Learning the Land
Learning the Land
In one of our first blog posts, we shared the story of how we ended up here and why we finally decided to chase a dream we'd been talking about for years. Since then, we've done just about all the dreaming and planning we can do... and lately, our attention has turned to the forested hillside behind our house. We have known for quite some time that this is where we want to build our campground. It's quiet, peaceful, full of wildlife, and every time we walk it, we find another reason to fall in love with it. More than anything, we want future visitors to experience this place the way we do.
When we first bought the property, the hillside was almost impenetrable in places. Thorny bushes, fallen trees, and years of unchecked growth hid much of what was here. Aside from a few old paths, we had only explored small sections ourselves while we slowly figured out what this land could become.
Over the last year, Carl has spent most of his free time carving hiking trails through the woods, carefully choosing routes that highlight the property's unique features while disturbing the landscape as little as possible.
While clearing paths, Carl also got a good idea of what this land could be. He's scouted several promising locations for campsites, cabins, and picnic areas, while also identifying trees that need to come down and others we want to preserve. This place is quickly becoming more than just a forested hillside; it's becoming the dream we have always wanted.
In this post, we're going to show you some of our favorite places we've discovered so far - and share a little of what we imagine they might become.
Three Mile Creek
The bridge clearly needs some work, but we love the view looking out over Three Mile Creek. Most of the time, the creek is pretty docile—it even slowed to little more than a trickle during last summer's drought. But after a sudden heavy rain, it can quickly breach its banks. Because of the property's topography, flash flooding and backwater are simply part of life here, particularly during the wet, deep-winter months. It's something we'll have to keep in mind as we decide what gets built where.
The Horse Barn & Future Cryptid Cabin Concept
This location is one we're considering for one of the first cabins we build here. The current structure was used as a horse stable for several years, and as you can probably tell from the pictures, it was cobbled together from whatever lumber happened to be available. Some of the boards are even old high-water markers that once hung beneath a bridge somewhere. If only those boards could talk!
Eventually, we'd like to replace the old stable with a decent-sized tiny cabin. Since this is one of the most easily accessible spots on the property, it will probably become something of a flagship Cryptid Cabin—and it's a project we're both eager to flex our creative muscles on.
And we already have a pretty good idea of what we want it to feel like.
Since this will be our flagship Cryptid Cabin, we're leaning hard into Point Pleasant's most famous era. When you walk through the door, we want it to feel like you've stepped straight back into 1967—mid-century furnishings, vintage colors, retro details, and just enough weirdness to remind you that you're staying in Mothman country.
The Clearing
This flat spot has puzzled us ever since we first “discovered” it. The ground here is more or less level, and unlike much of the surrounding hillside, there are no old-growth trees within the clearing. Several large cedars and pines also appear to have been deliberately planted along this ridge, so we're fairly certain this area was cleared and used for something at some point. For what, we have no idea. I'd love to get a metal detector up here someday and see if the ground is willing to give up any clues.
Whatever its past, when we keep the clearing mowed, it's a really nice little space and naturally feels like a place people should gather. We haven't decided exactly what its future will look like yet. It could eventually become the site of another cabin, or we may create several camping pads so families and groups of friends can stay together while still having their own spaces.
For now, this is one of those places we're content to leave with a question mark beside it. We're learning that not every part of the property needs a plan right away.
The Pond
One of the areas we're most excited to restore is the pond. There's a man-made pond tucked into the hillside that was designed to collect water naturally from the surrounding hills. We're not sure exactly when it was built or why. It may have been created by the property's original owner to water cattle, or it may have served some other purpose entirely.
One thing we do know is that the landscape has changed considerably since then. Over the years, the forest has reclaimed many of the channels that once directed water into the pond. Without consistent rainfall, the water level drops dramatically, sometimes leaving very little water behind.
Eventually, we'd love to restore those channels and see the pond holding water year-round again. Aside from being a beautiful feature for the property, I'm curious to see just how much of the local wildlife already uses it. We've had significant rainfall recently, so I'm sure activity around the pond has picked up. I'm planning to put a trail camera nearby and see who—or what—we catch stopping by.
There are several other locations where we'll eventually add camping pads, and somewhere in all of this we'll need to find the right spot for a shower house. These areas are a little harder to photograph because, at the moment, they mostly just look like...well, a West Virginia hillside. The same is true of the trails. Right now, we have about two miles of trails carved into the hillside and around eight potential campsites scouted out.
Leaving Room for Wild
As we move forward, our goal is to leave as much green space as possible while still creating places for ourselves - and eventually our guests - to unplug and enjoy the outdoors. We don't want to clear the hillside just to fill it back up with campsites. We'd rather tuck them into the landscape and let the woods remain the star of the show.
Someday, I'd also love to offer nature or bird walks for our guests and share some of what makes the Appalachian ecosystem so special. Appalachia is incredibly biodiverse, with plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, and the more I learn about what's living right here on our hillside, the more I want to protect and share it.
Part of that will mean encouraging native plants while slowly removing invasive species like Japanese honeysuckle, autumn olive, multiflora rose, and Bradford pear. But even that isn't as simple as cutting everything down. After years of growing here, many of these “trouble plants” have become shelter and food sources for the native wildlife we're trying to protect. Removing them will have to be a gradual process, replacing what we take away with native plants that can provide those same resources.
Like so much else we're discovering with this project, it's going to be a balancing act.
When we first started dreaming about Cryptid Cabins, it was easy to look at these 14 acres and see everything we wanted to add. Cabins. Campsites. Trails. A shower house. Picnic areas. There was always another idea.
But the more time we spend walking these hills, the more we're learning that building this place may be just as much about what we don't change.
There are views we want to preserve, old trees we want to protect, wildlife corridors we don't want to disturb, and places we haven't quite figured out yet. We're learning where the water goes after a hard rain, where the ground stays wet, where the sun breaks through the trees, and where you naturally want to stop for a while and just enjoy the view.
We still have a long way to go. Right now, most of Cryptid Cabins exists as trails through the woods, flagged campsites, rough sketches, and a whole lot of ideas scribbled down for “someday.”
But for the first time, after sitting down and writing about it, we can walk through these woods and actually see it.
And I think that's progress.
Until next time,
LaNae
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