WV Weekend: Monday

Note: Brother Eric's trip report for the day is here. My trip report will likely be very similar, though briefer, as six weeks have now passed. But I enjoy writing it up, so here goes.

6:51am

I'm up, after a very poor night's sleep. No reason for it, just one of those nights when sleep doesn't come - even though I was very tired when I went to bed. I finally slept for a few hours close to dawn, and feel okay. As planned, Ted was up at dawn and left, as he has to be home and working by mid-day. It looks to be yet another gorgeous day.

7:42am
We're enjoying a nice lazy morning in camp. I know I've mentioned this already (probably multiple times), but we have the most beautiful campsite, and Seneca Rocks just continues to draw the eye. You just it there and look at it...and it's subtly different in every light, and at different times in the day. I'm taking lots of iPhone pics, that I know will all look pretty much the same. Eric is taking pics with his good camera, and I'm sure they'll be so much better.

Another breakfast of Pop-tarts and Jetboil coffee. I usually think to bring a better breakfast, but I forgot to this time.

The plan for today is to hike to the top of Seneca Rocks. There's a trial at the base that leads to the top - short (3.0 miles round trip, according to Eric's guide book) but steep (1,000 feet of vertical elevation gain). We're wondering how steep that will feel. My legs feel good after two fairly-strenuous hiking days, but I'm not really in the mood for a big climb, and I know at least Eric feels the same.

Campground checkout isn't until noon, so we'll do that hike, then come back here to shower, pack up, and hit the road for home.

8:05am
Trailhead. It's a perfect sunny warm day, and we're ready to go.

8:53am
We're at the top. The hike could hardly have been easier - the trail was wide, very well maintained, and designed with switchbacks so that it didn't feel like a big climb at all. It was a constant ascent, but never felt like a grueling climb. We're on a wooden deck that clings to the side of the rocks very near the top, and the view is spectacular (and straight down, dizzying.) We're stopping to rest, drink, and enjoy the views. We can see our campsite from here - though I didn't notice this deck from camp.

9:12am

Eric and John

We've taken a lot of pics, and now we're starting back down.

10:32am
We're back at camp, very happy with this morning's little expedition. The hike down was a piece of cake,and then we stopped into the Visitor's Center, which had some interesting exhibits and topo maps of the area. We could see Spruce Knob (our Saturday hike), the Dolly Sods (our Sunday hike), and our camp at Seneca Rocks. They also had a souvenir shop, and I picked up a Seneca Rocks sticker for my guitar case.

11:33am
We're showered and packed, the car is loaded, and we're heading for home.

5:15pm
Home sweet home. Uneventful drive. It was probably an hour into the drive when we finally got back into civilization (i.e., got cell phone and internet service back.) All of our phones started dinging with messages, e-mails, etc. It's nice to be completely offline.

This was a fantastic trip, and we did a *lot* in two and a half days.

Next: final thoughts.