Hiking_wv_overview

Hiking

Laurel Fork Wilderness

Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Weeds, water and wilderness

08/2002 - by Christopher Burk, Outdoor Travels

Characteristics:

The Laurel Forks lie between Middle Mountain and Rich Mountain, along the Laurel Fork River. They are the least visited of the Monongahela National Forest's five wildernesses and provide great opportunities for solitude, although the long, thin nature of both areas does not provide for loop hikes that stay within the wildernesses' boundaries. Elevation ranges from 2900 feet to over 3700 feet. Trees species include mostly hardwoods, with beech, maples, cherry, birch, and tulip poplar being the most common. Occasional hemlock can also be found in the mix. The side drainages are relatively small, but the main river can flash flood and be extremely dangerous to cross.

History:

Like most of what is now the Monongahela National Forest, the Laurel Forks were once private industrial land, owned by the Laurel River Lumber Company. Logs were towed down the mountainsides to the river by horses. Before the railroad came, the logs could be floated downstream during the spring high water season, but this was risky since it was easier to start them floating than to stop them. It also made for a lot of timber waiting until the proper season before it could be taken to the mill. The advent of the railroad up the Laurel Fork River made logging a year-round operation. The company finished logging the virgin timber by 1921 and sold it to the United States government shortly thereafter, to become part of the newly created national forest. Fires burned in the dried out logging slash after harvest was completed, just as they did all over the state.

In the 1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corps had a camp located at the site of the present Laurel Fork Campground, and were responsible for controlling wildfires and building the Middle Mountain Road (FR-14). After the Civilian Conservation Corps was disbanded, the area received only occasional use from hunters. It was designated as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1983 with the passage of the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia, Land Designations law.

Wildlife:

Common animals in the area include whitetail deer, wild turkey, bobcat, beaver, and other water-associated species. A small number of black bear may be seen here as well. Small mammals such as chipmunks, squirrels, and raccoons are common. Many songbirds use the area for nesting, migration, and over-wintering. Laurel Fork provides native brook trout and brown trout for fishing, which is legal with a West Virginia fishing license. Short fly rods and spinning gear are recommended.

Ecology:

The Laurel Forks typify West Virginia mixed hardwood timber, with a high diversity of timber species and lush undergrowth. There are occasional open grassy patches along the river and rhododendron can often be found along the main river and its tributaries. During the 1960's, timber stand improvement was done in parts of Laurel Fork South. This is a process for managing young stands of timber so that the best trees are allowed to grow unencumbered by girdling or removing competing trees. Trees chosen to remain were of the straightest, tallest, and most valuable species present. Today, these areas have a cathedral-like look, with the trees resembling pillars holding up a green leafy ceiling.

Day 1

Only my second hike of the year. Not a good trend since I had registered about eight hikes by this time last year. Oh well, better some then none. Our decision to hike the Laurel Forks Wilderness was based on two things: one, we had never hiked there before; and two, since I was bringing my son Adrian along, we needed a hike that was relatively easy.

The area was easy to hike but trying to find a decent loop was not. The main trail through the Laurel Fork Wilderness is the Laurel Fork Trail, makes sense. The only problem is the trail runs basically North/South. Works great if you have two roomy cars, not so great if you have one roomy car and a Miata.

The other option is to hike up and back but the only downside to that is you have the same distance to hike on the second day as you did on the first. I myself prefer having a smaller distance to hike on day two. Call me lazy, call me a wimp but its just nicer knowing I hiked ten miles today but only have to hike four tomorrow. Actually in this case it was more like five miles the first day and less than two the second. Hey, we had a five-year-old with us. I didn't want to kill him.

The loop we finally decided on was a decent one. It did require us to hike on the Forest Road for about a mile but at least we didn't have to hike along a highway. Been there, done that. (Cranberry Glades, April 2001)

We did have one small mishap before even starting the hike. Jeff and I agreed to meet at the junction of WV State Routes 28 and 250. That part went fine. Jeff was a little late but considering how many times Dana and I have been late and the amount of time Jeff has spent waiting for us, he's still ahead in the total time spent waiting department. Anyway, once we met up we started down the road looking for Forest Road 14. Well guess what? We missed it. Fortunately, we didn't drive very far before realizing we had already passed our turn. What confused me and caused me to miss the road was the big wooden sign for Camp Thornwood. The state sign was set back from the road and totally dwarfed by the other one.

