This is West Virginia

For the past few years I've been wondering why West Virginia has such a bad reputation.  Something about family members hooking up with each other or just being a mega redneck.  Truth, rednecks are everywhere not just WVA and WVA has some of the most epic terrain around, maybe on the entire East Coast.  Last Wednesday I set off to explore some of the spots I'm talking about for a few reasons.  To look at them in person, to photograph them, to share my findings with my friends and family and to camp.

   

When I arrived at Seneca Rocks it was pouring rain.  A lot of low level / rolling clouds coming through the south and west valleys.  These low level clouds were not only dumping moisture on the ground but pulling it up (evaporation).  The rain ended and I was able to set up camp and start hiking the cliffs.  I've been to Seneca before but did simple exploring.  Within 2 hours of hiking / climbing I found this massive cave that has anchor points all the way around.  I would love to watch a climber climb this thing.  After dinner that night I set my slider / camera up for a night timelapse to get stars.  After shooting for 2 hours I went to check out my camera and it was completely covered in moisture.  This goes back to the rolling clouds I spoke about.  It wasn't rain but just light moister / dew.  You couldn't feel the moisture on your skin but you could see it at night through your headlight.  The clouds were a big reason why I couldn't shoot at night but also the 95% humidity and high dew points were other large factors.  Day 2 it was pouring in the morning but cleared up and I high tailed it up to the peak of Seneca Rocks.  With about 40lbs on my back and carrying my dolly, it was about a 40 minute hike.  It was still cloudy out but the clouds add great detail for timelapse photography so it worked.  I shot 5 timelapses over the course of 3 hours at the peak.  I then hiked down and around to the south side and shot 4 timelapses of the cave and surrounding area.  After dinner I headed back up to the peak, only this time it was extremely hard.  I was extremely worn down and needed a break but I needed to beat the sun.  I shot 2 timelapses of the sun going down but the sun was swallowed by the giant cloud.  That really pissed me off but what could I do, beat up the cloud?  The night was a bust with more fog and rain.  Day 3, I woke up at 4:30am to drive an hour to Blackwater Falls.  When I arrived I was hoping I didn't have to walk far and that was the case. After seeing the photos online vs. what I was looking at in person, I couldn't believe it was the same place.  That area was dumped with 8" of rain in the past week so these falls looked AMAZING.  I was able to hike own to this cliff overlooking the 60' falls to shoot 2 timelapse shots.  The sun was rising on the other side of the falls making it look ok but not great.  

I will write about the remainder of day 3 and day 4 soon.  As I stated in previous blog posts, I will not be posting any more stills from my timelapse film until I'm 100% complete with the editing.  Have to keep everyone wanting more.