It’s Primary Election Day, so after doing our Civic Duty, we headed out to Coopers Rock for a hike.

We hiked the Ridge Trail down to the Mont Chateau trail, hikeed the Mont Chateau trail, and then came back to Rock City via the Rhododendron Trail.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Ridge & Rhododendron
Distance: 4.3 miles
Elevation: 959 feet

At the bottom of the Mont Chateau trail, I went off the path, and clambered along the creek. It was simply gorgeous–the pictures do not do it justice. (All GPS location stats are available if you click through to Flickr.)

It was a gorgeous hike.

Hike Map

Hike Stats:
4.3 miles
2 1/2 hours
959 feet elevation rise

Sunday we (again) hiked the Scott’s Run Trail at Coopers Rock. It was a gorgeous day, and the ground wasn’t nearly as muddy as we were expecting.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Scott’s Run Trail
Distance: 4.5 miles
Elevation: 758 feet

You’ll notice that I take a lot of pictures of water. There are two reasons for this: first, I love running water, but second, because I continue to appreciate these clean clear streams, something we didn’t always have (and some areas of WV still don’t have). It like noting these positives.

All pictures are tagged with the Geo-coordinates if you click through to Flickr.

Out hike was 4 1/2 miles, and we ascended 758 feet, most of it rocky terrain.

Scott’s Run Trail

Sunday we hiked the Henry Clay Iron Furnace trail and then from there on the Mont Chateau Trail. Both were, of course, lovely.

Friday was “Spring Holiday” for WVU, so Michael and I drove out to Coopers Rock for a hike. We hiked along the Rhododendron Trail and the Clay (?) Run trail.

My favorite: Water

Future Frogs!

If you’d like to find the wet spot with these frog eggs, the GPS coordinates are with the pictures. It was pretty close to where we parked, if you weren’t up for a long hike to possibly see peepers.

We hiked 4.8 miles according to the GPS, and our ascent was 949 feet. Which was the first part of how I got “100 flights of stairs” yesterday.

Let’s see if this works–here is (theoretically) a GPS map of our hike.

(I THINK IT WORKED!)

Saturday it rained all afternoon and evening, and Sunday we woke up to snow, so after quick walk around our beighborhood, we drove out to Coopers Rock to take the same hike we took last weekend. (Scott’s Run Trail)

Well, mostly the same. We hiked down into the valley and returned from whence we came. I had no desire to walk up the steep, rocky run-off bed in the snow.

Regardless, it was a gorgeous hike, even if my ankle is very sore now.

If you click through to Flickr, all photos are marked on the map with their GPS coordinates, which should give you the ability to compare last week to this week.

A very different walk from last week, but just as beautiful.

Data:
3.3 miles
292 feet elevation gain
Moving time: 1:52

For our Saturday hike, Michael decided we should take the Scott’s Run Trail, which we had not taken before.

It was gorgeous.

It was also subtly educational, although I doubt most people would notice. We started from the main entrance and ended at the camp ground.

The beginning of the trail was, essentially, a muddy water run-off track. Some sections were muddier than others, and I’m glad I had my hiking stick, because the ground was often rocky and uneven.

Then, the run-off track turned into a small creek.

From here, to the bottom of the valley, the trail was mostly along the side of this creek (I’m guessing along an old logging trail)–you were rarely out of sight (or at least hearing) of the water.

Other springs and run off areas join in, and the creek now occasionally has small pools.

Soon it looks like a “real” creek, and you need a bridge to cross.

There are now deeper pools, areas that look like they would have water even at the height of summer’s heat.

At the bottom of the trail, multiple springs and run-off areas have created this shaded stream that continues on.

If you continue on the trail, it’s all uphill to the camp ground, and you see more springs that run down the side of the mountain to feed into the stream in the valley.

The end of the trail (or the beginning if you were starting at the campground) is again a rocky muddy water run-off area. (This part was less fun, as I was already tired and I had to be careful of my ankle on the rocks.) If we did this hike again I believe I would instead stop at the lowest part of the trail and backtrack form whence we came.

Of course there were a couple random things that caught my eye.

My theory on this is it dates back to when the forest was logged. That a truck broke down, and when they brought the replacement part, the just dumped the old part in the woods, because no one cared. Now, it’s an oddity, and a glimpse into the past.

Some woodpeckers went NUTS on this tree.

If you click through to Flickr, all of the above pictures have their GPS coordinates, if you’d like to find a specific spot yourself.

ADDENDUM the First:

I’ve started playing with the GPS data, because I’m a geek. Here’s a map of our hike:

(via GPS Visualizer)

Here’s the elevation change:

And here are the stats:

Yeah, we went back for the second weekend in a row. I realized that once the gates open, we won’t feel comfortable biking on the main road, so we should enjoy it while we can.

