Hiking : Roaring River

Devil's Kitchen

This trail surprised me. I began at the trailhead (see picture)

Hiking Roaring River

across the bridge from the CCC Lodge, and went up. And up. And up. It's a pretty steep hike, in my opinion. It's a one-and-a-half mile hike, so it will take you some time to complete, and, did I mention it's up hill from the lodge?

There are some great rock formations up here, including Devil's Kitchen, which, according to Roaring River State Park information, once "was used as a hideout by Civil War guerrillas."

That's fun to tell your kids. My young kids don't really understand the difference between guerrillas (according to the Webster dictionary, "a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage") from gorillas (large primates).

"Why did gorillas hide out in here, Dad? Were there other monkeys in there? Do you have my GameBoy?"

Anyway, Devil's Kitchen is a nice formation to see, completely enclosed. This picture looks down from the enclosure.

Hiking Roaring River

The trail mellows out, going back down later in the hike, so it's a bit easier on the way out (going from the lodge.) On my most recent hike, a family told me they spotted either a fox or a bobcat on the way, but I didn't see anything when I went around.

This is the trail you see when you are fishing below, and you see people UP in the woods beyond the river. They are navigating the trail and checking out the rock formations.