Recently, I went on a long weekend trip with my spouse of now 10 years. We traveled to a beautiful place in the mountains of West Virginia called Seneca Rocks. If you’ve heard of it before, or have even had the opportunity to visit there in the past, you’ll understand that it has some seriously awesome hikes and scenery. Let’s talk about those.
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Introduction to Seneca Rocks and Its Hiking Trail
So often we would plan these big trips for our anniversary. Other times, we would just let it roll on by if it was in the middle of the week or say “it wasn’t a big deal” to celebrate. But this year, we finally threw in the towel of “not caring,” and decided that since we were lucky enough to have it fall on a Saturday, we’d do our best to spend the weekend by ourselves even though we just went somewhere shortly beforehand.
It was one of the best experiences of my relationship thus far.
I had high expectations that I tried to squash, (which typically happens if I start getting in my head too much). Seriously, this can be detrimental so I highly recommend going with the flow instead! “A campground” was something I wasn’t too sure of, since we’d been backpacking more recently and got to experience the feeling of being totally alone. I liked that.
I also was not super keen about being a hundred yards next to a pack of yelling coyotes 4 times in one dark and quiet night. (We’ll keep that for another post!)
*PS! If you’re getting into camping more remote, or just don’t want as many peeps around you, I highly recommend checking out the app, Hipcamp! It’s been super helpful in finding us some next level spots (even for same day booking!) Sign up to get $10 off your first night under the stars!
And if you’ve ever thought about hosting on your own property, check it! You can start listing your land on Hipcamp as soon as today. Very cool.
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Get to the Seneca Rocks Campground Early…Real Early
So anyway, I was cool with a campground and let the hubs do the choosing.
Seneca Rocks was something he’d brought up in the past. Something I recalled him talking about but alas, a place we never really decided on. When he found the campground, we knew that it would work and planned that we would just get there early to choose a spot.
…Don’t do that.
For reals, if you’re thinking about going to a campground around this beautiful place, consider Seneca Rocks Shadows. It’s epic. BUT, DO book a site ahead of time!! Or make sure you arrive super early to choose your perfect spot. I have no complaints about ours, but we arrived (for what we thought was early) around 2/3pm, and were lucky enough to snag THE LAST SPOT. Phew!
Please note that if you do decide to choose this awesome campground (which you totally should), that you’ll need a 2 night minimum weekend booking if you decide to book online ahead of time (which you also totally should). You can even stay up to 14 nights if you choose to!! Which is really great to have as a backup option if you would decide to do some nearby backpacking and want to use this as a base camp.
We definitely plan to do this in the future, since Dolly Sods Wilderness is known for great backpacking trails!
So, let’s talk car camping at Seneca Rocks.
What is it? And how is it different than backpacking? We Backpacked Rim-River-Rim Of The Grand Canyon In 2 Days: Here’s A Few Things We Learned
Car camping is much different than backpacking.
1. It’s so nice because you have so much more stuff to use when you need it!
2. It’s so annoying because you have so much more stuff when you don’t need it!
Yes, each statement is true! If you’ve done either of these kinds of camping, you may understand what I mean. I think if I had to choose one or the other, it would be backpacking all the way. Sure, you have to carry things on your back for miles on end and hope to the heavens that there’s some kind of water source along the way (or just research where your water sources are), but over car camping? Sign me up.
Why? Because I’m a minimalist in a hoarders body.
Because I loathe the idea of possibly forgetting something and I swear that the more space and time I have to fill with extra stuff, the more stuff that makes its way along with us. (Which is why I ALWAYS procrastinate on packing for anything). And guess what? Even with a rented Bronco full of groceries and items we thought we’d need for the weekend long trip, we STILL had to stop at the little store to grab some last minute forgotten items.
With backpacking, I KNOW for a fact that I will have everything I need. For several days in the Grand Canyon, I survived on water sources and dehydrated meals. No bars, no extra fluff, just chilling with my weightless packable gear and a tiny packet of hot chocolate. (Because why not).
For the full article see Have You Embraced the Beauty of Seneca Rocks?
Oliver is a professional blogger and a seasoned business and finance writer. With a passion for simplifying complex financial topics, he provides valuable insights to a diverse online audience. With four years of experience, Oliver has polished his skills as a finance blogger.
