Spring Break, Part II Seneca Rocks & Spruce Knob

Spring break this year was really fun.  Normally we don't do hardly anything, but we finally made some plans this year and decided to explore a little in West Virginia. 

On a Tuesday afternoon we took off for Seneca Rocks, about two hours away.  We stopped in Franklin, West Virginia for a pit stop and ice cream.


We bought another bike "rack".  It's super easy and very ingenious. Basically it's a pad that goes over the truck tailgate, with designated indents of sorts, to place the bikes.  We also bought a cable lock that locks in the bikes.  Anyway it's pretty cool and can hold 6 bikes--and it's easy enough to throw the 7th bike in the truck bed. We'll keep our other bike rack too for long-distance trips and such.  This new bike "rack" will be great for things near our house.


First official stop, a hike up to Seneca Rocks.  We hiked about 3 1/2 miles.










We hiked up to the platform for a fun overlook of the small valley and pretty mountains.










Here we are at the base with Seneca Rocks behind us.






We camped at Seneca Shadows campground in Monongahela National Forest.  Elden's bike tire was balding so Lee put a new one on before the bike ride the next day. It was fun going camping.  And I love our 3-minute-set-up tent.


After yummy foil dinners, we had cupcakes and roasted marshmallows.  I bought some snacks at Trader Joe's the night before which included some peanut butter cupcakes.  My sister told me how good they were so I bought some and saved them for the campout.  They were good, but for me I didn't love them.  Now I know!




We tried to play Dutch Blitz that night but it was too windy and our cards kept blowing all over.

Elden did a trash run for us the next morning.


After breakfast and packing up we went to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia.  It was an easy walk to an overlook.  On the way we saw some cool moss covered rocks.  They looked more green in real life.


The highest point in West Virginia.












It was SO cold up there!  The kids loved playing around in this rock area. Cal and Elden built little forts.




We had fun exploring the area.










Our last West Virginia adventure was a bike ride along the trail by Seneca Creek.  We didn't get the directions before we left and didn't have cell phone coverage.  We actually were really close to the trail up at Spruce Knob, but only realized that later after stopped at a little post office, then gas station to get directions.


We found the Seneca Creek Trail!  We did an 8 mile bike ride...well, we did 7.6 and Lee and Cal did 8. 




It was pretty riding along next to the creek at times and in general riding on the trial.  It was nice that we went early in the year when the plants weren't overgrown.


We had to go through three creek crossings. 


I did not want to get wet and managed to get across the first water crossing without incident.  The second crossing though I didn't make it and got my feet wet. 


Cal and Clark helped take bikes across, and Cal took across the girls on his back.  It was really sweet.


We made it to our turn-around point.






The whole way down was slightly downhill, and it was very noticeable on the way back.  Uphill.  It took us awhile longer to get back.  It was great though that no one got a flat tire!


On the way back we stopped in Harrisonburg for some scout things and ate at Popeye's--we've never eaten there before.  We had a fun get-away.  There are a couple more Spring Break happenings, but I am going to post those in the Easter post.  We loved the get-away to WV and can't wait to go exploring more!