Panniers Only Club at Seneca Rocks, WV (2010)
I received a PM from TwoHawks inquiring about a nice overnight camping location nearby. Instead of giving him advice, I figured I'd crash his party and join him. We wound up camping at Seneca Shadows Campground on the second to last weekend they are open for the season.
I arrived around noon, set up my tent on a double walk-in site and proceeded to pick crab apples from a nearby tree and eat some leftover pasta. About an hour later, RebRider showed up and also set up his tent and gear then went for a ride down to the visitor center. I took advantage of the warmth and comfortable mattress by taking a nap in the tent until TwoHawks showed.
After some convincing, we went for a hike up to the left peak of Seneca Rocks.
The fall foliage was at peak as we crossed the low water bridge.
RightSaidTwoHawks sang "I'm to sexy for my Gerbings jacket...too sexy for my Gerbings...too sexy!"
The brothers complete the hike cresting the final rise to the observation platform.
They were both pleased they made the trip up.
RebRider continued up the rock to investigate the professional climbers top-roping the face in the final rays of the sun.
Narcissistic self portrait
Aiming to meet ORexpat at camp, we descended the trail before the sunset.
Toward the end, we were greeted by a few does lazily foraging along the hillside.
I'm seeing double!
The Full Moon Rise over Seneca Rocks was spectacular.
ORexpat used his nifty G10 Camera to photograph it properly with a tripod.
After gathering a few brews and wine, we descended the leaf-strewn trail to the Front Porch Restaurant above Harper's Country Store. Here we dined on fresh home-made pizza of the Sausage, Diced Tomato and Mushroom Variety and watched the moonrise once more from the vantage of our meal.
Returning back to camp, temps had fell to the mid 40's so we burned all the wood RebRider and myself had collected earlier in the day.
Warming our feet by the fire.
After some great conversation, we retired around 11:00 with stomachs full and knit caps donned.
In the morning, everything was coated with a fine layer of frost as the thermometers read 31F
We fixed breakfasts of Oatmeal while RebRider chose the more dangerous and antisocial option of cooking indoors :huh (no adventure riders were harmed in the filming of this ride report)
Following breakfast, we walked down to the Coffee Shop at the Climbing School for a couple cups of fresh coffee. TradFest, a major rock climbing festival was being held this weekend and climbers were already getting down to business assessing the rock and their gear.
Gotta love this sign!
MUST...RESIST...
TwoHawks and I savored the sound of the stream and the fall colors to brighten up the morning.
ORexpat thought we returned to camp so he hiked back up only to find we were nowhere to be seen. We were down at the lower porch hiding out from him. He returned and took our pictures as payback.
He deemed this route a fitting climb for a man of his vintage.
Good Ol' Seneca Motor Company. Best leave your tractor outside just in case the wolf blows the house down :eek1
Back at camp, all our ugly motorcycles waited to wisk us back to civilization despite their silent cries to turn west.
Off we went around 11:00 and meandered our separate directions toward home rejoicing in our last campout of the season (perhaps).
