The 7th Great MEAT-n-Greet at Coopers Rock Event Cache

Once again it's time for a "Meat"-and-greet in West "By God" Virginia! The event will be Saturday, July 21, 2012 at Shelter #3 in Coopers Rock State Forest. We'll be firing up the grills, eating, playing games and swapping lies from noon 'till dark.

Check out the Coopers Rock State Forest website for more details on the forest. The following is shamelessly plagiarized from the official website:

Coopers Rock State Forest gets its name from a legend about 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.

During the Depression, between 1936 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built numerous structures in the forest, often using durable American chestnut wood from trees that succumbed to a blight that nearly wiped out the species. Eleven these structures, including the rustic picnic shelters near overlook, have been included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coopers Rock State Forest is 13 miles east of Morgantown and 8 miles west of Bruceton Mills. Its 12,713 acres are bisected by Interstate 68. Although the forest serves as a recreation and preservation area, it has a wider range of uses. West Virginia's state forests also serve as areas of publicly owned land for forestry research, timber management, and watershed and wildlife protection.

Bands of rock cliffs line the Cheat River Gorge and provide numerous overlooks. The centerpiece among these is the main overlook, which furnishes a panorama of the gorge and distant horizons. A maze of enormous boulders and cliffs fascinates hikers, and the trails are especially lovely in June when the rhododendron and mountain laurel are in bloom. Several trails wind through forest valleys and over ridges, and a number of creeks beckon the explorer. Glade Run is dammed to form a 6-acre pond that is regularly stocked with trout. The observant hiker can hear and sometimes see squirrels, chipmunks, hawks, owls, turkeys, turkey vulture, songbirds, fox and deer throughout the forest.

There are more than 50 miles of trails throughout the state forest, and a plentiful supply of geocaches. If you've already found them all, there are dozens of worthwhile caches in the Monongalia/Preston county area, many of which can be accessed easily from I-68.

We'd appreciate it if you could RSVP with a "will attend" log and let us know how many you'll be bringing so we can accurately anticipate how much food we need to buy.

We will supply more burgers and dogs than you can shake a stick at, as well as the various accouterments. You should bring yourselves and drinks for your family, as well as a pot luck side or dessert to share! For the non-carnivores, feel free to bring your own tofu and we'll throw it on the grill for you. Or you can bring a big dish of veggie-whatever to share. We promise not laugh (too much). We'll probably eat round one o'clock-ish but there should be plenty of food for stragglers and the chronically late

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