Otter Creek Wilderness

Last week I went backpacking for the second time in Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. My first trip was to Dolly Sods; this time we visited Otter Creek Wilderness. It was lovely! I felt much closer to God walking along that creek than I did in church on Sunday. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy church. I'm saying that this little bit of West Va. was a holy place.

Trail Maps

Pictures

We took a bear canister for our food but it was an unnecessary precaution. Although we heard rustling around us at night, the morning light revealed that the bear can was undisturbed. It was a lovely clear bug-free nearly full moon evening and, had we known there wouldn't be many bugs, we would happily have slept under a tarp instead of in our tent. I've been reading a lot about ultra lightweight backpacking and taking a tarp seems to be the way to go. Doesn't work in bug country, though. We camped up on one of the mountains instead of down by the creek. In the morning we went to the creek and filtered water for the day's hike.

All in all, a wonderful trip!