I had decided about 1.5 months ago that I wanted to take Julie outside climbing. I wasn't sure where to go at the time, I just knew that climbing was the goal. After asking a few people at the gym, I got a group together. We left Wednesday night and would come back on Sunday. A friend from Oregon that had been road tripping around the states, and took a great photo of Seneca Rocks in West Virginia. I decided that Seneca Rocks would be a beautiful place to go climb, and finalized the plan to go. The drive out is beautiful in the daylight, but the road into Seneca can be dangerous. We arrived at the campground around 1:30am, set up camp, had a few beers, and crashed for the morning.
Thursday morning we awoke to some perfect West Virginian rain. Not super conductive of rock climbing. We bojangled around (according to Julie and Urban Dictionary this is a word.) waiting for the clouds to clear, but it never happened. We headed to Yokum's, sat on the porch and played card games to pass the time.
Rainy Seneca
Waiting for a Clearing
Hmmmm.....BS!
After playing card games, we went to the visitor's center, asking about weather, and trails to the climbs. The lady behind the counter said two things. "It barely rains here", and, "There's only one trail". These to nuggets of information we're both lies. Not her fault though, she only knew of the hiking trail to the overlook. After Erica bought some awesome books on mushrooms and insects, Christine decided to give us all a lesson on headstands....because....well....why not?!
Erica's Headstand
Christine's Headstand!
Julie's Headstand!
Trust me here, you don't want to see my headstand! After headstand sessions, we drove up Roy Gap Rd. where we met a great guy named Ricardo. He was a photographer, who also turned out to be our campsite neighbor. He was super nice and shared stories of his son, wife, and stories from Chile! Wherever he is we hope he is having a great time!
After some headstands we headed back to camp to check on the camp gear under the tarp, while there we waited for an hour and practiced our flagpoles!
Erica and Ricardo on the Bridge
Apparently there are some bombs in West Virginia
Julie's Flagpole
Christine's Flagpole
Erica's Flagpole
Julie's Bathang!!
After monkeying around in camp, we headed back to Seneca to hike to the top. Everybody else decided (smartly) to not take packs up. Me on the otherhand did, and I suffered. It also didn't help that everybody was either a cross-fit junky, or cross-country runner. I gasped my way up the trail, and we made it to the lookout deck in about 35 minutes. The lookout was beautiful, despite being in and out of the clouds.
At the top of the Hike
The overlook at the top!
After the summit we headed down and the clouds started breaking apart for the sunset. We headed into town, got some beverages, and headed back to camp.
Seneca at Sunset
Safety First here at Seneca!
At the Camp with Ricardo
After our first rainy day, we woke up to brilliant sunshine, but unlike Virginia Beach, it was actually still cool outside! We got a lazy morning start (bojanglin'), ate breakfast, and headed out to the rock. After reading the book, we decided to head to the lower slabs. We hiked up the same path, this time my pack was even heavier, finding the trail that branched out, we headed down. We warmed up on R2D2, a sweet 5.5 in a corner crack system. The climbing "crux" was the first 30 feet, after that it was low 5th class to the top. After first leading it, and everybody else had toproped it, I decided I wanted to free solo the climb and clean the anchor at the top. Well I'm typing this right now so the solo went well, and I felt great at the top! I set up another toprope on a 5.8 that I don't know the name of! All I know is that it was fun!
Julie on R2D2
View from the top of R2D2
View of the Rocks
Erica on the 5.8
Julie on the 5.8
Julie learning to rappel
After climbing and exploring around the area, I decided to take Julie on an adventure, this being her first time outdoor climbing. I wanted to show her some awesome exposure and a beautiful sunset. I had planned on going up to the Gunsight Notch, then up the amazing South Peak. Julie and I started hiking from Lower Slabs and ran into an Italian couple, who said the we wouldn't be able to access Gunsight Notch from the West Face, and were also a fair hike away. We thanked them for thier information, and contiued to head up. Worst comes to worst, we have a good hike. Not to much later we came up to the cliff face directly below the Gunsight Notch. I didn't even bother looking at the guide book, wanting to adventure climb up it. I found the path of least resistance, a left facing flake that went up about 60ft to a large ledge. I led the route, only needed to place 5 or 6 peices, and tried to dodge the huge loose blocks. The top had an odd crux, that was hard to pull, especially with the weighted pack. It involved a heel hook and left hand lock-off. I had to take once, but then figured it out. I would say the grade would be 5.8, but it's Seneca Rocks, it was probably only 5.6. After the climb, it turned into a hike up big ledges all the way to the Notch.
Julie following the 1st pitch.
Julie on the Notch!
South Peak!
We stayed at the notch for a few minutes taking in the beautiful sunset. Soon I started leading up the South Peak, quickly I realized I was "off-route" and away from the path of least resistance. Instead of going to the right of the fin, I went to the left, which turned out to be super exposed and very fun. A bigger plus is that so many people had bailed gear, that I only ended up putting in one hex at the start. I also threw in a 30ft runout, which felt amazing! I belayed Julie up and we enjoyed a spectacular few minutes basking in the sun. Soon we rappelled from the summit to a big ledge...barely.
Julie Rappeling down.
After rapping of the top, I put the rope away. Thinking that this ledge would eventually lead towards the ground. We followed the ledge down and south, hitting 10-20ft rock steps, that we down climbed. Some of them were very commiting, and involed some tough moves. Julies was completely fine the whole time and we made it to the ground after what felt like a long time descending. We eventually came out on Roy Gap Rd., realizing that we had to meet Christine and Erica in 10 minutes. So we jogged down the road with our packs (I wish I could run cross-country!) We made it on time, but they weren't there. Eventually they came driving down the country road into Seneca. We headed back to camp tired, and in my case sore.
Christine demonstrates what a banana does.
After a slightly restful night we arose to another glorious day of sunshine. Erica made us some amazing breakfast burritos that filled us up for the whole day. We decided to head to Franklin Gorge, about 25 miles from the Seneca. Franklin Gorge is on private land, but the owners have allowed climbing on it. Unfortunately the cliffs have been graffitied, which is to bad, but head uphill for 5 minutes and there are some seriously classic climbs. Erica and I climbed a 5.10+ that was super juggy but had some huge (lunges for me, dyno's for Erica) moves on it. While we climbed this, Christine and Julie we're putting up their own 5.7 around the corner. While they were playing around on that, Erica and I went and climbed a 5.9 called "Aloha". The route was not a gimme, it started in a very intriguing stemming corner, where the holds weren't all there.
Julie on "Aloha".
Erica leading "Aloha"
After Julie cleaned the route, Erica told us of this long 5.9+ a little ways up the cliff called, "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk". The climb was on amazing jugs with a crux section on positive crimps. Very cool climb.
Julie leading BSC!
Me on BSC!
After climbing this a few times, we decided to boulder in the hueco covered caves nearby. There have definitely been others to have done this, and the boulder problems are really fun. I wouldn't make a trip out of it, but of you're there, might as well go for it!!
Erica campusing!
Boulder Cave!
After a successful day on the rocks, we headed back to Seneca to celebrate Tess' birthday, and watch "Almost Alpine" with some of the guys that helped put it together. The next day we woke up once again to rain, and decided to head home early, stopping by REI on the way back in. I think this was the first trip where is was home before 10pm!
Toad at Franklin Gorge
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