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
Audra State Park
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)[1]
Location of Audra State Park in West Virginia
LocationBarbour & Upshur, West Virginia, United States
Coordinates39°02′25″N 80°03′55″W
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/

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

Accessibility

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

References
  1. "Audra State Park". Protected Planet. IUCN. Retrieved 30 April 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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