Three of Berta’s sisters came in from out of town to visit last weekend, and in trying to come up with something to do, we decided on a more seasonal activity - a corn maze.
Rocky’s Corn Maze is in Parkesburg, just before the end of the route 30 bypass. If you take the bypass to route 10, you’ll have to turn around and go about 300 yards. Look out for the small sign on the left side of the road, or you’ll zip right past it.
There aren’t many attractions at Rocky’s but the people are friendly. There were a few animals that you could feed, including goats, chickens, and pigs. And some other animals were there just to see, a horse, a donkey, and two baby calves that they fed milk from giant bottles while we were there. In all, not too fascinating for folks that are used to this kind of thing, but interesting enough for us suburbanites.
The hay ride was a slight disappointment, traveling only to a small deserted “pumpkin patch” seeded with fresh pumpkins that obviously didn’t grow there. But the main attraction was the amazing corn maze.
At the large unused silo located on the farm, you pay admission ($9 for adults, $6 for children), and you head into the maze. I was thinking that a maze wouldn’t really be much fun unless there was a goal, and this maze had 6 goals. Located at points throughout the maze were stands with hold punches. Punch the corn kernel at each of the locations to complete the maze.
Apparently, the maze materials - the maze design and maps, the staff t-shirts, and the printed materials given to visitors - are all part of a kit. One of the maze kit items was a punch card for recording all of the stand you visited in the maze, and it had 18 kernels on it. I tried to imagine an 18-kernel maze. It would probably take a full day, or two, to complete such a large maze.
Berta, Maryann, Abby, and I wandered around the maze for a while. After we hit the first two stands and got our punches, Bert and Maryann decided that they would find the next stand more quickly if they went a different way than what I was suggesting. Abby came with me, and we parted as two groups. By the time we saw them next, Abby and I had completed all 6 locations, and they still didn’t have the third kernel punched. Because of the layout of the maze, we were able to get the rest of their card complete without much of a detour before returning to the exit.
It was a fun little trip, and the maze was much more than I was expecting. I wonder if there are more such mazes located in the area with some more side attractions to go with them. It might be worthwhile to visit them as a second seasonal trip.
