Random (but not really)

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Hiking West Virginia: Coopers Rock

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron Trail, Mont Chateau Trail, Ridge Trail, Rock City Trail
Distance: 5.4 miles
Elevation: 1259 feet

Sunday we took a nice long hike at Coopers Rock. We hike most of the way down to the lake, but I’d spent a very long time playing in the stream, so decided to turn around so we wouldn’t have to climb an additional 100 feet.

Towards the end of Mont Chateau trail (or rather, before we turned around) we came across this waterfall, which I would love to figure out how to hike down to without injuring myself.

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But the best part was spent in the creek. I brought a pair of water shoes, so when we got down to the area I liked so much previously, I rolled up my pants, switched my boots for the water shoes and clambered around in the stream.

It was cold.

But it also felt really good on my bad ankle, so I wasn’t complaining at all.

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The stream was gorgeous, and running quite high, as we’ve had rain rain rain rain rain.

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I have my Rebel XSi back (I’d loaned it to my parents for their trip to Alaska) and as much I find it so much easier (and less nerve racking) to carry the XSi, the pictures aren’t quite as sharp as my other camera.

But I’m not taking my good camera into a stream. So I’ll just have to live with it. :)

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And then I came across a scene that made my day.

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You could not have seen that from the bridge. You had to get down and hike in (or alongside) the stream.

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Thank you, to whoever left that transient art. It’s marvelous.

GPS Map of Hike

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