Minister Creek Overlook Revisited

This is a February post from my newer blog, but since it describes a spot on the ANF, it belongs here too.  

Minister Creek Overlook Revisited, ANF

I hadn't been to Minister Creek in about twelve years.  I only went there once when we lived up that direction, and it was so overrun with people that I scratched it off my list--even though it was pretty.  I go to the forest for solitude, silence, and unpopulated adventures.  But in late January, I was pretty sure it would be worth a revisit.  And it was.  

This is the valley of Minister Creek, deep in the Allegheny National Forest.  In fact, Minister Creek Campground and trailhead are on the north side of state route 666.  How do these places get their names?  

And even though there was a pair of hardy campers down at the campground, I had the trails all to myself.  This view is nice in the summer, but it is best in winter when no leaves obscure it and the contours of the hills are all aglow beneath their vast surplice of white.  (I mean, it is "Minister" Creek.)

It is a nasty drop of some 30 to 50 feet, made all the more treacherous by the snow.

This might be my favorite shot.

Apparently this spot has a sort of spiritual significance to some folks.  There were several mementoes to the dead here.  In fact, I googled this poor young man and discovered that he died in a car accident the day after this most recent Christmas.  But he was from all the way down in Westmoreland County.  God rest his soul, only 17 years old.  If I'm not mistaken, he died driving a used car that a family member gave him for Christmas.  If that's the case, then my heart aches for her as well.

How lovely the hills are when they're lit from beneath the trees.

I must have spent an hour here, just gazing out at the forest that healed me, lo these many years ago.

I'll create some links to my recent wanderings in West Virginia here....

For a sad autumnal bit of navel-gazing in the Northern Panhandle, go HERE.

For a beautiful fall overnight at Otter Creek Wilderness, go HERE.

For the beautiful and popular Seneca Rocks, go HERE.

For the old Sites Family Homestead, this is your SPOT.

You'll find a late November love song to Dolly Sods HERE.

And because I like sacred architecture, I put a few mountain churches HERE.

A post-Thanksgiving solo trek to the least crowded part of Dolly Sods is HERE.

For a trip to Cheat Summit Fort, where Gen. Lee lost a battle, this is your SPOT.