Coopers Rock (CMU Explorers)

The CMU Explorers Club went on a hiking trip to Coopers Rock1 State Forest in West Virginia! It was colder than originally projected, but as they say: “there’s no bad weather, only insufficient clothing.”

There were some shenanigans involving electric cars and going to the wrong parking lot, but eventually we all gathered at the right place.

Frosted overlook River down frosted gorge
Coopers Rock State Forest is so named because of the rock outcrops offering nice views of the Cheat River Gorge. (Click on any image to view at full resolution.)

Naturally, we accidentally wandered onto the wrong trail and ended up hiking for longer than expected—my Apple Watch recorded nine miles by the end of the hike. However, wandering off trail turned out to be a good thing: we encountered some cool natural rock formations and caves!

Natural rock walls Entrance to cave Crevice in rock
There was sadly nothing interesting inside the cave. (Click on any image to view at full resolution.)

We stopped by a bakery on the way back to get some tasty (and well-earned) treats.

  1. As far as I can tell, the official name is Coopers Rock without the apostrophe.↩︎