Busy day!

We went to the WV Botanic Garden this morning, and then this afternoon, we biked along the Mon River Rail Trail

Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, we went back to Kumbrabow State Forest. It was a lovely day for a hike, and (for the most part) a lovely location for a hike.

Location: Kumbrabow State Park
Trails: Mill Creek Falls, Potato Hole Trail, Clay Run
Distance: 0.5, 3.3, 2.0 miles
Elevation: 2287-2795, 3187-3881, 3273-3621 feet

We hiked to the top of the mountain, up Potato Hole trail (which follows Potato Hole creek). The trail was interesting, going through several types of land, ending with a disconcertingly barren mountaintop.

Here’s the view from the top.

Here’s the tower you can climb for a better view.

The rustic cabins (as in, outhouses) are near the Mill Falls creek.

The Clay Run Trail itself was nice, but it emptied onto the Fire Road Trail, which you took to an overlook.

Which is being–logged? widened? uglified?

Here’s the view from the overlook. Feel free to skip the fire trail now you’ve seen the view.

But the trail itself was quite lovely

And had a marvelous bridge over the creek.

GPS Maps of the Hike

Berkeley Springs was cool and sunny on Saturday, which is quite nice for our quick stroll.

The root tree of the graft broke through, so this tree and white and pink flowers, both of which were pretty.

Saturday we went to Berkeley Springs to check out the flowers, and then on to Cacapon. The hike we choose is rather strenuous, but it was lovely all the same.

Location: Cacapon State Park
Trails: Ziler Loop, Central, Laurel Trails
Distance: 6.5 miles
Elevation: 975 – 2260 feet

There is no clearing or tower from which you can see the whole valley clearly, but you can often see the trees (perhaps not as well once the trees leaf out).

The back down was at time quite exciting.

There were several areas with a lot of downed trees.

Elevation Chart:

Cacapon-2016-04-02

The cherry blossoms are from Thursday, when we walked down to the wharf district. The rest of the flowers are from Sunday, and our visit to the WV Botanic Garden.

Our plan for the day had been to go to Cacapon and Berkeley Springs, but I just didn’t feel like spending that much time in the car, so we instead went and hiked the other side of Coopers Rock.

I’ll note that I did NOT get us lost, hiking the Hemlock Trail. :)

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Hemlock Trail, Glade Run Trail
Distance: 2.2 miles, 3.3 miles
Elevation: 1664-1927 feet, 2117-2405 feet

The Hemlock Trail is gorgeous, and I took several pictures. The Glade Run Trail was nice, but not particularly photogenic.

Tuesday, since we got home early and it was a beautiful day, we decided to hike some trails we hadn’t before (there aren’t many) and my rule for the day was no backtracking.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Advanced Ski Trail, Reservoir Ski Trail, Roadside Trail, Overlook, McCollum Trail, Unofficial Trails
Distance: 6.8 miles
Elevation: 2153 – 2426 feet

We went to Canaan Valley State Park Sunday and Monday. As there was snow melt AND rain, it was really really muddy.

Luckily, we have waterproof boots.

Location: Canaan Valley State Park
Trail, Distance, Elevation
Blackwater Trail, 0.9 miles, 3262 – 3348 feet
Club Run Trail, 2.1 miles, 3369 – 3481 feet
Deer Run & Mill Run Trails, 2.3 miles, 3273 – 3336

Rocks! I like rocks!

The Blackwater River, meandering through Canaan Valley

Oh! Look! Wetlands!

Decaying machinery on the Mill Run Trail! (I love decaying machinery!)

We went back to the Blackwater River rail trail on Sunday, because I wanted to see both the old coke ovens and the falls along that section of the river (NOT in the park).

Location: Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation: 2785 – 2971 feet

With most of the brush gone for the winter, we saw precisely how many coke ovens there had been–they stretched for a least half a mile on both sides of the trail

Falls along the Blackwater River (not the main falls)

Historic Coke Ovens

Some nature slowly taking back the coke ovens.

Several State Park lodges had a leap year special at the end of February: $29/person/night for Saturday and Sunday, and if you stayed both days, Monday night was free. We chose Blackwater Falls State Park, and stayed three nights. That gave us four days of hiking, which was AWESOME, although the weather being what it has, we didn’t get to snowshoe, since there wasn’t enough (or any, by Monday) snow.

Sadly, the GPS batteries were dead the first day, so I don’t have distances or elevations for Saturday’s hiking at Blackwater Falls (and that was the day we hiked the most there).

Location: Blackwater Falls State Park
Trails: Balanced Rock Trail, Lindy Point Trail, Pendleton Trace Trail, Elakala Trail, Red Spruce Trail, Water Tank Trail
Distance: 4.9 miles
Elevation: 3072 – 3221 feet

Elakala

Pendleton Trace

Lindy Point (at sunset, Sunday & Monday)

Blackwater Falls (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday)

The weather Saturday was ridiculously warm–especially considering a week earlier we had temperatures with a negative wind chill.

The trails were of course quite muddy, but once we got off the Roadside Trail, things were fine. But because the well-traveled trails were so muddy and slushy, we ended up walking the road to Henry Clay Furnace trail, and once we came out at the reservoir, took the main road back.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Roadside (very very briefly), road to Henry Clay Furnace, Clay Furnace trail, Mont Chateau trail (partial), Clay Run trail, and main road
Distance: 7.9 miles
Elevation: 1652 – 2353 feet

There were a LOT of people at the forest.

Here is where I accidentally dropped my sunglasses into the creek.

I declined to jump in after them. Temperatures may have been in the 60s, but the water temperature was just above freezing.

Except for a few spots, the reservoir was still frozen, but it wasn’t going to stay that way for very long.

All in all, a beautiful day.

We need to rent snowshoes, to determine if we’re going to buy some; let me tell you, hiking in deep snow is HARD. We did a mile out on the main road, and a mile back, and it was pretty exhausting. (We foolishly went out with the intention of walking to the overlook. Nope!)

OK, I wanted to post the pretty pictures AFTER the whiny pictures.

Here are some overviews of town.

The Law School (have fun getting in THOSE doors)

And the area around the Alumni Center

If WVU has classes tomorrow, I call BS. As of 2ish, most roads we saw were a lane–lane and a half at most, and sidewalks were for the most part unwalkable.

Sidewalk on University–note that halfway up the hill there is not even a trodden path–you pretty much have to walk in the road

Patteson Drive–sidewalks are not only not cleared, they are covered with plowed snow–completely unwalkable.

You can see there is a path trod right up to the closed sidewalk sign–then you’re forced into the road.

North street–you can see there is only a lane and a half plowed.

Student parking lots