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

Our primary destination on Saturday was Harpers Ferry.

There is a lot here to do:
Hiking the WV portion of the Appalachian Trail (and visiting the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters)
Hiking the old B & O Canal
See the site of John Brown’s Raid (and all attendant historical stuff)
Wandering Harpers Ferry
Enjoying the Shenandoah and Potamic rivers
Hiking the Maryland Heights trail

Location: Harpers Ferry Historic District
Distance: 5.1 miles
Elevation: 229 – 590 feet (yes, that’s the lowest point we’ve hiked in ages)

I remain fascinated by the remains of this church.

I also took a couple pictures of the burned buildings–there is a Go-Fund-Me site for those wanting to donate to the rebuilding of the historic buildings.

Saturday we went to the Eastern Panhandle, where the leaves were just reaching their peak colors.

As is our habit when were anywhere near that area and have the time, we stopped at Berkeley Springs on our way home.

Since we were at Canaan, we decided to go back to the Canaan Mountain Wilderness and hike back out Table Rock Trail, assuming correctly it would be a nice view.

If you are thinking about taking this hike, there are two things to note: 1) it takes 30 – 45 minutes to drive out the gravel Canaan Loop road if don’t have a 4-wheel drive (it’s rumored to be unpassable past the Table Rock Trail) and 2) it is muddy–even after a dry spell there were muddy patches. After a rain, it’s nigh near swampy.

Location: Canaan Wilderness
Trail: Table Rock Trail
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation: 3031 – 3511 feet

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.

>

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

Location: Dolly Sods National Wilderness
Trail: Rohrbaugh Trail (partial)
Distance: 3.0
Elevation: 3790 – 4120 feet

As is par for the course for every visit we’ve made to Dolly Sods, it was wet and muddy, which is part of the reason we only hiked a third of the Rohrbaugh trail (the other reason was that I’m still somewhat exhausted from this never-ending cold).

The trails are nowhere near as scenic as Bear Rocks, but it was still a gorgeous hike.

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.

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.