The incredible beauty of Seneca Rocks, West Virginia: Our review and travel tips

 

Seneca Rocks, WV

John Kruk:  “People in West Virginia do have cars.  We have indoor plumbing.  We even use knives and forks.”

As a kid, one of my favorite songs I listened to was John Denver’s “Take me home, country roads.”  The lyrics of that song made an impression on me as a kid growing up in the mean concrete jungles of New York City.

I longed to drive those West Virginia country roads with its Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River as soon as I possibly could.  It would take all of 31 years before I would set my foot (well, my car actually) on West Virginia roads, on our way towards Memphis, TN.

Our drive through the state via I-81 wasn’t very noteworthy.  It had some nice views of the mountains and farms, but it was rather underwhelming that first and brief drive through the state.

All that perception changed with our first actual overnight stay in West Virginia, and not just a drive through.  For the month of October 2021, we booked a month long stay at Snowshoe Mountain Resort, West Virginia.

We had done some research on Snowshoe Mountain Resort prior to our trip.  We knew there weren’t many supermarkets or chain restaurants nearby, so we packed extra food items.  We bought instant noodles, rice, vegetables, potstickers, and snacks.

We didn’t know how tired we would be driving all the way from New York City to Snowshoe that first day (travel day), so we made sure we could survive off of our own provisions for at least a few days…

October 1st would be our travel day to the ‘Mountain State.’  We left around 7:30 a.m. from our parent’s place in New York City.  As soon as we got on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (or BQE), we hit traffic, thanks to a disabled truck in the middle lane!

We would be stuck on BQE for about thirty minutes before we could get on the Williamsburg Bridge.  We had expected the usual rush hour traffic but not the disabled vehicle.  Long story short, we made it over to New Jersey via Holland Tunnel after about an hour.

From there the traffic was light.  We took I-78 West then I-81 South (the same highway we took on that trip to Memphis).  Due to an accident and lane closure after crossing the border to Maryland, Google Maps recommended an alternate route via I-68, which we gladly took.

We were actually enjoying the drive via I-68 better than I-81.  I-68 took us over much more beautiful mountainous roads and with less traffic.  We marveled at how beautiful American roads were.  It seemed anywhere we went, American roads did not disappoint.  

Every curve revealed distant mountains and idyllic farms.  October 1st was a clear, blue sky kind of a day. We started to see the changing colors of leaves the higher in elevation we would travel.  We noticed different types of trees in that part of the country, and we enjoyed the awesome drive.

We got off the highway near University of West Virginia then made our way via country roads to our ultimate destination, Snowshoe.  We got to experience West Virginia’s beautiful country roads up close and personal.

Whereas in New York City, where we had been staying for the month of September, we didn’t see much changing colors on leaves, we saw PLENTY of colors in West Virginia.  We saw deep fall foliage already well under way with colors of reds, deep reds, purples, yellows, greenish yellows, oranges, pumpkins, and greens on those country roads.

We had driven on winding country roads before, but nothing prepared us for what awaited us in West Virginia.  If you want country roads, you got them in West Virginia!

It seemed there were more winding roads than straight roads going towards Snowshoe.  We would do lefts followed by rights, then followed by more of the same on every turn.  There were significant drops in speed on many parts of the roads, even going down to 10 miles per hour due to severe horseshoe shaped curves.

I was inwardly hoping I had a Ford Mustang convertible on those roads, but I was still happy about the drive itself.  It was a shame that I couldn’t enjoy the surrounding scenery on those, scary at times, winding roads, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.  I mean, who wants to end up in a ditch because I was enjoying the scenery too much?

With those meandering thoughts out of my mind, I pressed on enjoying the achingly beautiful fall foliage whenever the roads straightened out.  On those straight roads, I got to fully appreciate the scenery with its mountain peaks ranging tall into the beautiful clear blue sky, verdant farmlands stretching out for miles, and of course all the incredible colors of changing leaves to my left and right.

The winding roads reminded us of Colorado, where tall and gigantic mountains would appear right in front of us, reminding us of how small we all are, as we would turn left or right.  The trees seemed similar to Colorado than the typical East Coast trees we were used to seeing.  Somehow, they seemed taller and older than ones in either Pennsylvania or New York.

We were lulled into a trance like state after an hour of driving those incredible roads.  We didn’t mind the drive even though we had driven by then, a good 8 hours.  We were humming John Denver’s song over and over again, as we finally made it to our destination, at Snowshoe.

We arrived at our rental, and we immediately fell in love with our 1 bedroom condo which would be our home for the month of October.  The photos didn’t do justice to the place.  The condo was in great shape as it had been recently renovated.  All the decorations and details were appropriate for a ski condo, and they were so whimsical!

We unpacked, tired but excited about the drive on those wonderful West Virginia country roads.  We settled in shortly thereafter for a restful night. 

We woke up around 6 a.m. the next day thanks to our Pomeranian Toby, who had to go do his ‘business’.  Groggy from sleep, I reluctantly took him outside, but was not minding the interruption that morning as usual, as the air was crisp, stars were still visible, and a deer was munching on breakfast right in front of us.

