Return to Rimrock and Jakes Rocks

As many times as I’ve been to Jakes Rocks and Rimrock, I always believed Rimrock to be the more beautiful—until I did them both in one trip with my elder daughter and youngest brother.  Now I’m pretty sure I like Jakes Rocks a lot better.  This is the vista from Jakes Rocks.  This area of the Allegheny National Forest is largely designated for mountain biking, so you have to be careful on the trails, which you share with fast-moving bicycles.

Jakes Rocks again.

Just over a bridge and across the valley you’ve got a sister peak to Jakes Rocks.  This is Rimrock, which is in an area of the national forest that’s much more developed for the casual visitor.  There’s a picnic area here and a long trail down to the swimming beach far below.  The trails here are better groomed than at Jakes Rocks, and there are cool stone steps between the boulders.  And yet, the view’s just not as good.  It’s is beautiful, but I think a little less beautiful than Jakes Rocks.

Rimrock also has a much larger viewing platform, also crafted out of stone

My youngest brother…you’d never guess we were brothers, despite some family resemblance.  He wanted to see my hunting camp (where I don’t hunt; I write).  He lives on a farm and raises chickens out in Ohio.  He works the night shift at a factory, and his two nights at my camp, away from his wife and four kids, were the longest he’d ever been apart from them.  He also said that he’d never seen a sight as beautiful as the view from Jakes Rocks—which both saddened and pleased me.  It pleased me because I love to share my forest with people, and I know that he really felt its beauty.  It saddened me because I’ve seen so many places much more beautiful than this—Switzerland, Colorado, Hawaii, Malawi.  There are so many ways to live a life, so many places to settle or get stuck, so many different directions two children of the same parents might go.  My brother showed my daughter and me how to shoot his several varieties of hunting rifles.  I’m actually a pretty good shot, as is she.  He wants to come back here and hunt turkey in the spring, which I would try.  I’m no hunter, but I might take aim at a turkey bird.