Exploring

We got a LOT of rain in Morgantown, and things were quite pumped in the area.

After some phone tag, Ben and I met up to look at some little no-name creek (really, it doesn't have a name.) Our good friend Mike had hiked and worked on this creek over the years, but it never had enough rain to try out.
This creek was at least 600fpm, enough that only one person would be able to boat at a time, so we used a hybrid aproach to the creek: 1 kayak between us, and no shuttle; hike in, boat, hike out.
This was a very pretty path between two boulders. I went around so I wouldn't scratch up the carpet of moss.
It ended up being a 3.5 mile round trip hike with about 600 feet of loss and climb back up. Not much Rhododendron, but the soil was so wet that we had to traverse or use trees and such to climb; going straight up unaided was not possible. Great scenery, good workout, but no kayaking due to wood and VERY continuous large rapids. A volleyball net to stretch across the creek would've come in handy as a backstop.

First major drop. I would have run this but for the trees. Its about 20 feet tall.

Same drop from above. Woody. Start center, then drive right to finish.
Downstream, things really picked up;
and it quickly became obvious we wouldn't be kayaking. We got too far away for any sort of photographic evidence, as we worked our way back up the mountainside. These pics are worth clicking on to zoom in. Awesome sandstone boulder piles.

Ben, happy to be back on top of the ridge as light failed, with just an easy mile of gravel in the dark and mist back to the car.