Campgrounds near Elkton WV

[VABob]

A buddy of mine and I are thinking of driving up to the Palace of Gold in West Virginia. Supposed to be an amazing hindu temple.

I am thinking that we'll drive through Spruce Knob and then set up base camp near in Elkton West Virginia. He needs to stay in a cabin, but I would like to tent or hammock camp.

Anyone have a suggestion for a good camp site in that area?

[Slow Ride]

Hi, I hope you meant to say Elkins, WV if so.

You might try Tygart Lake State Park www.tygartlake.com (http://www.tygartlake.com/) I stayed here last year
and the campground was OK, but the cabins looked very nice.
Or go to www.wvstateparks.com (http://www.wvstateparks.com/map.html) and look at the whole state.


Hope this helps.

Chuck

[VABob]

I did. Sorry about that, thanks for correcting.

Thanks for the pointers. I looked at the tygart lake, but the cabins seem a bit pricey at $92 and up.

[VABob]

Here are a few pictures of the Hindu Temple:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbI28J3XI/AAAAAAAANsY/X2zFRd0W6uI/s640/PalaceofGold-1.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbJomReLI/AAAAAAAANhw/OALMrS1PPUg/s912/PalaceofGold-3.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbJVI9BKI/AAAAAAAANho/_meg468MIH8/s912/PalaceofGold-2.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbQKz3p6I/AAAAAAAANt0/2RVsju0kg6o/s800/PalaceofGold-14.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbhy02FLI/AAAAAAAANxQ/WEQ3i-r96Rg/s912/PalaceofGold-45.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbkFjKSwI/AAAAAAAANxw/NU2mPUjEXqQ/PalaceofGold-49.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAbbkRwtaXI/AAAAAAAANx4/0Gd98Uww8VU/s720/PalaceofGold-50.JPG

That's my buddy Shaun in the pictures. He is from India and has traveled all over the world. He has ridden motorcycles most of his life and in many different countries. It was nice to go to the temple with someone who could explain the religion as it is practiced and give the historical context of the temple.

For all the pictures, click on Palace of Gold (http://picasaweb.google.com/bob.gossweiler/PalaceofGold?authkey=Gv1sRgCNe_h-bf5PqfIQ&feat=directlink)

[Slow Ride]

So it looks like you had a good trip. Great pictures!
Where did you decide to stay and how was it.

Chuck

[VABob]

The trip was great, but no camping. We ended riding up from Richmond to the temple on Saturday via mostly route 250. 250 was twisty and fun, but there were parts with gravel and some areas that the road was beat up. Had to watch out for limbs sticking out into the road too.

We came across a train at Durbin West VA. There is a campground there too, but it seemed to be long-stay camping. I think I will go back to do the train one day.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hYO8yHSAl_c/TAcKkpJ4B6I/AAAAAAAAN0U/qLKqJI7T4Dk/Durbin-5.jpg

Pictures of Durbin Train, West VA (http://picasaweb.google.com/bob.gossweiler/DurbinWestVA?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLviLSa-5-JGw&feat=directlink)

We found our way to the temple through a little road that was half paved, half pot holes, and another half disintegrating into gravel at the edges. Seems the frost heaves were getting the best of this road. The temple was about to close, so we decided it would be best to find a hotel for the night.

After circumnavigating some GPS-recommended dirt roads, we ended up staying at THE Super 8 in Wheeling. The only rooms were smoking, the beds were not very clean, the staff was rude, and they tried to tack on a safe charge on the bill. The parking lot, while paved, was not very motorcycle friendly because of the steep angle of the two lots.

Luckily, the little sports bar that we went to had really good Italian food, even though the waitress didn't know the menu or the food and was pushy to get us out. The ceiling rumbled as the well fed, and well liquored, wedding party did various line dances upstairs.

I doubt I will be going back to Wheeling, except maybe to stop in at the Harley shop.

The next day we made our way back to the temple around 11. We traveled across some really neat, open-grate bridges that were small one-lane passages to more windy and pot-holed roads. Eventually we came to a small dirt road, with the GPS pointing forward. Not certain that the road actually went through to the temple, we found our way around only to find that a group of riders would make the treck a few minutes after us, and beat us to the destination by another few minutes. They said it was a dirty, dusty, gravel filled 2 miles of adventure.

We did the tourist thing for a couple of hours, and then headed back home via some small back roads and then highway. Home by midnight, ready to wash the evenings bugs from the bike the next morning.