I managed to sleep okay and wake up for a sunrise hike to the north summit of Seneca Rocks. I parked at the visitor center, not realizing that I could have parked closer at the actual trailhead. Oh, well, the mistake only cost me an extra few tenths of a mile, and the roundtrip was less than three miles anyway.
From the visitor center the rocks could be seen clearly. Though I started in the dark and didn't catch this view until afterward.
I began by crossing Seneca Creek on a couple bridges.
The trail is wide and well-maintained. It climbs about 800 feet. There are wooden stairs near the beginning and end, with switchbacks in the middle.
At the end of the trail is a platform for viewing the range and valley below. But I had been expecting a close-up encounter with the rocks, so I searched for something else. There was a narrow, rocky ridge continuing upward. A posted sign warned about the danger of climbing beyond this point, indicating how many people have died pursuing a close-up encounter with the rocks.
Well, I didn't drag my ass all the way up there just to see a bird's eye view of Yokum's Vacationland. So I started dragging my ass up the last hundred feet or so to the top. It wasn't more than easy class 3/hard 2 scrambling, though I could see how a drunk fool might slip off to his death. I'm guessing most of the deaths were tragic rock climbing accidents on the south peak.
