Hiking in WV

“I hiked in WV for the first time recently. I think I'm hooked. Can anybody recommend some WV trails that are good hiking?”

“One of my goals is to hike the entire length of the West Virginia portion of the A.T. I want to do it with no tent, food or water.”

“You can get help. Suicide is not the answer.”

“WV section of the AT?.. last I looked -- the AT got close to WV but never crossed that boundary line..

you are pulling our leg.. right?”

“AT goes through about 2 miles of WV when it goes into Harper's Ferry and then maybe another 20 miles of walking the WV-VA border”

“wow.. you are absolutely right.. geEEz... and every now and then i think I know something.. doh!..

thanks HOI.. so when you going hike the VW section?.. do we go this spring sometime?

maybe skullcap would lead it, since she lives fairly close to there..”

“not sure when I will get around to it - still have not hiked all of the AT in SNP”

“2 words: Dolly Sods.

(wow, don't TT look purty!!) :-)”

“Yeah, Dolly Sods is definitely on the wish list. So is Otter Creek.”

“I have heard a lot about those areas.. most likely will be on my Fall 2002 list of destinations.”

“If I was sure wifey would not divorce me.. would take about two weeks off work and just go do some extended backpacking this fall.

:)”

“*Monongahela National Forest Hiking Guide* by deHart and Sundquist (~$15)

That guidebook has tons of WV trail info and excellent maps to boot. It's got everything you need to know about hiking/backpacking WV.”

“As a stuck-up Rocky Mountain hiker, I liked Dolly Sods. I did a couple of days in Otter Creek and didn't think much of it because there aren't many good views, there are more people than good camping spots, and I douched my camera in the creek.”

“toejam, I think you would really like the North Fork Mtn trail then. Not during hunting season, though!”

“Cranberry wilderness is HUGE (ie. lots of trails), with WV relief (steeps inclines and deep valleys) unlike Otter Creek. Few vistas though (you can't see the forest through the trees), but you do get this deep-woods feeling from the pristine and ancient suroundings. They got blue crayfish wandering the countryside out of water there. It's the next place I'm going back to in WV...just don't know when!”

“Buddur, sign me up! That sounds great. Just let me know as soon as you determine the 'when'.”

“Cranberry Wilderness is closer to Kentucky than the other places.
Its 320 miles from Baltimore but worth the drive.

Just south of Dolly Sods is Flatrock Plains and Roaring Plains.
Its not a designated wilderness area but is about 500-700 feet higher and not as over-used as The Sods.

Summer Solstice 2000 I found a single Flame Azalea bush(Rhododendron calendulaceum) up on the Roaring Plains.
The flowers were in full bloom and the color of orange fire leapt from a receding fog bank!”

“Hmmm...

Grand Teton NP, for sure! There are a myriad of routes ranging from short dayhikes to multi-niters. Magnificent vistas!

Wind River Range - awesome! The state of Deleware could fit in Titcomb Basin alone. One could "hide" for weeks and weeks in them thar mountains.

And of course you can always...


D'oh!
I thought this thread was about WY...
I sawry...
/o:”

“isn't all of WV, wilderness?

i mean, people don't actually LIVE there, do they?”

“I think just during hunting season, rad.”

“West Virginians have been leaving for places like DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh for generations.

The population there peaked at something over two million around 1920 when the clear-cutting of the state was pretty much finished.

”

“Some of us are still here, and proud of it!!”

“i wish i lived in west virginia or western virginia. this piedmont area kinda sucks.”

“oh, you're thinking of moving to WV, baume? my parents in Charleston have an old rusty schoolbus sitting in the front yard, i'm sure they'd let you stay there until you found something more permanent. and you can make a lot more money selling drugs there than you can doing anything else, so i suggest you get used to the idea.

hahaha, i love WV jokes... ;-)”

“yeah, running girl has a lot of family in west virginia. some are in eastern kentucky. we go visiting kinda regular. they mostly live in the huntington area (kenova) so we traverse the entire state getting there. i like it.”

“me too :-) my brother goes to school in Huntington.”

“Huntington is only slightly more than an hours drive for me. We have got to get together sometime!”

“really? i've never even been to Kentucky, and it's that close? for real, we should get together! :-) i'm going there for Christmas.”

“Oops! I'm going to Michigan for Christmas. Hmmmm...we'll have to work something out here.”

“oh, i'm sure it won't be hard...i go there about once a month or so...”

“if you can throw a rock across the big sandy, you can throw a rock from kenova, wv to kentucky. you've also got a better arm than me.”

“WV's cool. The southern part of the state (where I live) sucks,
but keeping going north, New River
Gorge, Cranberry, Dolly Sods and
more than I can mention, absolutely
breathtaking. I can set up some
hikes if anyone's interested.”

“From West Virginny they came to stay
In sunny Californ-eye-ay
Ole Grandpappy Amos and the girls and the boys
Of the family known as the Real McCoys

....they said, "Washington DC is the place you oughta be, so they loaded up the hoss and they moved to ole Dee Cee

Well, that's where MY kin ended up!

Ina-
That's what I've heard about the southern parts.
I hear its been worked over pretty good by the Resource Rapers.

We'll meet ya in the Monogahela N F sometime!”

“The Cranberry Backcountry Wilderness is at the southern portion of WV's Monongahela National Forest...so southern WV can't be all THAT bad.”

“Further south than Cranberry and west a bit is no longer the Allegheny Front with its high and wild plateaus.

That area has been worked over real bad by the robber barons of the past and present.

I believe that's where the "mountain top removal" method of coal extraction is in high gear.”

“Mountain top removal is definitely the controversy here and it is in high gear. That's why I don't hike locally. Monongahela sounds great. Just let me know when.”