On March 30, Burt, Cool Guy, and I took at trip to Charleston to visit Kanawha State Forest and hike. It was a fantastic day, weather wise, about 60.
Our plan was to take the Polly Trail/Wildcat Ridge loop counter clockwise (supposed to be the easier choice). It didn't quite work out that way. The Polly Trail begins on a fire road, and we first missed the turnoff for the trail. It wasn't marked in any way. Before we figured out that we had missed it, we had gone quite a ways and had crossed about 5 streams. Then we backtracked and found the trailhead, went uphill, and had a marvellous hike along about the halfway point up the mountain. Cool Guy thought it was neat that he could pick up coal from the ground.
After a bit, the trail merged with the fire road again, and it was supposed to do that for a bit and then split off again. Well, again, we missed the fork, and we were looking for it, too. Oh, well, we never got to see what the second half of Polly had for us. Consulting the map, we saw that by keeping to the fire road, we'd be coming to Beech Glen trail, which is also a mountain bike trail. I just don't see how anyone could enjoy riding a bike on conditions like that. I think we had to step over fallen trunks and branches about half a dozen times. Would not like to be hauling a bike over that.
Beech Glen Trail ended up being my favorite part of the hike. It really was a beech glen, and it was mostly flat, a little more open, less wooded than Polly, running by streams, sometimes across them.
We stopped and had lunch on a fallen log and encountered a few other hikers. We were the only ones there without dog.
Eventually, Beech Glen intersected with Wildcat Ridge Trail. To get to Wildcat Ridge, we had to get to the top of the mountain. Beech Glen did this much more slowly and gently than I think Polly did. We covered more mileage, but it was not as intense. It was a nice walk getting to the top. At the top, we intersected with Wildcat Ridge and then began our descent downhill. Sometimes this was pretty steep.
Total distance, about 3 miles. It was a very nice hike, though I don't think quite as nice as Overlook Rock.
Our plan was to take the Polly Trail/Wildcat Ridge loop counter clockwise (supposed to be the easier choice). It didn't quite work out that way. The Polly Trail begins on a fire road, and we first missed the turnoff for the trail. It wasn't marked in any way. Before we figured out that we had missed it, we had gone quite a ways and had crossed about 5 streams. Then we backtracked and found the trailhead, went uphill, and had a marvellous hike along about the halfway point up the mountain. Cool Guy thought it was neat that he could pick up coal from the ground.
After a bit, the trail merged with the fire road again, and it was supposed to do that for a bit and then split off again. Well, again, we missed the fork, and we were looking for it, too. Oh, well, we never got to see what the second half of Polly had for us. Consulting the map, we saw that by keeping to the fire road, we'd be coming to Beech Glen trail, which is also a mountain bike trail. I just don't see how anyone could enjoy riding a bike on conditions like that. I think we had to step over fallen trunks and branches about half a dozen times. Would not like to be hauling a bike over that.
Beech Glen Trail ended up being my favorite part of the hike. It really was a beech glen, and it was mostly flat, a little more open, less wooded than Polly, running by streams, sometimes across them.
We stopped and had lunch on a fallen log and encountered a few other hikers. We were the only ones there without dog.
Eventually, Beech Glen intersected with Wildcat Ridge Trail. To get to Wildcat Ridge, we had to get to the top of the mountain. Beech Glen did this much more slowly and gently than I think Polly did. We covered more mileage, but it was not as intense. It was a nice walk getting to the top. At the top, we intersected with Wildcat Ridge and then began our descent downhill. Sometimes this was pretty steep.
Total distance, about 3 miles. It was a very nice hike, though I don't think quite as nice as Overlook Rock.
No comments:
Post a Comment