West Virginia trip

Spruce Knob

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When we went to Spruce Knob, the Highest Point in West Virginia, the road going up was closed. So we bushwhacked to the top, found the trail and hiked along it until we found the observation platform. then we went straight down the mountain. It took us about 4 hours altogether and was quite an enjoyable hike(even though it was raining).

There are two road that go to the top, the access road and the paved all weather road, which is actually a gravel road. I would recommend the paved all weather road, which is in much better condition.

The trail goes along the ridge and there are some sweet campsites that they have made in really dense spruce patches. It isn't called spruce knob for nothing they are pretty much the only kind of tree on top, and most of them only have branches on one side because on the high winds.

You can climb it year round but in the winter the road will be blocked with snow. So be prepared if you go up there in winter, there is usually a twenty degree temperature difference from the bottom to the top. Spruce Knob recreation area has over 70 miles of trails.

Seneca Rocks

[img:p5180065:alignleft:small:]We also hiked up the trail that goes to the top of Seneca Rocks twice. Seneca Rocks is a just about 900 feet tall quartzite formation, and is nearly 250 feet thick at the bottom. It is a fairly easy hike up, about 1.3 miles, since they put in stairs and railings but it does get steep at places. And the views from the top are sweet. They also have a nice visitor building with a shop that has topo maps of the surrounding areas.

It is one of the best climbing spots in the east. on any day of the week you can look up there and see at least 30 people climbing. there are over 375 major mapped routes from 5.0 to 5.12. Also, if you like bouldering, all around the base of Seneca there are some fairly large boulders.

Blackwater falls

We also took a trip to blackwater falls, very nice waterfall, they have a boardwalk that goes right up to the falls. If you've ever been to Bushkill falls in PA its like that, just much smaller (I highly recommend going to bushkill if you get the chance). There are also some sweet cliffs and other waterfalls around blackwater falls, and there is a good chance you will see a group a kayakers on a nice day.

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