Blackwater Falls Waterfalls

Monday morning, we had breakfast at Yokum's again and then headed to Blackwater Falls State Park.  We first parked at the trading post for the Blackwater Falls Boardwalk Trail.  The trail descended to an extensive boardwalk with several viewpoints of Blackwater Falls.

It's not the highest waterfall at 57 feet, but certainly among the most impressive in West Virginia.

And the boardwalks had great views of the falls.

After we were done on the west side, we drove over to the east side and parked at the trailhead for Gentle Trail.  A short paved trail led to a nice overlook from the east.

Back at the parking area, we hiked up the road a short ways then bushwhacked down along Falls Run.  Although steep, it was very short and soon we came to the upper section of Falls Run Falls.

Climbing a little further down, we came to the main drop.

Once at the base, it was a surprisingly nice waterfall.

We got a couple pictures down here and then headed up.

Back on the road, we picked up Yellow Birch Trail and started hiking towards the lodge through a scenic forest.

It was a mostly easy trail, but a couple rocky sections requiring a short scramble.

When we reached the lodge, we got on Elakala Trail and crossed Shays Run on a footbridge.  Just across, there was steep scramble path down to creek level at Elakala Falls.

The lighting was poor, but it's a scenic waterfalls just below the bridge.

An obvious path led downstream along the creek to the second falls.

We were fortunate for a cloud to cover the sun for a few minutes to get a couple pictures.

The path got real steep and covered in downfall going further down, but it wasn't far to the third waterfall.

By the time we got in position for a picture, then sun had come back out.

Alex was having trouble, so we decided not to go any further.  Since it didn't look like we'd get any more cloud cover, we scrambled back up and continued on Elakala Trail.  At the end, we crossed the street and picked up Balanced Rock Trail.  It was under a mile to the trail's namesake.

From the right angle, the upper rock appeared to be balancing on the lower one.

We had lunch here and started making our way back.  We turned on Red Spruce Trail, which followed an old road, to make a partial loop back.  There were a bunch of amphibian eggs in a ephemeral pool.

At the barn, we got back on Yellow Birch Trail.

It was less than a mile back to the car.

We headed back to Seneca Rocks and had dinner at Yokum's again.  We got a pizza with ramps or wild leeks.  After dinner, we went across the street to park for Seneca Rocks.

We hiked past the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center and stopped for a picture of the Sites Homestead.

The redbud was blooming around here.

Seneca Rocks Trail (#563) crossed North Fork South Branch Potomac River on a footbridge and started heading up towards the rocks.

There were a lot of wildflowers blooming along the trail.

Phlox and star chickweed were really flowering.

Virginia saxifrage has tiny little white flowers.

There were some white violets as well.

The trail headed up towards Seneca Rocks.  It was steep but switchbacks moderated the slope.

At the end, I climbed up to the top of the rocks.

There's a big crack to navigate the top.  A notch in the rocks had a nice view east.

I enjoyed scrambling around for a bit.

After some pictures, I headed down to the overlook so Sandy could have a turn.

The views from the overlook were nice, but the setting sun prevented a good picture.

It was getting late in the evening so we headed back down.  Seneca Rocks were really gorgeous in the fleeting evening light.

We headed back to the car and back to camp.

We made one last fire for another chilly evening then got ready to pack up and head home in the morning.

Red Creek Waterfalls in Dolly Sods

Sunday morning, we woke up and headed to Yokum's for breakfast, which was really good.  Then we headed to Dolly Sods Wilderness in Monongahela National Forest.  Parking at the end of Laneville Road, we started off on Red Creek Trail (#514).  There were a lot of cars at the parking lot, but these were backpackers on the way out.  The trail followed the creek closely for the first mile and a half.

There were some nice cascades along the creek.

The trail climbed up at points but never strayed far from the creek and we passed several groups of backpackers leaving the wilderness.

In about 2 miles, the trail passed Stairstep Falls.

We scrambled down before the crossing to the base of the waterfall.

It's only about 10 feet high, but very scenic in high water.

Continuing on the trail, we crossed another tributary in about a half mile.  Curtain Falls was just below the crossing, but it was a steep scramble down to the base.

There was an interesting "curtain" of moss hanging down next to the waterfall.

It was a very scenic area and we had lunch down here.

After lunch, we climbed back up and continued further on the trail.  In about another half-mile the trail came to a crossing of Red Creek, which was too high to safely cross with the dog.  Another path continued upstream without crossing, so we took this.  Shortly, we came to a small but really scenic river-wide drop on Red Creek.

More of a cascade than a waterfall, it was really nice in high water.

Sandy and Alex took a break here and I climbed to the top.

The path continued to Fisher Spring Run, but crossing would have been difficult so I turned back.  The hike back along Red Creek was very nice.

The parking lot was mostly empty by the time we got back.

From here, we headed back to Seneca Rocks and had dinner back at Yokum's.  Then we drove to Spruce Knob for a short hike to the highest point in West Virginia.  The Whispering Spruce Trail, named for the red spruce on the mountain, made an easy half-mile loop around the summit.

There's a nice stone observation tower at the summit.

We climbed to the top for some nice views from the ceiling of West Virginia.

The loop trail continued on and there were several more nice view spots.

Looking down, we could see the valleys between the ridges of the Allegheny Mountains.

The views east were a little better with the sun behind us.

We finished the loop back up at the parking lot and took off.

On the drive down the mountain, we made a quick stop at East Overlook.

Then we drove the rest of the way down the mountain and returned to camp.  It was chilly again, so we made a big fire to stay warm.