After driving for about ten miles on the gravel road, we finally reached our starting point. It took us a little while to get everything situated and packed up due to the fact that I had to repack almost all my gear. You can get a lot in a Miata; the only problem is you have to unpack and shove it in small spaces.

The first part of our hike was probably the most strenuous although it later turned out was not the most difficult. This was the only part that was uphill. Fortunately it was not too steep and was only about a mile. Several cars passed us along the way, which made me wonder where they were headed since we were 10-20 miles away from anything. One car did stop and ask us for directions to Laurel Fork campground so at least we knew why they were out there.

We turned off the Forest Road and started into the backcountry although it wasn't much of a backcountry, because we were still hiking on a handicap access road for hunters. At least it was gated and overgrown. This was about the time that Adrian announced he had to go to the bathroom. So after confirming it was #2 and he really had to go, I dug a hole away from the trail and held him as he squatted and took care of business. Now, I apologize for being rather graphic about it, but I swear he must have weighed two pounds less when he was done. I never thought someone that small could have such a large "movement." I also joked with Jeff, "Hey, no pictures." Of course, less than 30 seconds later a saw the flash go off. Anyway, once Adrian was done and I filled in the hole, we once again set off down the trail.

A little while longer Adrian started getting hungry and wanted to stop for lunch. It didn't surprise me considering he had just purged everything he ate for the last three days. It took us a while to find a decent place to sit down and eat but we finally found a large clearing that overlooked the surrounding mountains and valleys. Of course no sooner had we sat down to eat when it started raining. It wasn't a hard rain and it only lasted about five minutes but it pretty much set the weather tone for the rest of our hike.

Once lunch was over we set off again. A little further down the trail we turned left and finally stepped off the road and into the forest. The vegetation was about the same as it is in most other wilderness areas in West Virginia: A mix of hard woods, pines, rhododendrons and ferns. Along the way we also passed by several large meadows. The trail slowly descended until we reached a huge meadow created by the Laurel Fork River as it meanders between the surrounding mountains. This was where our trip started getting interesting.

The difference between fall, winter, and early spring hikes versus summer hikes in West Virginia is huge. Summer means you have to contend with two very big adversaries: Weeds and insects. The rain kept the insects at bay for the most part. But the weeds? That was another story. To get through the meadow we had to fight our way through waist high weeds. And since it had been raining off and on all morning, the weeds were nice and wet. Not to mention the fact that waist high to Jeff and me meant almost as tall as Adrian.

Another issue that began to get our attention was the trail itself. It's easy to follow an old railroad grade on the side of a hill but much more difficult along flat terrain. And trying to find it among all the weeds was next to impossible. Needless to say it wasn't long before we totally lost the trail.

We hacked our way through the weeds for about 25 minutes before noticing that the area along the tree line on the other side was fairly open and much easier to hike through. Now all we had to do was find a way over to the other side. We made several attempts to find a suitable place to cross before finally finding an abandoned beaver dam. We made it across and once again started the arduous task of picking our way through the weeds when I discovered another stream on the other side. We had bushwhacked onto a freakin' island!

We finally did find a place to cross over Laurel Fork farther down but not before going back over the beaver dam, circumnavigating several swampy areas and fighting our way through a couple of rhododendron thickets. When we got over to the other side and worked our way up to the clearing, we discovered why it was so open: It was the &%*@#$ trail! Morons! Apparently when we first entered the open field the trail must have gone straight and we turned to the left. Oh well, what's an Outdoor Travels hike without having to bushwhack to find the trail? At least we knew enough about terrain to spot the trail across the meadow and manage to find it again.

After all that, you would think we would have learned our lesson about paying more attention to the trail, right? But no, not us. We hadn't hiked more then 15 minutes before we were once again searching for the trail. At least this time there weren't waist high weeds to contend with. After several fruitless attempts, we finally located the trail up the hill from where we were.

We hiked for about another 45 minutes before finally reaching our campsite. We decided to camp at the junction of the Laurel Fork and Camp Five Trails. We actually had to hike past the junction along Laurel Fork Trail to find a decent campsite. We found a nice clearing underneath the trees near the stream. "Underneath the trees" is a key phrase because the drizzle that had accompanied us since lunch continued into the late afternoon.

We were all pretty tired but rather then setting up camp we played in the nearby stream. Adrian actually started the fun. He began by seeing what he could find that would float. From there we all started throwing small sticks in the stream trying to see how far it would make it before getting stuck on a rock or larger sticks. Suddenly, two grown men reverted back to childhood and joined a small child in a game of "boats." We must have spent about 45 minutes playing.

