It’s possible this hike was a little too much for my foot, but today it’s not too bad, so I don’t think I harmed anything, just did a little more than my body was used to.

So where did we go? It was hot, and COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing in WV, so we wanted somewhere cool, and where there wouldn’t be a ton of people.

Seneca Creek Backcountry fit the spot.

Location: Seneca Creek Backcountry
Trail: Spring Ridge Trail (partial)
Distance: 4.4 miles
Elevation: 3124-4047 feet (932 ft ascent)

Guess who didn’t step on a rattlesnake!!!

Ooh! A snake! Is that a black snake?
(rattle)
Nope! Not a black snake!

Normally I know I have almost stepped on a rattlesnake by by Michael freaking out at the rattling noise behind me. This was definitely an improvement!

Up hill!

More uphill!

Still uphill.

We didn’t go all the way to the top. We reached the rattlesnake and turned around. Which is just as well becuase my foot was starting to ache by that time.

Back at the bottom: Gandy Creek.

I GOT TO GO TO THE WOODS YESTERDAY!

Why is this exciting? Because it’s been five weeks already since I broke my foot, and since the weather was lovely, I put on my foot, grabbed my crutches, and we took a short hike at Coopers Rock.

It was LOVELY to be in the forest. Especially since one of my favorite flowers was on display.

Really, more of a saunter than a hike.

Watters Smith Memorial State Park

When we want to hike without seeing other people, we head to the Cranberry Wilderness.

Location: Cranberry Wilderness
Trail: Middle Fork Trail (partial)
Distance: 4.2 miles
Elevation: 2494 – 2664 ft (177 ft)

We’ve hiked eastern portions of this trail before, so we decided to find the western trail head and start there.

The trail starts with a creek crossing.

Then quickly goes to another creek crossing.

The trail runs beside (in) the creek for awhile.

Then we finally reached a crossing that was deeper than we capable of crossing while keeping our feet dry.

If it were warmer, I would have taken off my boots to cross, but it was a little too chilly for that, so we headed back.

So, we’ll go back when it hasn’t been raining for a month (and have water shoes, for the deepest crossings).

We then went to a different spot and were attacked by approximately ten billion flies, so we quickly gave up.

Despite rearranging our masks to cover not just our mouths but also our ears, and wearing glasses, the flies were just too irritating to deal with, when most of our walk was going to be along a creek.

But the views on the brief walk were pretty!

West Virginia has a number of covered bridges–some still in use, some not in use.

Back in 2017 I heard the Carrollton Covered Bridge had burned, but wasn’t quite sure which bridge it was.

This weekend on the way to Audra, I was reminded which bridge it was, since although it’s open to traffic, it is still obvious that it had burned.

There is a push to get it rebuilt, but since three years have passed, it doesn’t seem to be a priority.

Saturday was gorgeous, and we spent it at Audra, some hiking, but mostly playing around the water.

If you’ve never been Audra has a boardwalk through the Alum cave, which is a lot of fun.

Watch your head!

The main trail goes along the West Fork river, and there are many paths to get down to the water. We spent half our time walking along the river.

And throwing sticks into the river.

One log we threw in and followed along the river for as long as we could, freeing it from the rocks and cheering it on its journey.

Finally got out to Coopers Rock.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trail: Advanced Ski Trail
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation: 1518-2226 feet (773 feet)

No snow. No flowers. But there was water.

Wednesday I was lucky enough to get to go to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for the light show.

Yeah, there was flower pr0n galore, but the lights were really wonderful.

I took a few more pictures, which you can see if you click through to Flickr.

Since the fall leaf color is done anywhere within driving distance, we jumped straight into winter with a hike at Blackwater Falls.

Since I’ve been slacking on walking / hiking in recent months, we decided to take a relatively easy hike, and hiked part of the Davis Trail. This is the part of the Allegheny Trail that runs from Blackwater Falls to Cannan Valley State Park.

It was lovely.

Location: Blackwater Falls
Trail: Davis Trail / Allegheny Trail
Distance: 5.1 miles
Elevation: 3203-3669 feet (660 ft)

The eastern panhandle and the southern part of the state are the last areas to lose their leaves. As the eastern panhandle is an easier drive, that’s where we tend to head mid-November.

It was a gray day, and a past peak, although there were still trees that had some leaves.

Harpers Ferry is another place fascinating place to wander around. There is a ton of history there–and not just John Brown’s raid.

There is also some amazing beautify.

Two of my favorite spots there are ruins.

The old water-power ruins.

Wandering around old ruins (and especially finding hidden ruins in the woods) is a reminder of the impermanence of humanity. That of these man-made structures, the only things that are left are the stones our fore-bearers mortared together in an attempt to constrain nature.

And the old church.

I managed to forget to share the pictures from last week’s drive to Berkeley Springs. Neither of us wanted a long drive, but we wanted to a chance to see some leaf color, so off we went.

We went first to Cacapon SP, where a recent storm had taken down a lot of trees, so the road going up to the mountain top was closed, which was disappointing, since I’d hoped to see how the entire valley looked.

But it was still pretty.

Some nice color at the lower elevations.

Then we went to Berkeley Springs, which I always find lovely to walk around.

Beautiful!

We saw some interesting things on our drive yesterday.

One was so unexpected that I might have squealed, slammed on the brakes, and all but done a U-Turn in the road.

Michael’s Favorite Sign

This just delighted me. It’s like someone let me name a road.

We opted to starve to death, but stopping was briefly was considered.

The other places we stopped (right in the middle of our day) was Babcock State Park.

There was a decent amount of color there, although nowhere near peak.

So! Adorable!