It’s been a rough couple of years, and I’ve been crap at posting anything besides book roundups, but I’m going to try for a little more variety–no promises, because I’m still struggling, but I’m going to try.

We spent a long weekend at Canaan Valley (the first time we’d been hiking since November, which is a really long time for me) and although the weather was meh for part of the weekend, it was wonderful to be back in the woods.

By meh, I mean Saturday was either rain or this:

(Guess what Michael did.)

But we did hike, and of course we our first walk was along the Blackwater River Trail. It’s my favorite.

The beaver dam is starting to fall apart; not sure if the beavers have moved or it was just the ice melting. We’ll see in the coming months.

Since the ground was frozen Sunday morning, we decided to try to Abe Run and Mill Run trails.

Why that caveat?

Those trails are wet.

There are several boardwalks throughout that system.

Luckily the water was mostly frozen (or avoidable) so we get to enjoy this view.

And of course I sat by a creek for a bit.

Autumn is over in most regions in WV. In fact, I was startled to find so much color in Morgan county.

I adore the watching the springs bubble.

The color at Cacapon was amazing–so much brighter than I expected.

One day we’ll do the full hike over the mountain at the Paw Paw Tunnel. But Saturday was not that day. Was gorgeous from the top though.

Shockingly the panoramic view along Rt 9 wasn’t busy.

Everyone else’s loss.

Because it really as a perfect day to enjoy the wood and forest.

It’s not quite been a year since I last posted about hiking, but close. I actually have been hiking, but didn’t feel up to writing about it, since I didn’t have much joy to share.

But yesterday was a gorgeous hike at Coopers Rock, and I wanted to share some pictures. Hopefully this means things are slowly (slowly) getting better.

We grabbed our snow shoes got to Coopers Rock where we saw lots of cross country skiers. Since they all seemed to be heading out the roadside trail, we went down Scotts Run trail, which had no ski tracks for and out and back.

It was stunningly beautiful.

There were a couple of trees down across the trail.

And disconcertingly, here you can see the tree lying over the tracks in the snow we’d made on our way out.

Why did so many trees and branches fall? Because under the layer of light fluffy snow, everything was covered in ice.

But that’s why everything was so shiny and bright and gorgeous. And having gotten there early, we got to see parts of the trail no one else had yet traveled upon.

The other thing that’s lovely about hiking in the snow is just how quiet and peaceful it is. For the most part, we all we really heard was the creek.

Because I kept stopping to take pictures, we were overtaken by a guy who was also out to enjoy the fresh snow.

When we reached the point where we generally turn back (after hanging out by the creek for a bit) we discovered he’d stopped briefly.

Thank you, random stranger, for leaving that. It made me happy.

The hike was just under four miles, but some of that is because I kept wandering off the trail, to hike through the fresh snow and avoid the wet bits of the trail.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trail: Scotts Run (partial, out-and-back)
Distance: 3.9 miles
Elevation: 1860-2253 ft (475′ change)

And just for fun, I’ve been recording creeks for awhile, now I’m putting them into one place.

I took four different videos yesterday. Feel free to click through and look at the rest.

Last year we went hiked past Douglas Falls several times but it was incredibly busy, so I didn’t bother with the scramble down.

Distance: 4.8 miles
Elevation: 2327-2648 feet (383′ gain)
Trail: Blackwater Canyon Trail

For some reason, we didn’t see anyone on this hike. Funny that.

If you go far enough down the trail, and peer through the trees, you can see Lindy Point.

Unexpected finding.

We took time off last week and did some hiking, which was marvelous (and desperately needed).

One place we went was Cacapon State Park.

Location: Cacapon State Park
Distance: 4.2 miles
Elevation: 1079-2287 feet (1311′ gain), 20% grade on the uphill, 23% grade on the downhill
Trails: Ziller Loop, Ziller, and Central Trails

Up up up!

And now down!

Also, I managed to find the bog on the way back to the car. (“This looks like a shortcut!”)

We visited Tu-Endie-Wei several years ago, but somehow I failed to take any pictures. So we went down again so I could get some pictures for the hiking class I’m doing for OLLI.

We saw some other stuff too, including this really disconcerting mural.

But more importantly, we got more pictures at the Mothman statue.

Prickett’s Fort State Park

Beartown State Park