18-Jul-2009 -- I’ve had N39W79 on my “to do” list for a long time, several years. It is the closest West Virginia confluence to my home in suburban Washington, DC; but it’s never been “on my way” to anywhere (not many places in West Virginia are). This time I was headed for a campground in the heart of the Monongahela National Forest so it was just a minor diversion to finally visit this confluence. I had in mind from the Dallara’s report that the best approach was from the West Virginia State Police station on US-220 a couple miles south of Moorefield; and didn’t think much about the approach used by Yip-Bannicq Group just last year. Although doable with no difficulty from the State Police parking lot, it is considerably further than the 300 feet mentioned in the Dallara report…more like 300 yards or farther.

In any case, I parked at the State Police parking lot and found the station locked and no one there with whom to discuss my mission. I proceeded to traverse the gradually sloping open pasture/grassland (see photo #5) behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses next to the State Police station to a cattle pond at the edge of the wooded area above. As is evident from the photos, particularly #1 to the west, the general direction from which I came, the forest presented no difficulty in walking the hundred yards or so from there to the confluence point. Photo #2 to the north and #4 to the south give some evidence of the slope of the land at the confluence. I had little trouble getting all zeros on my GPSr (photo #6). Curiously on my return to the parking lot, I encountered a “For Sale” sign in the open grassy land behind the State Police station.