We hiked this twice, on two different mornings, and it was gorgeous both times.

Location: Canaan Wildlife Refuge
Trail: Beall Trails
Distance: ~2.2 miles & 1.7 miles
Elevation: 3137 – 3323 feet

After hiking up Seneca Rocks, we then went to Spruce Knob.

Spruce Knob is the highest point in WV, at 4,863 feet. As it’s so high, it’s also windy and much colder than anywhere else in the area. We saw snow flakes while we were there. (But they didn’t amount to anything.)

Location: Spruce Knob
Trails: Whispering Spruce, Huckleberry (partial)
Distance: 2.9 miles
Elevation: 4735 – 4887 feet

Since the weather was so nice, we took and extended weekend to hike and enjoy the landscape.

Sunday started with Seneca Rocks.

Of course we hiked to the top of the rocks. And of course we went up without stopping.

What was surprising was just how many people were there–it was quite crowded by the time we started down.

Yup. Beautiful.

On our way back from Bridge Day we went through the Cranberry Wilderness and stopped at the Falls of Hills Creek.

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It was a gorgeous day–perfect for everything but jumping (because it was very windy), apparently.

Saturday was unbelievably gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to be able to spend part of it at Dolly Sods–even if there were, like, a zillion people there. (But not as many people as we at Coopers Rock on Sunday.)

I hope you had just as much beauty in your weekend.

This was perhaps the slowest slide EVER. And the more you weighed, the slower you went.

If you want a flat place to hike, then Cathedral State Park is your best bet in WV. Which is why we took a meander despite the fact that I still feel pretty crappy from this cold.

Cathedral took a substantial amount of damage during hurricane Sandy, but the trails are all clear–and the uprooted trees are fascinating.

Location: Cathedral State Park
Trails: Cathedral, Giant Hemlock, Partridge Berry Trails
Distance: 1.8 miles
Elevation: 2438 – 2626 feet

If you’ve ever tried to photograph the woods, you know it’s pretty difficult to get a pictures from within the forest that shows the majesty of what you’re seeing. It’s that old–you can’t photograph the forest for the trees.

Doesn’t mean it isn’t worth visiting, it’s just very hard to photograph and give you an idea of what it’s like.

The WV leaf reports started this week, so since I am still tired and miserable from this stupid cold, we decided to take a scenic drive.

We had to stop at this bridge on our way back from Jackson’s Mill.

One of my favorite parts of Jackson’s Mill is the mill itself, which is fully functioning and grinds wheat and corn that are available for sale in the mill and in the general store.

It’s a water powered mill, except that it doesn’t have the external paddle wheel often associated with mills (like the on at Babcock State Park). Instead, the water flows under the mill, powering the wheels and gears within.

Here’s where it all begins: the pond.

The water then turns this gear, which in turn…

Moves these wheels…

And when this gear is shifted over and engaged…

Turns the stone wheel which grinds the grain.

A wheel exactly like this one.

And here’s the original cabin:

And some farm tools:

Couple more pictures if you click through to Flickr.

Every year on Labor Day weekend Jackson’s Mill has a Jubilee, with a craft fair and reenactors and live music and other stuff.

For awhile the size was really down, but it’s been slowly getting better, with more crafters and musicians this year than we’d seen in the past couple visits.

There are some other pictures if you click through the Flickr.

Here are some flowers we saw on our Saturday wander through multiple places in the state.

Plus! Bonus Dramatic Clouds!

We didn’t take a long hike at New River Gorge on Saturday, but the trails made up for that by being very steep.

Location: New River Gorge
Trail: Big Branch Trail
Distance: 1.5 miles
Elevation: 1256 – 1713

We hiked counter-clockwise, so for the first half of the trail we were gasping for breath and wondering why anyone wanted to hike this trail.

Then we started down, following the creek.