Location: Tomlinson Run State Park
Trails: Fuse Trail, Dynamite Shack Trail, Beech Trail
Distance: 1.7 miles
Elevation: 423 feet

Here is one of the views.

And here is the stuff I found really interesting:

EVERYTHING is not permitted!

I almost forgot, you have to cross a stream at one point, which, considering how much it’s rained (and rained and rained) wasn’t easy going.

Location: Lost River State Park
Trails: White Oak Trail
Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation Change: 640 feet

There were several miscalculations made on Saturday: how long it would take to get to Lost River State Park and how much food we’d want to bring.

The end result was that I ended up getting too hungry, my blood sugar dropped, and I felt off for much of the rest of day. It happens, but it’s frustrating, because it was a gorgeous day for hiking.

Lost River State Park would be a great park to take kids: lots of playgrounds and swimming pool. I wish we’d have hiked more, but it was a longer drive than we were interested in for the hiking.

GPS Map of White Oak Trail

Saturday we were still pretty tired from the previous days’ hikes, so we just went to Valley Falls State Park to take pictures of the water and maybe take a short hike.

We hiked the Rhododendron trail to the Dogwood trail, and then the signage got a little wonky, and we were following signs that simply said “Picnic Area”. We came out on the Rocky Trail, but were only on that for a little bit. So who knows where were actually were.

Location: Valley Falls State Park
Trails: Rhododendron Trail, Dogwood Trail, ??? Trail
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation: 615 feet

Valley Falls hike (gps map)

Valley Falls is really beautiful. As has happened previously, there was a wedding taking place when we arrived, and there were lots of people walking around on the rocks by the river.

If you want to get good pictures of the river, get there early, before the hordes arrive.

Location: Blackwater Falls
Trail: Pendleton Trace Trail, Dobbins House Trail, Pase Point Trail and into Monongahela National Forest
Distance: 3.9 miles
Elevation: 513 feet

This hike was actually three trails, that lead one to the other: Pendleton Trace Trail, Dobbins House Trail, and Pase Point Trail. We actually continued past the end of the Pase Point Trail into the Monongahela National Forest, where the trail is not maintained by the WV State Park system, but is in good shape, and not much more difficult than the Pase Point Trail. (At some point, I’d like to follow the path out and back.)

We started at the parking lot by the Pendleton Point Overlook. From there, to where we turned around (in the Monongahela National Forest) the hike was 3.9 miles. The elevation ascent was only 513 feet and 0.8% grade.

Here is the trail end:

Pase Point Trail (starting from Pendleton Point)

It rained for the better part of two weeks, so I was expecting a fair amount of water at Blackwater Falls. What we saw was more water going over the falls than I have ever seen. I didn’t even go down to the bottom of the falls overlook, because we’d have gotten soaked by the spray.

You can see Ekelata Falls in 2012 and in 2013.

Here’s what Elakala Falls looked like Saturday:

Here are some previous pictures of Blackwater Falls in 2013, 2010, and 2011. Seriously, go look at those pictures and compare them to what we saw Saturday.

Here’s a look at Blackwater Canyon, going away from the falls.

This is Pendleton Creek beneath the Pendleton Lake accessed from Dobbin House Trail. This was a difficult hike down to the creek, but well worth the view.

There is a bridge just below Pendleton Lake, and you can pretty easily get down to Pendleton Creek . It’s all shale, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I took (approximately) a zillion pictures.

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It’s Primary Election Day, so after doing our Civic Duty, we headed out to Coopers Rock for a hike.

We hiked the Ridge Trail down to the Mont Chateau trail, hikeed the Mont Chateau trail, and then came back to Rock City via the Rhododendron Trail.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Ridge & Rhododendron
Distance: 4.3 miles
Elevation: 959 feet

At the bottom of the Mont Chateau trail, I went off the path, and clambered along the creek. It was simply gorgeous–the pictures do not do it justice. (All GPS location stats are available if you click through to Flickr.)

It was a gorgeous hike.

Hike Map

Hike Stats:
4.3 miles
2 1/2 hours
959 feet elevation rise

Sunday we (again) hiked the Scott’s Run Trail at Coopers Rock. It was a gorgeous day, and the ground wasn’t nearly as muddy as we were expecting.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Scott’s Run Trail
Distance: 4.5 miles
Elevation: 758 feet

You’ll notice that I take a lot of pictures of water. There are two reasons for this: first, I love running water, but second, because I continue to appreciate these clean clear streams, something we didn’t always have (and some areas of WV still don’t have). It like noting these positives.

All pictures are tagged with the Geo-coordinates if you click through to Flickr.

Out hike was 4 1/2 miles, and we ascended 758 feet, most of it rocky terrain.

Scott’s Run Trail