Berekly Springs

Today we hiked around Cacapon State Park. Cacapon is the native American name for healing waters. We saw red bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, a hawk, and tufted tit mice. Cacapon State Park has a nice lodge where we are staying. The park is 6 miles long but about 4 miles of the road is closed from Dec. 1st to April which is too bad because at the end of the road you get to the peak of the Cacapon mountain.  Hot springs run in this area. We traveled north to Berkeley Springs. George Washington took a hot bath in Berkeley Springs for the first time at age 16.

In Berkely Springs a Roman bath cost us about $35/half hour.  The bath house was built in 1815. Water from the springs is 74 degrees. The water runs in concrete ditches from one bath house to another. Inside the bath house the water is heated to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Towels are provided. I put on my swimsuit and went down the stairs. If I sat on the floor of the bath my head would have been underwater so I didn't do that. You can see we were so warm we had to open the window some.  I thought the mineral rich water made me more buoyant but that might have been my imagination. The water was so hot I didn't quite last the full half hour in there. I was thirsty and exhausted when I finished. I had to go outside to cool off. I filled my water  bottle with water from the spring. After a long drink of water I felt much better. A museum is housed above the bath house but it was closed for the season.