Plus, there’s something lovely about being at Coopers Rock when it’s nearly empty. It’s normally a busy park. It’s also beautiful, but there is rarely a sense of being in the wilderness when you’re there during the summer. You see people everything, and even when you can’t see them you ca typically hear them. So it’s a nice change of pace to be there when it’s relatively unpopulated.

It was also a gorgeous day, and deserving of us doing something outside.

They really didn’t want you to drive in.

What do all these pictures have in common, that fascinated me so much?

You can see the sky.

Once the leaves come out, you can’t see the sky in much of Coopers Rocks.

(All photos should have GPS location coordinates, if you want to know specifically where a pictures was taken.)

The weather was lovely, so we out our bikes for the first time this year, went to Coopers Rock and biked to the overlook.

It was gorgeous, and probably one of the few times I’ve been to Coopers Rock that we had the overlook to ourselves for any length of time.

It was so strange to look down and be able to actually see the ground.

For those who have never been to Coopers Rock, that isn’t a boardwark, it’s a bridge, and those are not shrubs, but the tops of trees,

The lowest path is the railroad. The other paths we’re thinking are old trails (Michael suggested logging trails, but I think perhaps those would have been overgrown by now).

The melted snow was coming off the roof in silvery streams.

I love trees in full leaf, but I find the shapes of trees without their leaves to be utterly fascinating. Mind you, I’m the last person who should be walking up staring at the skies instead of where she is walking, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

More buildings being knocked down in Morgantown.

This one is downtown, on High St, and uncovered some old advertisements.

That would be Comuntzis Resturants, if you can’t read the text.

Saturday we wandered over to the stadium to visit with Michael’s family.

Much to my surprise, the stairs going up to the Law Center are done. And parking at the law school was open, even though there’s still a lot of construction going on.

The game wasn’t sold out–kinda low attendance for a season opener. Then again, we weren’t playing Marshall.

As usual, we listened to the game. The major change with the broadcast rights (Why yes, I WAS in fact delighted to see Rease lose the contract. And all the money that goes along with it.) was that the commercials seemed to me a LOT less irritating than the commercials that aired on WVAQ.

Which I certainly am not complaining about.

Yesterday we biked along the Mon River Rail Trail from Star City North to Pennsylvania. We made it as far as the Lock & Dam before the trail became complete mud, and we turned around. (The tires on our bikes are not good enough for riding in mud.)

This section of the trail has lots of interesting man made structures falling into disrepair and decay. (All of these pictures are marked on the map–I grabbed a picture at each of these places with the GPS.)

At this point, you can quite clearly see the stacks of Fort Martin. The rest of the ride past you’re viewing it through the trees. It’s also surprisingly loud, and you can hear it quite a distance off.

We also stopped at the strange cement hut that must have been something for the railroad (there’s a similar hut south of Morgantown on the trail) but I don’t know what.

Regardless of it’s intended purpose, it fascinates me.

Here’s where we turned around (after wandering down to the lock). You can see the road, wandering off in the top right corner, complete mud and puddles.

And we scrambled down to the lock. I’m thinking my investment in a collapsible walking stick was one of the smartest purchases I made in the past several months. It made me comfortable scrambling down paths that I wouldn’t otherwise be sure my ankle was up for.

And we saw a little hut, in the back corner of a field. Michael refused to climb down, claiming it was because he wasn’t interested, but really it’s because he’s Lawful Good.

A couple things about Decker’s Creek.

When I was younger, Decker’s Creek was in terrible shape. I mean, really terrible. It was bright orange from mine runoff/acid mine drainage, and there wasn’t much life in there, and what was there, you expected to mutated.

After a LOT of work, the Decker’s Creek watershed is now thriving, and the rail trail along Decker’s Creek is (with the exception of the bit through Sabraton) gorgeous.

Pictures are marked with the GPS coordinates of where I stopped to take the pictures. Assuming all the GPS photos aren’t completely blurry and unrecognizable.

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We walked to town for ice cream Saturday evening, and I took a DSLR, instead of just relying on my cell phone camera.

Looking over the demolished block.

New houses slated for destruction:

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It was strange to go out to the Cheat Lake Park, to see a place that used to be a secret, exist as a public park with a playground and a public boat launch.

I can’t say I have much desire to go back any time soon. The rail trail is relatively short and blocked at both ends.

But it was pretty.

Cheat Lake is the “expensive” area of Morgantown, where the doctors and lawyers and other well-to-do live. The trail runs along the access these wealthy home owners have to Cheat Lake.

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