Since we were sort of in the area, and since we were spending the night in Princeton, we decided to swing by Twin Falls State Park after Camp Creek State Park. I wasn’t up for a long hike, and I was famished and ready for dinner, but we wanted to see the falls, so it was a very brief hike.

Location: Twin Falls State Park
Trail: Falls Trail (partial)
Distance: 1.62 miles

Mountain Laurel

Marsh Fork Falls

Black Fork Falls

My plan for this hike (made while Michael was driving) was to take part of the Farley Branch Trail and then switch over to the Mash Fork trail, so come out down by the falls, and then drive up to see the other falls.

When we reached the Mash Fork Trail, Michael pulled out the map and said, “let’s continue along this trail!”

Eight miles later, after crossing the Mash Fork several times (and I did NOT fall in once!) we came out at the Mash Fork Falls.

Location: Camp Creek State Park
Trails: Farley Branch, Turkey Loop
Distance: 8.0 miles
Elevation: 1650 feet

Because those were really horse riding trails more than hiking trails, I wouldn’t recommend this hike, since much of it is along roads, and passes an extremely loud gas compressor.

One exciting thing is we saw what I think is a bobcat. Because I only had a regular zoom lens, and I was NOT going to get closer to get a better shot, the pictures are extremely blurry. Will this change my mind about using a backpack and carrying a longer lens?

Probably not.

Mash Fork was very pretty, but I would have enjoyed crossing it more if I’d had water shoes for the crossing.

The Mash Fork falls were very pretty. But I wouldn’t have minded the shorter hike to reach them.

Today, in addition to putting out the flag and thinking about the sacrifices made by the men and women throughout history to safeguard our freedoms, we took a hike at Coopers Rock.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Eagle, Underlook, Rattlesnake, Rock City, Ridge, Rhododendron Trails
Distance: 2.7 miles
Elevation: 709 feet

We made a sort of a figure eight, if the top part of the eight was really really small and the bottom part was huge.

We also saw two black snakes, one of which I pointed out to a mother so she could show it to her kids, the second of which was pointed out to us by a small boy and his grandmother. :)

Snakes are very interesting!

Looking up to the Overlook, from the Underlook trail.

Going up?

Rattlesnake Trail

Above the Rattlesnake Trail

And speaking of snakes…

Of course we went to Coopers Rock this weekend. We managed another route with no back-tracking, AND went along my favorite trail, the Mont Chateau trail. AND I got to splash around in the stream, since I took along my water shoes. At some point I am going to see if I can make it up the stream all the way to the start of the trail. It might not be possible, but it seems like a lot of fun to try.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron Trail, Mont Chateau Trail, Ridge Trail
Distance: 4.2 miles
Elevation: 919 feet

Saturday we hiked at Holly River State Park. We went there last year, but unforeseen events shortened our time there, so I’d wanted to go back and actually hike.

If you are planning on Hiking at Holly River, GO TO THE PARK OFFICE and get a “Good Map.” They have large and small maps there that are very nice, and have trail lengths and descriptions.

Location: Holly River State Park
Trails: Reverie Trail, Wilderness Trail, Salt Lick Trail
Distance: 5.0 miles
Elevation: 1384 feet

The Reverie Trail is very steep in multiple places, and since there were still leaves on the ground, I was a little nervous going down in places.

Hello!

We giggled. :)

Tecumseh Falls

It was Sunday, and the weather was beautiful, so of course we were at Coopers Rock.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Climbing Area trail, Raven Rock trail, McCollum trail, Roadside trail
Distance: 5.6 miles
Elevation: 1091 feet

First, the views from Raven Rock.

I think you can see to Maryland there.

You can definitely see Pennsylvania here.

Despite the view, I can’t say Raven Rock trail is a favorite. It’s extremely rocky, which just isn’t particularly comfortable to hike. (At least not with my ankle.)

Amusements along the hike:

The root structure being left behind as the stump disintegrates.

We stumbled upon the mating of the picnic tables. I was embarrassed.

This happy tree!

