Tuesday, since we got home early and it was a beautiful day, we decided to hike some trails we hadn’t before (there aren’t many) and my rule for the day was no backtracking.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Advanced Ski Trail, Reservoir Ski Trail, Roadside Trail, Overlook, McCollum Trail, Unofficial Trails
Distance: 6.8 miles
Elevation: 2153 – 2426 feet

We went to Canaan Valley State Park Sunday and Monday. As there was snow melt AND rain, it was really really muddy.

Luckily, we have waterproof boots.

Location: Canaan Valley State Park
Trail, Distance, Elevation
Blackwater Trail, 0.9 miles, 3262 – 3348 feet
Club Run Trail, 2.1 miles, 3369 – 3481 feet
Deer Run & Mill Run Trails, 2.3 miles, 3273 – 3336

Rocks! I like rocks!

The Blackwater River, meandering through Canaan Valley

Oh! Look! Wetlands!

Decaying machinery on the Mill Run Trail! (I love decaying machinery!)

Several State Park lodges had a leap year special at the end of February: $29/person/night for Saturday and Sunday, and if you stayed both days, Monday night was free. We chose Blackwater Falls State Park, and stayed three nights. That gave us four days of hiking, which was AWESOME, although the weather being what it has, we didn’t get to snowshoe, since there wasn’t enough (or any, by Monday) snow.

Sadly, the GPS batteries were dead the first day, so I don’t have distances or elevations for Saturday’s hiking at Blackwater Falls (and that was the day we hiked the most there).

Location: Blackwater Falls State Park
Trails: Balanced Rock Trail, Lindy Point Trail, Pendleton Trace Trail, Elakala Trail, Red Spruce Trail, Water Tank Trail
Distance: 4.9 miles
Elevation: 3072 – 3221 feet

Elakala

Pendleton Trace

Lindy Point (at sunset, Sunday & Monday)

Blackwater Falls (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday)

The weather Saturday was ridiculously warm–especially considering a week earlier we had temperatures with a negative wind chill.

The trails were of course quite muddy, but once we got off the Roadside Trail, things were fine. But because the well-traveled trails were so muddy and slushy, we ended up walking the road to Henry Clay Furnace trail, and once we came out at the reservoir, took the main road back.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Roadside (very very briefly), road to Henry Clay Furnace, Clay Furnace trail, Mont Chateau trail (partial), Clay Run trail, and main road
Distance: 7.9 miles
Elevation: 1652 – 2353 feet

There were a LOT of people at the forest.

Here is where I accidentally dropped my sunglasses into the creek.

I declined to jump in after them. Temperatures may have been in the 60s, but the water temperature was just above freezing.

Except for a few spots, the reservoir was still frozen, but it wasn’t going to stay that way for very long.

All in all, a beautiful day.

We need to rent snowshoes, to determine if we’re going to buy some; let me tell you, hiking in deep snow is HARD. We did a mile out on the main road, and a mile back, and it was pretty exhausting. (We foolishly went out with the intention of walking to the overlook. Nope!)

This was our second visit to Babcock in the past month–since we’d had a little snow, I thought it was worth another visit.

It was lovely.

In addition to viewing the grist mill (which is nice) you should take the opportunity to hike around. Even a short hike down the road towards the cabins can get you some beautiful scenery.

A handful of WV State Parks are having a $50/night in January special, so we took this opportunity to spend some more time at Twin Falls State Park.

Location: Twin Falls State Park
Trails: Huckleberry, Cliffside, and Falls Trails
Distance: 1.5, 3.0, 2.3 miles
Elevation: 2155-2449, 2005-2317, 1836-2006 feet

Twin Falls has a Pioneer Farm, which is run as a farm from the 17 and 1800s would have been. The Huckleberry Trail passes alone part of the fence of the Pioneer Farm.

We only saw chickens at work when we hiked by.

The Cliffside Trail is very flat and wide until you reach where it branches off to view the cliffs. Then you actually get some real hiking (and elevation, and scrambling)…

Bet the view is lovely on a fall day–or a clear day. :)

Twin Falls is named for the two falls in the park (Duh).

The Marsh Fork Falls

and the Black Fork Falls

Both have a scramble to get down to the base, and both were muddy and messy, but it was a very nice view. (I really wanted to explore on the other side of the Black Fork Falls, but I decided it wasn’t possible life-flight interesting over there.)

If you go off the main trail, you can reach the point where the Black Fork and Marsh Fork meet, which is a very pretty area, that would be lovely to explore in the summer.

And if you pay attention (and are again willing to scramble) you can view the remains of the foundation of an old mill.

It was a lovely trip.

We hiked EVERY DAY this year!

Sadly, we go back to work tomorrow, so this trend will end abruptly.

But it was good while it lasted!

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Advanced Ski and Mont Chateau Trails
Distance: 6.4 miles
Elevation: 1406 – 2323 feet

I am sorry to report that, aside from being the fastest way down to the Mont Chateau trail when the gate is closed, the Advanced Ski Trail doesn’t have much to offer.

It was–kinda boring. Or as boring as a hike in the forest can get. All the things I took pictures of were on the Mont Chateau Trail.

But, it was still time on the woods, which makes it a good day.

We have had a LOT of rain recently. Luckily, although there was some minor flooding in the southern part of the state last week, we’ve managed to escape the terrible flooding that many areas have seen.

But we still have a lot of water.

Here’s how Valley Falls looked Friday:

(Here’s how it normally looks)

And today we went to Babcock, where there was also a lot of water, even though it hasn’t rained for a couple days.

(Here is Babcock in the fall of 2012)

Although one of us had a sightly sensitive stomach, from eating nothing but junkfood for a week straight, we made it out to Coopers Rock for our first hike of 2016.

The gate is closed, so there are limited trail options, unless you want to hike into the forest and then take a trail from there.

So we took Scott’s Run trail, which I do like, but we didn’t hike all summer and fall, since it’s our fall-back trail when the forest is closed.

Location: Coopers Rock
Trail: Scotts Run Trail
Distance: 3.5 miles
Elevation: 1853 – 2207 feet

Although I took some pictures at Valley Falls, we just hiked at Coopers Rock, and didn’t stop for pictures.

Despite the crappy weather, we got in two last hikes.

Location: Coopers Rock
Date: 30 Dec
Trails: Roadside, Rattlesnake, Ridge, Rhododendron, Unmarked Trails
Distance: 3.3 miles
Elevation: 1901 – 2188 feet

Date: 31 Dec
Trails: Unmarked, Clay Run, Rhododendron, Ridge Trails
Distance: 4.0 miles
Elevation: 1730 – 2251 feet

On the 30th, we came across this interesting stump.

This is the view straight down:

On the 31st, coming up the Rhododendron trail, we came across this newly fallen tree.

The picture is blurry, partially because we had been climbing uphill, and possibly because I’d just pulled my phone from my warm pocket into the cold air. But the exposed root structure was, when tipped on its side, taller than Michael.

It’s rained a LOT recently, and the exposed soil didn’t look like it had been rained on, so this was a very recent fall.

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

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.

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.