Oh. My. God. Who the hell is that??!! EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
That's right!!!! Two weeks ago I drove to The Plains, Virginia, to see EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and begin our excellent West Virginia adventure. The first night we took the party to the house of her fiance's parents (who were nice enough to accommodate me, a perfect stranger, with absolutely no notice.... West Virginia hospitality at its finest!) The next morning we performed the first of several grueling hikes, and reached the top of a mountain near their house. The hike was totally worth it, however, as it presented us with the above view upon its conclusion. The scenery of West Virginia is best experienced at great heights, I think, and perhaps you will agree after seeing more pictures of our travels.... Our Massive Mountain Death Hikes also gave me the exercise I so desperately needed.... I spent far too much time this past year shluffin' about in the starbucks kitchen and not enough time out in the wild blue yonders....
The above picture is another view from the same mountain top and shows the rocks that an industrious group of guys proposed to ropel from. They have guts.... I would sooner confront a black bear than drop myself from those heights.... maybe....Eva looks absolutely no different than she did from Yellowstone. It was incredibly surreal to see her again after FOUR years. The last time we met was outside of the Canyon employee dining room (EDR for you Yellowstoners). Ha, sad day. Time goes by so freaking fast!!
This map shows the area of Dolly Sods, where we spent the second night camping 300 yards (or was it feet....) from the roadside, off of one of the trails. 300 yards (or perhaps it was feet....) may seem like a scant distance from the road.... until you're consumed in darkness and every little night sound can be attributed to a massive black bear roaming about your tent. However, like the hardened Yellowstone backcountry hikers that we are, we laughed in the face of the imaginary black bear!.... and spent the night in terrified sleeplessness. Ah well.
Dolly Sods is an extremely beautiful wilderness area though, as evidenced by the above pictures taken from a scenic overlook. Look at all of the rocks!! And the most lovely field!! And the printed notice that warns of highly explosive bombs still present in the area! And the stunning mount-- Wait. What? Hmm.... black bears and bombs.... Bring it.
Here I sit ensconced in my backcountry rock throne, further down a trail in the Dolly Sods area. Huzzah! And thank you to all of the backcountry pioneers who made the Backcountry Rock Court possible.
Following our Dolly Sods adventures, we hiked to the top of nearby Seneca Rocks, which is shown in the above picture. Upon reaching the top of the rocks, we were confronted with this Sign of Doom.... Alas! What would hardened Yellowstone backcountry hikers do?!
Bypass the sign of course! As if there was any question! Huzzah!! Another excellent West Virginia view!! (The very first picture of this post was also taken from the top of Seneca Rocks past the Doom Sign).
Blogger is starting to flip out due to the large quantities of photos I have uploaded.... hopefully it consents to publish this post.... I shall wrap it up now.... I don't think we could have asked for a more brilliant time to catch up and do the things that we both enjoyed in Yellowstone. Here's to sisters who continue to share excellent experiences! We will see each other next in September, when Eva and Daniel get married! Huzzah!!
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