New River Gorge - Craigs Branch Trail

 

Once we knew the Kaymoor Trail was not really closed, it became a priority to hike the entire distance. However, I didn't feel like doing the 8.6 miles as a there-and-back hike, so we broke it into three segments, and did the middle one as a loop with the Craigs Branch Trail and the upper half of the Kaymoor Miners Trail.

It's a bit tricky finding the beginning of the Craigs Branch Trail, but we did. (It's at one end of the Arrowhead biking trails parking lot.) Descending down that old road was one of my favorite hikes of the week. The rock formations were quite intriguing, and it was just a very pleasant day. Rain was in the forecast, but we hoped that by getting an early start, we would be finished before it arrived, and we were.

Once we reached the junction with the Kaymoor Trail, we turned left. After a couple of miles we came to familiar territory.

Then it was just a matter of heading up the hill!

Keeping our eyes open on the last little piece between the two parking areas meant we noticed some old time relics. I wonder what we would have found if we had ventured into the forest.