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Audra State Park

Coordinates: 39°02′25″N 80°03′55″W / 39.04028°N 80.06528°W / 39.04028; -80.06528
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Audra State Park
Map showing the location of Audra State Park
Map showing the location of Audra State Park
Location of Audra State Park in West Virginia
LocationBarbour & Upshur, West Virginia, United States
Coordinates39°02′25″N 80°03′55″W / 39.04028°N 80.06528°W / 39.04028; -80.06528
Area355 acres (144 ha)
Elevation1,811 ft (552 m)
Established1950[2]
Named forAudra, West Virginia
Governing bodyWest Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Websitewvstateparks.com/park/audra-state-park/

Audra State Park is a West Virginia state park located on 355 acres (1.44 km2)[3] in southwestern Barbour County. It was established around the remnants of an early 19th-century gristmill and the tiny community of Audra. A gristmill spillway is still visible in the river.[4]

Icicles drape Alum Cave on a winter afternoon

The park is a hilly, secondary forest area bisected by the Middle Fork River. The deep pools, large, flat rocks, and riverside beach have provided generations of campers, local teens and college students a place to swim or work on their tans.[5] Audra State Park is the site of Alum Cave, which is accessible by a boardwalk built along this overhanging sandstone ledge.

The park serves as the put-in point for a 6.6 mile kayak run along about 2.8 miles the Middle Fork River and about 3.8 miles of the Tygart Valley River to the confluence of the latter with the Buckhannon River.[6]

Features

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  • 67 camp sites
  • Swimming in the Middle Fork River
  • Hiking trails
  • Kayaking in the Middle Fork River
  • Picnic area

Accessibility

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Accessibility for the disabled was assessed by West Virginia University. The assessment found the campground, picnic area, and park offices to be accessible.[7] The main swimming hole (just below the site of the former gristmill), with wet, slippery rocks and unpaved approaches is not considered accessible.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Audra State Park". Protected Planet. IUCN. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Where People and Nature Meet: A History of the West Virginia State Parks. Charleston, West Virginia: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. April 1988. ISBN 0-933126-91-3.
  3. ^ Carrol, S. and Miller, M., Hiking West Virginia, p.92, Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT (2003).
  4. ^ Audra State Park web page, accessed March 16, 2008.
  5. ^ Crockett, M., "Jewels in our Crown", Pictoria Histories, Charleston, WV, 2004. ISBN 1-891852-35-3
  6. ^ American Whitewater web site, Middle Fork River page, accessed July 19, 2006.
  7. ^ Guide to Accessible Recreation and Travel in WV, WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities web site, accessed July 31, 2006 Archived July 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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