Wayne National Forest: Archer's Fork Trail

On May 1, Cool Guy and went hiking after a three week break due to allergies.  It was a bright, sunny, 80 degree day.  We arrived at Archer's Fork trailhead, which is next to an old cemetery, and found one truck with a ramp.  Must be a 4-wheeler.  Never saw nor heard it the whole time.

The trail began just down the gravel road from the cemetery.  It was very rough going at first with lots of fallen trees to scramble over or go around, hacking through briers and thorns.  Soon, though, we came to a fork and a sign which pointed the way to Great Cave.  Now the path cleared out, but it was very narrow, very primitive, and tough to hike.  Part of that, I'm sure, is that we were out of shape, but another part was that up went straight up.  No switchbacks, just straight up.

Happily, we were surrounded with myriads of spring wildflowers to distract us from the work.

Eventually, we got to the Great Cave, and it was great indeed.  It reminded me very much of something from Old Man's Cave.  It was huge and cavernous and at one end, water was dripping down over the lip.  We went down to the cave and had lunch.  Unfortunately, there was plenty of evidence of prior visitors: old campfire rings, a little trash, and lots of carved names on the cave walls, some graffiti.

After lunch, we hiked back up to the main path - straight up - and continued until we got to the turnoff for the natural bridge, our primary destination.  It was amazing.  A natural bridge is basically a cave with both ends open.  We went down the ravine, very steeply again (wish I had remembered my stick) and hung out in the shade there for awhile.  We noticed a bird's nest built on the wall of the bridge.  I don't know if that's a cliff swallow or what, but it was very interesting to watch the bird going back and forth to his nest.  We didn't hear any baby birds, so I'm guessing that Mr. Bird was feeding Mama-to-Be Bird.  The nest seemed to be made of moss on the outside, and it looked like a green fuzzy bowl just hanging on the wall.

Finally, we climbed back up to the main trail and headed back.  More uphill going back than going out, but soon enough we were back to the beginning, the car, and some air conditioning.

It was a great day for a hike, and the exercise felt good, plus so much more interesting than, say, a treadmill. (smile)  The bridge was worth the effort, but the overall hiking conditions were some of the most difficult we have seen.

North Bend SP: Overhanging Rock

On April 14, Burt, Cool Guy, and I did the 1/2 mile Overhanging Rock Trail at North Bend SP.  We just needed 1/10 of a mile to get Cool Guy up to the 25 miles required to earn his walking stick from WV State Parks, so I wanted it to be as painless and easy as possible.

Now, Overhanging Rock is not an easy hike, but it is short, and there is a lot of bang for the buck.  We scrambled uphill and over and around some rocks until it leveled off.  Then down some very unstable stairs, the actual ones that Burt fell down last summer, and then we got to walk along the overhanging rock and the stream at the bottom.

Differences between this time and last summer are that this time, there were some lovely wildflowers blooming, and there were a lot of trees down and a lot of obstruction in the pathways.  I was told by North Bend rangers that they clear out the paths twice a year, so I guess they haven't yet addressed it yet for the summer.

Another really COOL thing was that Burt found a critter skull in the pathway.  It has huge fang teeth, but it is a small, oblong skull.  Of course, we brought it home, stuck it in a bucket of bleach and are hoping to identify it soon.

The weather was fantastic.  Not too hot, not too cold.