Monongahela National Forest

The road trips have begun again...

Monongahela was the destination for the first backpacking trip since the west coast trip. I had gotten a new backpack, tent, and various other backpacking equipment that I have been very excited to use. Finally I was able to.

After doing a fair amount of searching for backpacking loops, I came to the realization that it was much harder than I anticipated to find good information about trails. I had found some very good reviews for some trails in Monongahela National Forest. I decided that would be a good destination. From all the reviews, Dolly Sods seemed to have the best backpacking trails. I was pumped to go on these trails until I read a big disclaimer saying trails are poorly marked and are NOT recommended for novices. Immediately I was like time to find some new trails. Otter Creek Trail was a highly rated trail that offered great backpacking for a bunch of newbies so I decided to give it a try.

Here's some of the things we saw along the way to Monongahela:



Apparently I own a burger joint but shhhh don't tell anyone.







Shady bridge:



We arrived at Seneca Rocks Discovery Center:



The sky looked like it was going to rain, we needed to prepare ourselves.



Trail up the rocks:



The trail got a little hot so sean made a bum backpack, it worked great.



Sean stalking sarah:



A new friend that snuerauter tossed up in the air:



Rambutan: ( know I spelled that wrong)



Sean and I making cider:



Hike up Seneca Rocks:



View from top:



Before heading out onto the backpacking trail we stayed at Seneca Shadow Campground that was about 15 miles from the trailhead. I decided to stay here so everyone could meet up friday night no problems since we would be in a standard campground. There were some hiking trails near so we This worked out great. We had a campfire so that we could cook happy sacks and SMORES! The special things about the smores was that Sean and I made the graham crackers from scratch! You can find out more about these on the CVS food blog:

CVS Blog

Campfire:



Sean, sneurauter, and I all waited to have smores until Sarah beck arrived. This wasn't until late at night so we patiently waited for dandies, chocolate, and graham crackers. Once she arrived it was time to indulge!

We headed to beg for the night, just barely beating the rain. We wanted to get an early start on the day so we got up 9:30..... really early start! haha.

Here's the trail along the way:



Critters and mushrooms we found along the way: (we are the best mushroom hunters out there....)



These little guys look like bulbs of garlic.



Many river crossings: (This was a lot of fun, some of us got a little wet though)



Some nice pics of us along the way:



We only had one night to camp during out backpacking trek. Here is the campsite we found. It's pretty amazing I must say.



I must say the picture doesn't do justice for the rock sofa couch.



Well that is all I've got from this trip. I hope you enjoy the photos.