It was a great start to the morning, and I knew then that I was going to enjoy the day.  We had looked at the weather forecast for the coming week, and saw that that day (October 2nd) was the best weather day out of the week.  

Armed with this knowledge, we prepped ourselves to do some hiking at Seneca Rocks.  We had passed by Seneca Rocks on our way to Snowshoe the previous day, and saw there were plenty of people at the area.  We knew just by looking at the amount of traffic (human and vehicular) that this was definitely somewhere we had to explore.  

We prepared Toby’s treats/water and we each took a granola bar/water.  We knew the entire hike up was 1.5 mile at elevation of 700 feet, and we didn’t want to be famished by the time we completed our hike up then back.

Seneca Rocks is perhaps one of the most recognizable landmarks in West Virginia.  Located in Pendleton County, part of the Monongahela National Forest, it is a popular rock climbing locale as well as for hiking.  

We arrived and parked near the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center.   We noticed pets were allowed inside(!) the discovery center, so we took Toby inside to check out the place.  There are plenty of educational displays about the history of Seneca Rocks and its indigenous people.  

Sites Homestead is a must for connoisseurs of history and gardening, as it portrays a time in its past when pioneers and early settlers established farms in the area.  Gardens feature herbs, flowers and vegetation from the mid-1800’s, and during summer months, Saturdays are ‘pioneer’ days.  Interpreters dress in period costumes and demonstrate crafts to reflect the times.  

Front of the Discovery Center 

View of Seneca Rocks from the front of the Discovery Center

View of Seneca Rocks from inside the center

After making our pit stop, we asked a friendly ranger for directions on how to get to the top of the Seneca Rocks and the observation deck.  She provided a map with easy to follow instructions on how to get there.

We stepped outside via the rear entrance to the Discovery Center and started our hike to get on the Seneca Rocks trail.  We walked over the beautifully maintained boardwalk crossing a pretty creek to get to the trail.

Boardwalk over a creek

After crossing a grand bridge over the North Fork South Branch Potomac River, we stopped briefly to eat our granola bars and to give Toby his treats.  We continued on and joined myriad of people making their way onto the trail.

Grand bridge over the River

View of the Potomac River 

We immediately noticed the trail was gaining in elevation after walking about a minute.  Toby valiantly walked, excited to be out on the nature trail!  He led my wife with his ears perked up, and his tail in its upright position!

We would stop briefly to take in the aromatic smell of trees all around the trail, and to enjoy the ever changing scenery as we gained in elevation incrementally.  We met several fellow dog owners as well as many friendly hikers along the way.

We knew we had underestimated the trail when it became apparent that Toby couldn’t hike up the stairs anymore, complaining with his body language (pulling back on his legs!) that the stairs were bit too much for his aging limbs.  We took turns lifting him up to give him a free ride on some of the steepest parts of the trail.  

It seemed the trail would never end!  Just when we thought we were close to the top, the switchbacks kept on coming.  We stopped (one of several stops) to ask someone coming down the trail how close we were to the top, but unfortunately the answer was that we still had another 1/3 of the way to go!!!

We gathered our last remaining strength to push on!  We made our final push to the top after another 10 minutes or so.  We stopped to see how many steps we had hiked to get up there, and it displayed 4,500 steps and 49 floors climbed!  Wow…

We walked out to the observation deck to catch our breath and to take in the incredible scenery surrounding us.  Being 700 feet above the lowest point meant we could see out for miles.  It was breathtaking!

Seneca Rocks observation deck view

What a view from the deck 

Miles and miles of incredible views!

We took our time from the top of the Seneca Rocks, then slowly made our way back down the same trail.  By the time we made it down, we were exhausted but feeling good about the hike.  Our bodies were tired, but our minds had been rejuvenated.

While resting at the Discovery Center, one gentleman who had completed his hike up and down the Seneca Rocks, commented “It feels like I walked to the moon and back!”. We understood exactly what he meant, as we felt just like him!

We were really impressed by Seneca Rocks, the Discovery Center, the observation deck, and the trail.  We were glad we had done the hike on a gorgeous sunny day and not on a rainy day, as the trail would have been wet and slippery.

Thank you all for reading!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

Travel tips to Seneca Rocks

• The closest parking lot to the Discovery Center is off of Route 33.  Discovery Center has clean/modern restrooms and a beautiful displays of local history and flora/fauna.  The views from inside and outside of Seneca Rocks are unmatched.
• On the trail, there are no restrooms, so plan ahead.  There is a composting toilet before you get on the trail but nothing on the trail itself.
• Plenty of dining/shopping options exist directly across from the Discovery Center.  
• Trail can get busy during the weekends.  We arrived around 11 a.m. and already the parking lot was more than half full.  Plan on arriving early on weekends.
• Most of the trail is made of dirt/gravel.  Some parts may be wet/muddy.  Recommend hiking boots or similar.
• The observation deck has two benches to enjoy the views.

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Please check out our YouTube channel ‘Wandering Money Pig’ showcasing our travels and our Pomeranian dog! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kl9f4W9sfNG5h1l-x6nHw