Routes : North America : United States : West Virginia : Roped Climbing : Seneca Rocks Region : The Panhandle : Smoke Hole Canyon
Smoke Hole Canyon
Climbing Sections:
- Cat Rock (1)
- Cave Mountain (0)
- Eagle Rock (5)
- Entrance Walls- Main Arch (13)
- Entrance Walls- The Roadcut (5)
- Entrance Walls- The Sky Box (1)
- Guide Wall (0)
- Jake's Hill Arch (0)
- Long Branch (13)
- Pork Palace (2)
About Smoke Hole Canyon:
| A beautiful, primitive canyon and gorge, much of it Monongahela National Forest and Seneca Rocks/Spruce Knob Recreation area, located 10 miles north of Franklin, WV just off Route 220. Rugged in terrain and conditions, soaked in history, and spartan in accomodations, the canyon offers an assortment of year-round recreation opportunities: hiking, biking, swimming, boating, fishing, bird watching, trail running, rock climbing and camping. Guidebook project on Kickstarter has launched and will publish this coming holiday season. |
| Nearest town or city: | Upper Tract, WV |
| Directions: | From the south: Take 220 N from Franklin, just over 10 miles, to the town of Upper Tract. One mile past Upper Tract, look for Smokehole Road on your left, just before the two bridges, one concrete and the other a decommissioned single-lane iron bridge that used to be the only way across. The obvious sunny arch across river is Jake's Hill and is privately owned. No bolted routes or anchors and lots of loose/chossy rock, poisonous spiders and snakes for those who choose to trespass.
Routes directly beside the road at the entrance are Public Land... enjoy the broken bottles and crowded parking due to a massive continuous influx of sportsmen. From the North: take Rte 220S from Petersburg (left at the light where 28/55 splits off to Seneca). Follow about 18 miles to bridges mentioned above, turn right. |
| Latitude, Longitude: | |
| Access Issues: | MANY private cliffs... don't go there if you don't KNOW it's NFS |
| Camping: | Yes |
| When to Climb: | Autumn Spring Summer Winter |
| Quantity of Climbs: | Year |
Routes
Sequence Sequence numbers indicate the left (L) to right (R) order of the routes. |
Rating | Route | Difficulty | Ascents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Smoke Hole Canyon | 0 |
Forum Discussions (7 posts)
| Subject | Author | Replies | Last Post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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The Reed Creek Smoke Hole app is LIVE | roninthorne | 0 | Jul 29 2016, 4:16 PM |
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Ground hornets, chiggers and no-see-ums | roninthorne | 3 | Sep 15 2014, 2:47 PM |
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Monongahela National Forest: Smoke Hole Fire | roninthorne | 1 | Nov 19 2013, 10:57 AM |
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New grub spot for Franklin and Seneca Rocks climbers | roninthorne | 2 | Nov 05 2013, 3:46 PM |
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Snakes, ticks, and other creepy-crawlies | roninthorne | 3 | Apr 24 2012, 6:19 PM |
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North Fork Mountain Wilderness Proposal | roninthorne | 4 | Nov 18 2010, 7:33 PM |
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Eagle Rock Climber's Camping special | roninthorne | 7 | Jun 01 2010, 10:58 PM |
