Morgantown, WV

   Hiking in the fall does present a few challenges.  First of all, it's cold outside.  It's been in the low 40s the last two days. Hiking on rocky terrain with leaves on top is another challenge, especially when the leaves are wet, as they were today.  It's also hunting season, which could be pretty challenging, I would think.  We are hiking in the safety zone, but I hope all the deer hunters know that! Every once in a while we can hear shots in the distance. Poor Bambi.


Rock City, Coopers Rock State Forest



        We pulled off the road 2 days ago because the name "Coopers Rock State Forest" sounded intriguing, and we decided to stay for a few days because there is some hiking to be done here, and because we are in Morgantown, home of West Virginia University, so we thought we'd stick around and explore the town.

Our hiking in the forest led us to an old iron furnace that was built in the early 1800s and was used for about 40 years.  Our other destination was Rock City, which was more interesting to me.  There were interesting rock formations, with deep crevices and lots of nooks and crannies.  All in all we hiked about 5 miles today and it felt really good to push it a bit.