Creek Crawlin' Up To The Roaring Plains

“My boy Henry and I did quite a bit of off trail over the weekend.

We arrived at the trail head in Laneville, West Virginia JUST before dark on Friday thanks to our "Crack 'O Noon" departure.

The first two miles were covered under cover of darkness.
I've done the same two miles in the dark three times now.
We only needed to use a light when things got squishy.
It is the Flatrock Run Trail--5 miles and about 2,500 ft to Roaring Plains--and the first 2 miles is a gradual 500 ft or so.

We camped on an old rail-trail spur at a point where the Right and Left Forks meet.
We scrambled up the Right Fork of Flatrock Run about a half mile to a rock wall falls and climbed out of the hole like dogs to the rail-trail.

The next 1/2 to 3/4 mile of creek we did the same to another falls and steep hole and up we crawled to another old rail-trail.
From there we bushwhacked through a mess of small spruce and berry bushes--bear food--sometimes on hands and knees like dogs.
More later........”

“speaking of bears...did ya see any? Whats the foliage like down thataway?

Inquiring minds want to know...
come on man, details, I need details! :o)”

“My friend had gotten me a hiking guide for WV, but so far I haven't had the opportunity to get there...

s'why I'm axkin. Thanks.”

“We didn't see any bears but saw lots of bear sh!t and quite a few of the berry bushes looked like they had been stripped.

Whilst bushwhackin' off of Mt Porte Crayon on Sunday we came across a complete skeleton.
It must have been some kind of canine.
There was a mess of greyish fur scattered about.
The back from butt to shoulders was about two feet long and it had a tail just a little over a foot long.
It could have been a coyote or feral dog........sorry Sarabelle :(
The spinal disks were still intact.....fairly fresh......but it was completely cleaned.

Once we got up to the "Plains" we bushwhacked up to the (large flat) summit of Porte Crayon.
The summit and sides are covered with 50 foot red spruce which were probably planted by the CCC at least 60 years ago.
Porte Crayon is more of a broad flat-topped hill of 4,770 feet on the Plains, which is 4,500-4,600 and very much alpine with some open rocky areas.

There are no views from there, but its a worthwhile "bag".
The challenge is in the bushwhackin' and navigation.
Without compass and just going for the high ground we almost stepped on the USGS benchmark after plowing through berry bushes and 2 to 12 foot spruce.

The area near the benchmark is the same 50 foot red spru1ce but is fairly free of the thickets for several acres.
I camped there in December of '98 with IdiotBoB.

On Saturday afternoon Henry and I set up our tarp and followed a compass heading(230-240???) to find Thunderstruck Rock.
Its about 1/3 mile from the benchmark......more whackin'.
The Rock isn't REAL special.....just hard to find.
The view is nice but is only partial due to all the bushy spruce there.

Its hard to follow a straight line up there and Henry stayed behind just barely within earshot and WAY out of sight of me.
I'm pretty sure I found it but headed back immediately as it was getting late and the thought of getting split-up there was kinda scary.

Sunday morning we had to navigate off the summit through 3/4 mile of thickets and it sure sucked at times but once we found the trail again we felt like wildmen!

We took the 5-mile trail back down......enough of bushwnackin'!”

“Oh yeah, the foliage wa still mostly green.
A few reds were showing up with lots of yellows on the way.
These highlands are much like New England with red spruce(above 3,000-3,500) and maple, birches, beech, etc.

In a couple of weeks Dolly Sods(just to the north) will be overrun with hikers when the foliage is in full color.
Don't step on the Tarp Rat there~@%^>”