Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

Keith prepares our equipment for the day's climbing.

The rock face of Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

The face on the left that we will climb as our first climb of the day.

Keith led this first route and prepped a top rope for my ascent of this easy section.


At the Summit of Seneca Rocks, West Virginia.

Keith at the Summit of Seneca Rocks, WV.

Fun, easy climbing in West Virginia

Beautiful views in West Virginia. It's not the Swiss Alps, Rockies or other more well-known areas, but holds a beauty all its own.

Another Summit view from Seneca Rocks, WV

Beautiful Fall view of Seneca Rocks, WV.

As our last adventure of the year, Keith and I decided to go rock climbing and whitewater rafting in West Virginia. It's a pretty long 9+ hour drive from Indianapolis to Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, but as you can see from the Saturday afternoon pics, it's every bit worth it. The views are amazing and the climbing is sweet.

I was a little nervous since, generally speaking, I'm just not a very good climber. Keith is always on his game even though he has had some time off as well. We have been here several times before but timed it perfectly with the Fall weather for this round as you can see in the pics.

Keith always does lead climb while I second merely because the difference in our skills is vast to say the least. He's a pretty experienced climber and I'm (thankfully) along for the ride. We have been here several times before and so this time we decided to take it easy. We combined some light climbing (5.5 to 5.8 range) with a hike to the North Summit. We have done some multi-pitch climbs to the South Summit already on previous trips. (North Summit is on the left of the "gun hole" in the rock face pic and the South Summit is on the right.)

The weather was cool and crisp. We enjoyed a chili cookoff and some local micro brew beer in the town below once we were done climbing.

We are going to hop in the car and drive to Oak Hill area so we can crash and wake up at the crack of dawn to go whitewater rafting! I've been before several times, but never during the timed dam releases of the more popular Fall rafting season. Also, we're going to do the entire Gauley River and in a short, 12 foot raft, which promises a bigger, more adventurous ride!