Watters Smith Memorial State Park is only 45 minutes down the road from us, and we’ve passed the sign for it countless times, but the name made me think it was more like Stonewall Jackson or Blennerhassett than a regular state park with hiking.

There is hiking, but there is also a preserved homestead–the first in that area.

The hiking was lovely, and so was the homestead.

Location: Watters Smith Memorial State Park
Trails: Dogwood Trail, White Oak Trail, Oak Ridge Trail, Pioneer Trail, Black Cherry Trail
Distance: 4.1 miles
Elevation: 906 feet

The homestead was not part of the hike, but well worth visiting.

The Homestead

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Rhododendron Trail, Clay Furnace Trail, Ridge Trail, Rock City Trail, Rattlesnake Trail, Eagle Trail
Distance: 2.1 miles
Elevation: 422 feet

All pictures were taken on the Rattlesnake trail, because I like rocks.

GPS coordinates are available for all images.

You can’t really hike Berkeley Springs, as it’s tiny. But it’s still pretty.

Location: Cacapon State Park
Trails: Ziller Trail, Ziller Loop Trail, Central Trail
Distance: 5.0 miles
Elevation: 1561 feet

We hiked ALL the way up to the ridge line, but aside from one place on the way up (where we didn’t want to stop) there wasn’t much of a photogenic view.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a gorgeous hike, just that the forest isn’t generally photogenic.

So, well, we’ve now been to Hawk’s Nest, and can check it off the list.

It wasn’t a bad park–though it is obviously long in the tooth–there just wasn’t any hiking there. Might be a nice place to stay, however, if you were hiking New River Gorge.

Michael snapped this pic of a hawk.

It was a pretty day, and you can see the trees are leafing out, but the New River was high and muddy.

There are steps going down to Lovers Leap Overlook. This was one of the places that the age of the place was showing. The steps are slowly crumbling and decomposing. There aren’t a lot of steps, so it isn’t a big deal, but it made the park look in need of upkeep.

Since Saturday was lovely, but low mileage, we went to Coopers Rock on Sunday.

I didn’t mean for our hike to be quite as long as it was, but 3:15 and 6.5 miles (closer to 8, with meandering) later, there it was.

Gorgeous day, and although the streams were all full, we avoided the muddiest trails.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Clay Run Trail, Mount Chateau Trail, Rhododendron Trail, Roadside Trail
Distance: 6.5 miles
Elevation: 937feet

Clay Run Trail

At some point I’m going to remember I don’t really care for the Clay Run Trail. The first half (or even 2/3) is relatively open and sunny, on a right-of-way/maintenance road. It’s not terrible or anything, but it’s not what I really want when I’m hiking.

On the bright side, there are once again frog eggs to see.

Mount Chateau Trail

This is easily my favorite trail in the whole forest. It runs along a stream and it’s beautiful. You can take any number of trails to get there (Rhododendron, Clay Run, Iron Furnace) and when you get to the end, you can sit on the bridge and watch the water.

Once it’s warmer I plan to again start bringing my water shoes so I can hike the stream some more.

And you get zero pictures of the Rhododendron trail and Roadside trail, because at that point we weren’t stopping for much of anything.

But there is water running beside parts of the Rhododendron trail right now (and it is also muddy in spots, but not bad), which is always a draw for me.

Saturday was beautiful, so we headed south for Droop Mountain and Beartown State Parks.

Droop Mountain

Droop Mountain is the site of the last major Civil War battle in West Virginia.

I can really only handle a small amount of thinking about war and death and misery, so it was a short visit.

The view is gorgeous, though,

Confederate Graves

The museum is where I really started to get depressed.

Beartown

Location: Beartown State Park
Distance: 0.7 mile

Luckily, just down the road is Beartown State Park, which is a 0.7 mile boardwalk through some pretty fascinating rock formations.

The boardwalk is really nice.

This was a lovely walk.

Since the day was so beautiful, we decided to take a bike ride at Coopers Rock.

Because we haven’t biked since last summer, we just biked the main road and then walked out to the overlook.

It was a good choice.