Seneca Rocks

Seneca Rocks
The North and South Peaks viewed from the front
Location	Pendleton County, West Virginia
Nearest city	Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
Range	Appalachians
Coordinates	38°50′05″N 79°21′58″W / 38.83472°N 79.36611°W / 38.83472; -79.36611Coordinates: 38°50′05″N 79°21′58″W / 38.83472°N 79.36611°W / 38.83472; -79.36611
Climbing type	traditional crag
Height	900 above stream level
Pitches	4
Ratings	5.0-5.13 with most routes in 5.7-5.11 range
Grades	I and II
Rock type	Tuscarora quartzite
Quantity of rock	months worth (over 375 routes)
Development	well developed
Cliff aspect	east and west
Season	spring to fall
Ownership	National Forest
Camping	Seneca Shadows & 2 private campsites in town (all paid)
Classic climbs	Gunsight to South Peak (5.3), Conn's West (5.4), Conn's East (5.6), Candy Corner (5.5), Ecstasy(5.7), Soler (5.7), West Pole (5.7), The Burn (5.8), Triple S (5.8), Castor / Pollux (5.10), Marshall's Madness / Crack of Dawn (5.10a), Mr. Jones (5.11c), The Bell (5.11+), Psycho Driller (5.12c), Black Mamba (5.12c), Fine Young Cannibals (5.13a)
Stars

Seneca Rocks is a large crag and local landmark in Pendleton County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, USA. It is the only "true peak" — a peak inaccessible except by technical rock climbing techniques — on the East Coast of the United States. One of the best-known scenic attractions in West Virginia, the sheer rock faces are a popular challenge for rock climbers.

Seneca Rocks is easily visible and accessible along West Virginia Route 28 near U.S. Route 33 in the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest.

Seneca Rocks is at the north end of the River Knobs, which contain several other similar "razorback" ridges or "fins" such as Judy Rocks and Nelson Rocks, all on the western flank of North Fork Mountain. Seneca Rocks is a prominent and visually striking formation rising nearly 900 feet above the confluence of Seneca Creek with the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River. It overlooks the community of Seneca Rocks, formerly known as "Mouth of Seneca". The Rocks consist of a North and a South Peak, with a central notch between. Formerly, a prominent pinnacle — "the Gendarme" — occupied the notch.

Seneca Rocks and nearby Champe Rocks are the most imposing examples in eastern West Virginia of several formations of the white/gray Tuscarora quartzite. The quartzite is approximately 250 feet thick here, located primarily on exposed ridges as caprock or exposed crags. The rock is composed of fine grains of sand that were laid down in the Silurian Period approximately 440 million years ago, in an extensive sand shoal at the edge of the ancient Iapetus Ocean. Eons of geologic activity followed, as the ocean slowly closed and the underlying rock uplifted and folded. Millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying rock and left remnants of the arching folds in outcrops such as Seneca Rocks.