Coopers Rock, Mid Fall

Keith picked me up after work this afternoon, we filled our thermos with coffee and grabbed a couple of cold cut sandwiches, and then headed up to The Woods. These photos are from our hike to Raven Rock. We stood on the edge of the precipice and stared down into the Cheat Canyon and got dizzy and laughed and it was windy and scary and WONDERFUL! My mom phoned while we were up there, and I thought it was just a crazy confluence of magical technology and divine providence that I could talk to her at a moment when my heart was so full of joy. She would not like it there, staring down from that dizzying height. Keith couldn't even watch me walk out to the edge - there are no railings like there are at the Overlook. For me there is something intoxicating about being so high up, looking out over the forest and the river that I love.
You can see a sandbar in the last picture, right before the river turns out of sight, and I decided that I will try to get to that sandbar. It is not easy to find the time to go off the trails, we usually only have an hour or two after I get off work before we have to leave to make it home to meet the school bus. For years I have been aching to get down to the water, but it is a LONG WAY DOWN, and we always run out of time. Someday soon, I will make it there.