Elkhorn Lake, Staunton Dam and Aquaduct, and Braley Pond

 Above is a photo of Elkhorn Lake, in the George Washington National Forest, up in the Allegheny Front mountains, about 20 miles west of our home.  This is about 3 miles from the Virginia-West Virginia border (on the Virginia side, of course).

Above:  View from the top of Elkhorn Lake Dam, looking down at the outlet pipes.  The lake empties into the North River, which combines with the Middle and South Rivers (at Port Republic) to form the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

Below: View of the Elkhorn Dam from the lake side.  The weather is perfect, nice and cool, I was surprised there weren't people around.  Of course, being miles into the wilderness might explain the lack of a crowd.

This is the lake above Staunton Dam, on the North River.  This is about 3 miles downstream from the Elkhorn Lake..

 This is the Staunton Dam, on the North River.  This dam appears to have been built around, oh, say, about the time of the Roman Empire, given its dilapidated state.   

 The spillway is about 50 feet high, although it looks a lot less from this angle.

 Trout hiding under the driftwood in the pool beneath the dam.  They were about 10 inches long.

 The sign at the Staunton Dam.  The water intake building is in the background.

 I stumbled across this cave in the forest about half a mile below the Staunton Dam.  This cave looked interesting, so I investigated.

 The cave appeared to be gated and heavily locked.

 This is the view between the bars, using the flash.  This appears to be the entrance to a tunnel which holds the piping for the aquaduct which carries the water from the Staunton Dam down to the valley to the city of Staunton's water works.

Braley Pond Picnic Area, just off of Highway 250 west of Staunton.  View from the top of the Braley Pond Dam.  Braley Pond is part of the headwaters for the Middle River.  This is about ten miles south of Elkhorn Lake and 12 miles south of Staunton Dam.