High Falls and Seneca Creek Falls, West Virginia (5/16/2015)

I love the waterfalls of the mid-Atlantic. They may not be the biggest - with the exception of Niagara Falls (which I think is in the mid-Atlantic) - but they are extremely photogenic, plunge type falls. Today, I did two hikes in West Virginia, to two very different, but equally pretty, waterfalls. Both hikes were really similar in nature: begin in one valley, climb up and over the ridge of a mountain, and drop down to a river/stream in another valley, then backtrack.

High Falls of the Cheat River
7.2mi, ~1400ft gain, 4.5hrs

In the early hours of the morning, I drove to the sleepy town of Glady. I began my hike along the High Falls Trail at 5:50am. Conditions were overcast and turgid, but the temperature was still a cool 55°F.

Spring was well underway, with the hardwood forest I was hiking through a lush green. I dropped down from the trailhead to cross the West Fork of the Glady on a foot bridge, after which the trail started to climb gently. Soon, I crossed an open slope before reentering forest, to begin the climb up Shavers Mountain.

Around 650ft of elevation gain later I reached the ridge crest and started the drop down into the Shavers Fork (of the Cheat River) valley. A few spots of cleansing rain fell on me but nothing excessive. All the spring greenery looked minty fresh, as it glistened in the wet conditions. Walking through that forest was like being embraced by a sultry beauty.

Eventually, about 3mi in, I intersected a set of railway tracks, paralleling the river. The final 0.5mi to the falls were alongside the tracks. The falls were the result of the entire river dropping about 15ft in spectacular fashion. This was my first time visiting them, and I was blown away by how beautiful the setting was.

Seneca Creek Falls
7mi, 1940ft gain, 4.5hrs

With my first hike out of the way, I drove 50min further east, to the trailhead for the Horton Trail, near the town of Whitmer. My destination was Seneca Creek Falls, which I'd visited a few times before, but never via the Horton Trail.

The hike began by paralleling Lower Two Springs Run in yet another lush green forest. In fact, with the of-and-on rain that had been falling, everything impossibly looked even greener than on my previous hike. The trail meandered up the valley for a while, crossing Lower Two Spring Run eight times, before getting down to business.

The final climb up to the Allegheny Mountain ridge crest was completed with a flourish. There was barely time to draw in a deep breath, before I was rollercoastering down into the Seneca Creek valley. This descent was steeper and shorter than the earlier ascent, so it was in almost no time at all that I was at Seneca Creek. I crossed the creek on a handy log and walked upstream for about a hundred yards to the magnificent glen of Seneca Creek Falls.