Reger's Camp on Glady Fork. Some time will be spent preparing the Allegheny Trail for the 2010 Annual Trek. |
MARY INGLES TRAIL BLAZERS / WEST VIRGINIA SCENIC TRAILS ASSOCIATION CALENDAR OF EVENTS (Other West Virginia outdoor events such as nature hikes, wildflower hikes, day hikes and backpacking trips have been included which are not sponsored by the Trail Blazers but may be of interest to you.) |
HUMAN FOOT TRAVEL IN THE KANAWHA VALLEY MARY INGLES TRAIL BLAZERS' (MITB) 2009 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS For hundreds of thousands of years, great beasts traveled the Kanawha Valley without ever meeting a human being. Ice sheets of continental proportions ebbed and flowed to within one hundred miles or so of the valley. The last ice sheet dammed the northward flowing waters of ancient Teays River and its younger siblings, Little Kanawha River and Monongahela River. When this happened, the mastodons, giant sloths, dire wolves, elk, and other megafauna traveling in the Kanawha Valley region had to swim or walk great circuits around the dendritic arms, bays, and coves of the great lake geologists dubbed "Lake Tight" after one of the early "rock scientist" describers of the great glacially-blocked body of water. Then the ice sheets retreated and the infant Ohio River flowed southwestward, stealing the waters of the ancient river channels choked with solidified lake sediments. It was then that a new creature, equipped not with fang and claw, but with tools and reason, entered the domain of the Pleistocene megafauna; and as man replaced mastodon over the next few thousand years, the story of human foot travel in the Kanawha Valley would be written consecutively in the archaeological record, the journals of European traders and land speculators, the military records of Virginia officers on campaign, the 18th and 19th century penned oral traditions of former captives of American Indian warriors, the ledgers of farmers, furriers, storekeeps, and industrialists (growing tobacco, buying animal skins, purchasing ginseng, and making salt), the correspondences and dispatches of Union and Confederate armies, and the numerous written records of the modern era. Come join the Mary Ingles Trail Blazers chapter of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association as we remember, celebrate, and memorialize the history of foot travel in the Kanawha Valley at our regular monthly meetings and special weekend events throughout the following year. In winter, during our monthly first Tuesday meetings we will have special presentations that highlight foot travel history and low-budget, family-oriented foot travel recreation. Through special weekend events and warm season, first Tuesday meetings, our work on the Mary Ingles Trail Appalachian Power Company (APCo) property will continue in 2009. We will also continue our efforts in Kanawha State Forest and at the Weiford property, which connects to the APCo trail route. Check out an article on the proposed Mary Ingles Trail on the WVDOH Trails website: http://www.wvdot.com/3_roadways/rp/Trails/images/Mary%20Ingles%20Trail%20proposed.pdf Much of the material for the article came from our informational brochure. If you are going to speak on the proposed trail at a meeting, let me know and I can provide you with some of the brochures to hand out. Doug Wood, chingwe@peoplepc.com or 755-0440 eves. Also check out the MITB website at: http://maryinglestrailblazers.homestead.com/index.html The MITB will be meeting every first Tuesday of the month at 6pm. The Nov. & Dec. 2008, and the Feb., March, and April 2009 meetings will be held indoors at the St. Albans library (see directions below). May through October 2009, we will be hiking on the first Tuesdays. FIRST TUESDAY MEETINGS 6PM: MITB SUMMER-EARLY FALL 2009 FIRST TUESDAY OUTINGS June 2, July 7, Aug. 4, Sept., and Oct.6 we will hold our first Tuesday evening workhikes at 6pm on various parts of the Mary Ingles Trail. For many of the hikes, we will meet at 1pm at the Exxon gas station between Winfield & St. Albans near Leslie Lumber along WV Rt. 817 (formerly US Rt. 35). For other workhikes, we will meet at the Putnam County Aging Commission building at Scary Creek along Rt. 35 near the St. Albans exit of I-64. We leave from the parking lots promptly at 6pm, so arrive early. Hiking trips that do not leave from these locations will have their ports of departure identified later, by e-mail or phone. If you wish to be notified of hike details, provide your e-mail address to Doug Wood. If phone is best for you, please provide your phone number. Last minute changes are best ascertained by calling 304-755-0440, not by e-mailing. OTHER LOCAL MITB ASSOCIATED OUTINGS: Aug. 22: Allegheny Trail Cooperators' Meeting and workhike. Location TBA. Sept. 12: Margaret Dennison Memorial Fall Nature Walks at KSF. Sept. 23-27: MITA Legacy of Mary Ingles living history event. Oct. 9-12: Annual WVSTA Trek. Columbus Day Weekend. Twenty-five percent of proceeds go to Camp Mountain Heart , a camp for youth with heart problems. Nov. 6-8: Wild Foods Weekend at Reger's Camp on Glady Fork. Some time will be spent preparing the Allegheny Trail for the 2010 Annual Trek. |
This page was last updated on: July 8, 2009
FOR A LISTING OF HIKES LED BY A KANAWHA VALLEY HIKING GROUP TRY THE KANAWHA TRAIL CLUB. |
INTERESTED IN HISTORICAL REENACTMENTS? Check out the web site for the Shawnee Living History Trail for details and a calendar of events. This site was created and is maintained by a group of reenactors from southern West Virginia dedicated to the preservation of our history and our heritage. |
