ABOUT THE PARK:
Cooper's Rock State Forest - West Virginia State Parks
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 39.63693, -79.80114
| Roadside parking at the Raven Rock Trail trail head. |
TRAIL MAP:
Cooper's Rock State Forest - West Virginia State Parks - scroll down for individual trail descriptions and to download park map.
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HIKE DISTANCE: 6 miles
THE HIKE:
| Directly across the road from the parking area ... |
| ... the Raven Rock Trail. |
| It had rained for almost the entire 5 hour drive from New Jersey to West Virginia. |
| It stopped raining just minutes before we arrived to hike. |
| The sun even came out! |
| And as a bonus, there were just enough leaves left on the trees to provide some nice color. |
| After an uphill section we arrived at ... |
| ... a power cut ... |
| ... where the overlook is. |
| The Cheat River way down below. |
| Heading back the way we came. |
| Near the end of the Raven Rock Trail, not too far from where we parked, a left on the MccCollum Trail. |
| Through the power cut ... |
| ... where the McCollum Trail turns right but we turned left on ... |
| ... an unmarked woods road. |
| The woods road comes out at the park road where we turned left ... |
| ... and road walked to ... |
| ... where all of the traffic was going. |
| Heading to the Coopers Rock overlook which you just know is going to be crowded since people can drive there. |
| I snapped my pictures quickly so we could move on and get out of the crowds. |
| Heading towards the Rattlesnake Trail. |
| The Rattlesnake Trail starts out going down into a crevice ... |
| ... and remains a pretty rugged trail the rest of the way. |
| A tree growing around a rock slab. |
| Taking a break at the end of the Rattlesnake Trail. |
| Heading back on the Rock City Trail. |
| We went left on the Eagle Trail until it looped back around ... |
| ... then worked our way over to the park road and followed that ... |
| ... back to the overlook parking and the Roadside Trail. |
| The Roadside Trail took us back to where we parked. |
| The post hike coma while driving another 4 hours to ... |
| ... Brodie's first motel stay in Columbus, Ohio where it promptly started to lightning and thunder the minute I unloaded our stuff from the car. |