Back in late October, my wife and I made a journey out to Morgantown, WV to visit one of the boys, currently a student at WVU. Just a few miles east of Morgantown on I-68 is Cooper’s Rock State Forest, so we took the opportunity to haul our teardrop out there for a two night weekend at McCollum Campground. It turned out to be a great weekend with the boy, a not-so-great football game, and some wonderful camping and hiking in beautiful fall colors.

Because work still has to happen, we left home fairly late in the afternoon and arrived at Cooper’s Rock after dark on a Friday night, but not too late to meet our son for sushi. We didn’t really get the opportunity to take stock of our surroundings until the next morning.

Saturday, we settled more into camp before going out and finding a grocery store. We didn’t really have a plan yet, since we were also set to meet extended family for the evening football game, and weren’t yet sure what our tailgate plans would be. When we found out they were arriving late and having dinner on the road, we decided to “tailgate” with our son at the campground. We visited the downtown farmer’s market for inspiration, stocked up on food, and then went back to camp. We also made a brief morning excursion out to the Cooper’s Rock viewing area. We didn’t linger here – lots of other people around – but got a sense of the colors in the trees, and also found that Cooper’s had installed one of those “Almost Heaven” swings that are popping up at various West Virginia parks. My wife had to give it a try.

Before too long, we got a text that our son was on the way, so we started getting the fire going and prepping for a late lunch. He arrived just in time for the fire to be hot and ready. We wound up doing ribeye steaks and chicken kabobs grilled over a wood fire, and roasted potatoes with onions and swiss chard on the trailer cooktop. The food was outstanding, but the company and conversation around the simple task of cooking on a fire was even better.

Fully stuffed, we headed back into town, met the rest of the family, and went to the game to watch the Mountaineers lose. It’s been a pretty tough season, but game day is still a fun atmosphere.

Raven Rock Trail

For the hiking part of our weekend, my wife and I got up Sunday and weren’t in a hurry to check out and head home. Instead, we made a short drive to the Raven Rock trailhead. The Raven Rock trail is an out-and-back walk from the ridgeline (roughly the course of the road through Cooper’s Rock) down and out to a rock outcropping overlooking the Cheat River Gorge. It’s about 1.5 miles each way (3 miles round-trip), and about 450 feet up and down.

The trail starts across the road (on the south side) from the trailhead parking lot. Take note, though – there’s a new road here cut to provide access to the cabin camping area. This leaves an obvious trail – the McCollum Trail – visible from the road, but this is NOT the one you want to take you to Raven Rock. The Raven Rock Trail is just a little bit down the cabin access road, where it obviously splits off to the right. If you do miss this, don’t worry – we made this same mistake. The two trails parallel each other for a bit, and if you wander down McCollum you can take your first left and re-join the Raven Rock Trail without a lot of extra distance. And this part of the McCollum Trail is nice too. (Our mistake explains the little loop in the north end of the trek on the map below).

When you do find yourself on the Raven Rock Trail – whether you did it correctly or corrected a mistake – you’ll find that the trail itself is rather rough and rocky. It almost feels as if you’re walking down a dry, rocky creekbed, and the going can be slow if you’re not sure-footed or don’t have good thick-soled shoes. The trail slowly descends for about a mile, passing by several of the boulders which makes Cooper’s Rock such a popular climbing/bouldering destination, and then it turns sharply right to climb about 120 feet up to the crest of the narrow ridge heading out to the rocks.

From the ridgeline, turn left (south) and walk out to trail’s end. There’s a power line that passes through here and intersects the trail just prior to the rocks. Thus, the clear-cut for the powerline easement creates a broad open area that allows views both up and down the canyon. Though the powerline is unavoidable, and its passage across the canyon obvious, it’s not obtrusive. There are plenty of places along the cliff edge to get good views without powerlines impending on the pictures. The views, particularly on a late October weekend, are gorgeous.

Raven Rock Trail Key Parameters:
Length: 3 miles, out and back
Ascent: +/- 450 feet
Trailhead: 39.63660, -79.80130

We found our walk back (mostly uphill) to be quicker than the way down. This was possibly because we (now) knew where we were going, but more likely that navigating the rocks was a little more natural on a gradual climb than it had been going down.

If you find yourself near Morgantown, go visit Cooper’s Rock. And if you find yourself with extra time at Cooper’s Rock, take the time to go out and visit Raven Rock.

Get Out There