First Post

I just created this blog and wanted to put up a quick post. My main intentions for this blog is to use it as a sort of log book that will describe the adventures that my wife & I (and our golden reteiver) get into as we hike and camp in the Appalachian mountains of WV (my wife will probably use this blog to post her views & opinions also). We both love the outdoors, taking our dog on long walks whenever our busy lives allow it. Up to this point, our hiking has been limited to day hikes with tent camping in established campgrounds. I want to (and I believe my wife also wants to, with some reserve & caution) move on to longer overnight hikes in the wilderness (where we actually carry in everything we need for 2 days and camp along the trail). In fact, we are planning one such trip this weekend. We plan on hiking in the Spruce Knob/Seneca Creek Backcountry on a trail that is ~13 miles long. We will split this up into 2 days, walking half the length the first day and camping out that night along the trail. If all goes well, hopefully we will have a good time and love it. Only time will tell....

Last weekend we spent 2 nights camping in the Tea Creek National Forest Service campground. This is located adjacent to the Cranberry Wilderness/Backcountry, one of the most beautiful and remote portions of the State. We took a dayhike in the Cranberry Backcountry that was 8.7 miles long. Our hike started at the Cranberry Bottoms campground, where we hiked up the cranberry trail for ~2 miles. From there we turned left onto the Lick Run trail, going straight uphill for ~2 miles. On top of the ridge, we turned left onto the North-South trail, which stays on top of the ridge before eventually descending the mountain and ending back at the campground. It was a very beautiful walk, but we did get rained on the last hour of the trip. I will put up some photos of the hike when I get a chance.