West Virginia - Part One - Seneca Rocks

Our trip started early on a Saturday morning. It was a 10 hour car ride from Boston to Seneca Rocks & we had a packed car with 4 adults and enough gear to climb and camp with for a week. No lunch stop, just bathroom and gas breaks. We had plenty of snacks in the car & took turns playing music from our personal collections. And by snacks, I mean: a box of donuts, 3lbs. of Laffy Taffy, a massive tub of Cheddar Goldfish crackers, various forms of nuts, mandarin oranges & some other random items. It actually went by faster than I thought it would.

We arrived at our campsite before sunset, pitched tents & headed out for some pizza and beer at FPR (Front Porch Restaurant). The pizza wasn't great, but the beer was quite refreshing after a long car ride. After some campfire s'mores and another drink, we turned in for the night.

There were a few light rain showers overnight, but the morning was clear & sunny - a perfect day for climbing. We had some hot beverages at the campsite & then packed up to grab breakfast. With full bellies, we headed to the parking lot to begin our climb.

I didn't know what to expect for the approach & it was pretty intense. I had to stop about half way up to take the rope out of my pack & have Jess carry it.  Even though I can fit all of my gear in my pack, I'm too small and out of shape to handle my trad rack and rope for such an intense approach.

We decided on the Old Ladies (5.2) route to the summit. This was my first multi-pitch lead & I didn't want to get in over my head.  It was all easy climbing and gear placement, but well worth the effort to gain the summit.  The only part that really got my heart racing was a small chimney section on the 3rd pitch.  I also wasn't thrilled about scrambling up the 4th pitch.

The summit was amazing.  We signed the log book, took some great pictures and then had to wait awhile to rap down.  We didn't have time to climb any other routes, but I think the summit was still worth the trip.  We had planned on climbing again the next day, but there was some surprise rain overnight and into the next morning that cut our visit to Seneca Rocks short.  We packed up camp in the rain and hit the road to head to the New River Gorge area where we had a cabin waiting for us.