The road trip to Otter Creek took us right past Dolly Sods and further into the mountains of West Virginia. After finding the parking area we headed up toward Shaver's Mountain ridge, ascending over 1300 vertical feet in just under three miles. The heat (it was forecast to be around 90 degrees that day) and the strenuous climb made for a tough start to our trip. Thankfully the trees were full of dense leaves that provided a lot of much needed shade.
Up, Joe, up!Just as I thought my unfit legs were about to burn up the trail leveled out and the hike became much easier. For the next four miles we got to enjoy a fun, but still challenging jaunt through the woods. Anyone who's hiked in the Mid Atlantic region knows what I'm talking about. The overall elevation may be level but it's like running an obstacle course made by mother nature; rocks, downed trees, ups, downs and turns abound.
Joe and Heather, it's not a band photo... :)As we hiked we came across plenty of blooming flowers, bright mushrooms and various other forest decorations. Several times the trail crossed small tributaries, bubbling down towards Otter Creek. If the area hadn't been suffering from a two week drought I imagine those crossings would have been a little more fun.
Tasty?
Rhododendron in bloom.
Don't smile now, we're not even half way there yet!After hiking approximately seven miles we hung a left off the ridge and headed back down into the valley toward Otter Creek. We kept hearing the creek below us and thinking (hoping) that we were getting close to our predetermined camp site. As the sound of the creek continued to grow louder and louder we knew we must be getting close and just like that we were standing by the cool water and resisting the urge to hop right in.
Yeah, we didn't make that ourselves, just so you know. Another couple tenths of a mile and we found a perfect clearing not far from the creek. Setting up camp took about 30 seconds (I don't mean to brag, but we're getting good at this) and then it was time to relax.
Why so angry?
Pretty darned awesome view. Jillian and I spent some time walking around in the water and trying not to get pinched by the Kraken sized river monsters we used to call craw fish. There were a good number of them skittering around the rocky creek bottom and I wondered what kind of meal they would make. However, since this was no Survivor Man situation I decided to leave them alone and get back to camp before they started taking a chomp at my toes.
Joe and Heather have spent the winter months crafting some incredible backpacking, boil-in-bag, recipes. They shared some of their stew with us at dinner time and it was excellent. I'm going to rely on Jillian, who I believe is a culinary genius, to help me devise some more creative ideas for future trips. Our cheesy tuna and veggies were delicious as usual, but what if we could have steak, sushi, fresh salad and a cold beer in the woods?! Hey, it could happen...
By the time we went to bed I think we were all sufficiently tired enough to pass out fairly quickly. Overnight it rained and I'm happy to say both our Tarptent Double Rainbows performed exceptionally. Not only did we stay protected from the rain, we were still ventilated enough to prevent condensation inside the tents. Keep in mind there were two people in each tent, the door flaps were shut, it was raining a good amount and it was humid and hot to begin with. For us to wake up rain and condensation free is really impressive.
Jillian and I woke first in the morning and challenged ourselves to make a fire without using any fire starter and as little "artificial" material as possible. This was a bigger challenge than you might think because it had rained for a while overnight and everything was pretty wet. However, using our sharply honed back country skills we soon had a nice fire blazing away in the fire pit and only had to use one quarter square of a paper towel to do it.
Heather and Jillian, camp coffee queens.
After breakfast Joe and Heather had to get going quickly so we all packed up and they took off leaving Jillian and I all alone and helpless in the deep, dark woods. . .
We wasted no time changing into clothes appropriate for swimming and finding a deep spot to hop in. The water, surprisingly, was not the bone chilling iciness I was expecting. It was definitely cold but not so bad that the breath was immediately sucked out of your lungs as soon as you went in. Jillian and I spent a while taking turns diving into the deepest of the pools that we found.
That's a big fish!After goofing off for a while and nearly getting caught changing clothes we had to get going so we packed up and headed down the trail, stopping here and there to take pictures or have a snack.
Success!Before we knew it we'd hiked the 3.5 miles back to the car and were on our way home.
Otter Creek feels a lot like St. Mary's Wilderness to me. Both are like lush jungles near the water and both offer great spots to sit and cool your feet, wade or even dive in and take a swim. This was a great first trip for the year and our first day's hike at almost ten miles was the longest we've done so far! Do I see 20 milers in our future???
