Snowfall over the Coopers Rock State Forest

Coopers Rock and its famous stone overlook is a lovely location to admire the beauty of West Virginia through the seasons, and I’ve been there many times in the fall to photograph the changing colors of the Coopers Rock State Forest landscape. Winter has always eluded me – whenever I have tried to drive up the 3-mile-long access road, I’ve been met immediately by the locked gate across the roadway. I’ve thought about hiking and maybe riding up there in the snow on a bike(!) but haven’t attempted it yet!

So, I was amazed after a recent snowfall to see that the road to the overlook was open, and clear and so I had the perfect opportunity to see the sights in the winter. For those unfamiliar with the area, this is the start of the Wikipedia entry on Coopers Rock:

Coopers Rock State Forest gets its name from a legend about a fugitive who hid from the law near what is now the overlook. A cooper by trade, he resumed making barrels at his new mountain hideout, selling them to people in nearby communities. He lived and worked in the forest for many years.

Much of Coopers Rock was originally developed by projects of the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1936-1942. Many of these structures, including durable rustic picnic shelters made of American chestnut, exist today and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wikipedia

My first visit in mid-February was a few days after the snow and much of it had melted in the areas open to the sun. On a drive back from Deep Creek Lake along the I68, I took the turning into the forest just to see if the road was open – and it was! The setting sun gave me some great opportunities to get the contrasts in color and brightness between the bare branches of the trees illuminated by the sun and the cold side of the Cheat River Gorge still covered in snow:

The view of the mountainside opposite shows the contrast between the areas warmed by the sun and those in perpetual shadow. The rock itself was quite warm – the tree covered hillside. Not so much!

I sometimes think that some of my images would be great as a jigsaw puzzle and a friend of mine did buy a 1000-piece jigsaw of an office building in St Louis reflected in a glass covered skyscraper. She reported back that although the person she gifted it to is a puzzle expert, this one actually had her stumped. So how about this tree covered snowy slope as a jigsaw? Cruel, indeed!

Just one week later, we had another snowstorm with the wet snow clinging to the branches of trees close to my home. So, back into the car for the journey to Coopers Rock as the weather forecast was for increasing sun in the afternoon followed by warmer weather. The road was again open, although there was some snow on it, and the sight at the overlook was very different. I hadn’t noticed the swing and the West Virginia sign on my previous visit, but they looked great in the snow:

This time, there was much more snow on the ground and looking over the overlook itself towards Morgantown, some definite signs of clearing weather!

Making my way gingerly onto the overlook itself, I thought this view along the wooden bridge would make a great image in black and white. There wasn’t much color to start with, but this adds drama, I think!

As promised, the sun did start to appear to give me a lovely warm/cold contrasting image of small balls of snow collected in the leaves of this Eastern White Pine tree just by the overlook.

And the coin operated binoculars around the overlook looked even more like faces with a mop of white hair!

By now, we had not only sunshine, but some blue sky as well. Perfect conditions for a few photographs of one of my favorite views up at Coopers Rock:

A perfect day to see this snow! With the sun and the warming weather, it didn’t take long for the snow to melt off the trees and I’m certainly glad that I took the opportunity to go up there and see the views. And I’m glad the park was good enough to keep the road open to allow the visit! I’m certainly going to try again next winter.

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