After a while, we finally did set up camp. We needed one last thing before we could sit back and relax: A couple of nice rocks to sit on. The hardest part was trying to find some that was both flat enough and relatively dry. Jeff found a really nice one and convinced me that, since he could easily pick up one end, it couldn't be too terribly heavy. After a near hernia on my part and switching sides, Jeff finally decided that his end was much lighter than the other.

A near mishap occurred when we were gathering firewood. A lot of the branches on the ground were wet unless they were lying right at the foot of trees which provided protective covering. Jeff noticed a small, dead tree about 10-15 feet tall. He pushed on it and it was obviously dead. So, in desperate need of dry firewood, we disobeyed the "Leave No Trace" rule and decided to go ahead and break it off. After a few vigorous shakes, we heard a sharp CRACK! Problem was the tree didn't break off at ground level but, instead, about halfway up. Jeff covered his head and took off. I swear that the top half of the tree only missed his head by a foot or less. We joked and laughed about it, but the fact was if that tree would have smacked him, it could have inflicted some serious head trauma. And we were far from any clinic or hospital. That put an end to our tree pushing.

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. We sat back and enjoyed a nice dinner of rice and chicken fajitas, minus the fajita part because I forgot them. Jeff got carried away with the wine and had downed two cups before I finished my first. But we saved the best part for last, toasting marshmallows. We also had a spirited discussion on what was the best way to toast them. Adrian didn't care as long as they weren't blackened. Jeff and I both agreed on lightly toasted to a golden brown, but I preferred slow roasted to the point where it would almost fall off the stick. Jeff admitted he didn't have the patience to wait that long.

We finished our marshmallows and wine, I put Adrian to bed and Jeff and I set about hanging the food bag. And of course what normally would have been a simple task turned out more difficult then we expected. First problem, the majority of trees surrounding us were either saplings or pine trees not very good for hanging food from. Second problem, it was dark. Trying to find a branch that would work was hard enough but trying to find one when you couldn't see made it even more difficult.

After two attempts, we finally got the food hung. The first attempt would have worked if it weren't for one small problem; the branch broke as we were hoisting the bag. Like I said, it's tough to tell when a branch is dead in the dark. With the food safely stowed away, we called it a night.

Day 2

In the morning, we were greeted to more of the same weather as yesterday, overcast with an occasional light shower here or there. Fortunately the rain was never too heavy, so getting a fire started was fairly easy.

We also discovered something else. Our famous $5 tents actually kept Jeff dry. Granted, he had to sleep pretty much in the dead center of the tent and I certainly wouldn't put it to the test in a steady downpour, but dry is dry.

As it turned out, getting a fire going was also a necessity. I had brought three pairs of socks for Adrian, but between yesterday's hike and playing around the camp, he was down to one pair of dry socks. Rather then getting his last pair really wet and dirty, I placed his dirty pair and his shoes near the fire in an attempt to get them dry. In the meantime, I put a plastic bag down on the ground to keep his one pair dry while he ate his breakfast. The fire worked, sort of. Adrian's shoes and socks never got totally dry but at least they were drier than before and more importantly, they were warm.

Adrian put on his semi-dry shoes and socks, Jeff neatly packed up his gear, I stuffed my tent into my backpack and we set off for our return trip to the car. We only had about a mile left to hike so we weren't in any great hurry. Along the way we came across several crustaceans on the trail. They were blue and looked like little lobsters.

Farther up the trail we came across obvious signs of beaver activity. There were quite a few chewed-through stumps and one large tree that definitely caused some beaver a great deal of frustration. Jeff and I figured that after spending who knows how long chewing through the trunk and expecting a great prize for the dam or the lodge, the poor beaver stepped back only to watch the tree fall into a nearby tree and get stuck. At least that was the story Jeff and I came up with.

The last thing we passed was an area that looked like a summer campground. There was a lake with a questionable dock, a weathered John boat, a couple of buildings and some picnic tables. It was only about 500 yards from the road but there was still a gate separating it. I don't know if it is a local Boy Scout retreat area or the local ranger station rents it out or what.

As we got back to the car, Jeff and I realized something. It was the first hike either of us had done where we didn't see another hiker the entire time. We had a couple people drive past us when we were hiking along the road, but once we entered the forest, we never saw another soul.