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

Here’s our walk, Saturday between noon and two.

Saturday morning, between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM.

15 1/2 to 17 1/2 inches of snow around the house.

Friday evening:

This was our second visit to Babcock in the past month–since we’d had a little snow, I thought it was worth another visit.

It was lovely.

In addition to viewing the grist mill (which is nice) you should take the opportunity to hike around. Even a short hike down the road towards the cabins can get you some beautiful scenery.

A handful of WV State Parks are having a $50/night in January special, so we took this opportunity to spend some more time at Twin Falls State Park.

Location: Twin Falls State Park
Trails: Huckleberry, Cliffside, and Falls Trails
Distance: 1.5, 3.0, 2.3 miles
Elevation: 2155-2449, 2005-2317, 1836-2006 feet

Twin Falls has a Pioneer Farm, which is run as a farm from the 17 and 1800s would have been. The Huckleberry Trail passes alone part of the fence of the Pioneer Farm.

We only saw chickens at work when we hiked by.

The Cliffside Trail is very flat and wide until you reach where it branches off to view the cliffs. Then you actually get some real hiking (and elevation, and scrambling)…

Bet the view is lovely on a fall day–or a clear day. :)

Twin Falls is named for the two falls in the park (Duh).

The Marsh Fork Falls

and the Black Fork Falls

Both have a scramble to get down to the base, and both were muddy and messy, but it was a very nice view. (I really wanted to explore on the other side of the Black Fork Falls, but I decided it wasn’t possible life-flight interesting over there.)

If you go off the main trail, you can reach the point where the Black Fork and Marsh Fork meet, which is a very pretty area, that would be lovely to explore in the summer.

And if you pay attention (and are again willing to scramble) you can view the remains of the foundation of an old mill.

It was a lovely trip.

We hiked EVERY DAY this year!

Sadly, we go back to work tomorrow, so this trend will end abruptly.

But it was good while it lasted!

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Advanced Ski and Mont Chateau Trails
Distance: 6.4 miles
Elevation: 1406 – 2323 feet

I am sorry to report that, aside from being the fastest way down to the Mont Chateau trail when the gate is closed, the Advanced Ski Trail doesn’t have much to offer.

It was–kinda boring. Or as boring as a hike in the forest can get. All the things I took pictures of were on the Mont Chateau Trail.

But, it was still time on the woods, which makes it a good day.

We have had a LOT of rain recently. Luckily, although there was some minor flooding in the southern part of the state last week, we’ve managed to escape the terrible flooding that many areas have seen.

But we still have a lot of water.

Here’s how Valley Falls looked Friday:

(Here’s how it normally looks)

And today we went to Babcock, where there was also a lot of water, even though it hasn’t rained for a couple days.

(Here is Babcock in the fall of 2012)

Saturday was gorgeous, so we made (another) trip to New River Gorge.

Location: New River Gorge
Trails: Kaymoor Miner’s, Kaymoor, Craig Branch, Butcher Branch, Long Point, Fayetteville Trails
Distance: 9.8 miles
Elevation: 1355 – 2005 feet

Woke up this morning to blue skies and cool weather, so we jumped in the car (after layering up) and headed out to Coopers Rock.

It was beautiful.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron, Mont Chateau, Ridge, Rock City, & Eagle Trails
Distance: 5.1 miles
Elevation: 1391 – 2347 feet

University Avenue reopened today–at least partially.

It’s still a construction zone, it’s a rough asphalt job, and the sidewalk is supposed to be closed. But you can drive down University again.

Here’s what we saw:

First view coming around the corner:

Sidewalk closed! (I ignored this.)

Here’s where you can see the drop.

Panorama of Beverly & University.

Some new, nice wide sidewalk!

Oooh! Metal barriers to separate the pedestrians from the traffic! And they’re not ugly!

The garage is open! (At least the upper floors are.)

Many more pictures if you click through to Flickr.